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PELLA, IA Todd Gordon has been confined to his parents’ dining room table for the past 39 years. And he doesn’t plan on leaving any time in the near future.
Thirty-nine years ago, when Gordon was just six years old, Rachel Gordon, Todd’s mother, served Brussels sprouts. Determined not to eat the vegetables, the youngster said nothing but, “They’re yucky.”
Rachel Gordon, now 68 years old, has tried everything to get her son to eat the sprouts. She tried telling him that he’d never grow big and strong like his dad if he didn’t eat them. She told him that even Superman eats Brussels sprouts. She tried flying the airplane into the hangar—but Todd couldn’t be fooled by the flying sprout.
In a moment of desperation, Mrs. Gordon launched the full attack, warning her son that she’d make him sit by the table until he ate four whole sprouts.
And Todd looked away and said, “They’re yucky.”
He’s been there ever since. Todd has spent his evenings at the table, only allowed to leave for school (and now for work at the Pella Stop and Shop) and for sleeping. He spends the rest of the time staring at a plate of dried-up Brussels sprouts. The sprouts just keep looking yuckier and yuckier as the years pass, but Todd is convinced that he will never give in.
“It was pretty tough growing up,” said Todd. “I mean, summers were really long. And I tried to date once, but she wasn’t too fond of the idea of hanging out at my house all the time. But I’m not ever going to eat those things. Ever.”
Through the years, Todd has tried to escape his punishment numerous times. He’s tried paying his siblings to eat them. Now he tries paying off his nieces and nephews. He’s tried sneaking off the chair and hiding the sprouts in potted plants. He’s tried feeding them to the dog. And he’s just tried throwing them. But they always end up back on his plate.
Said Todd’s mother, “I can’t just give in. Then he’d never learn. I made the threat, and I have to go through with it. I don’t care if he is 45. He’s going to learn to take me seriously.”
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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