The once and future queen

(Image ©cosmomovies.com)

When the news came out that legendary actress, successful business woman and AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor had expired from congestive heart failure, it signaled what may have been the end of an era. At this juncture only Mickey Rooney (who also racked up at least eight marriages) still survives as the last vestige of the golden age of the Hollywood studio system. The iconic beauty whose motion picture career began in 1941, was first signed to a contract at Universal Studios, but that contract was trashed by Universal Production Chief Edward Muhl who complained that despite propping from her agent Milton Selznick (producer David's brother), "She can't sing. She can't dance. She can't perform. What's more, her mother has to be one of the most unbearable women it has been my displeasure to meet." It was a short year later that she was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to star for $100 per week for three months opposite Roddy McDowell in "Lassie Come Home." Other early starts included "National Velvet" in 1944, but her incredible beauty made itself evident first in "Father of the Bride" starring Spencer Tracy in 1950. By then she was a star of epic proportions and the films that became her calling cards - "BUtterfield 8," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Giant," "Suddenly Last Summer" and "A Place in the Sun" - began to be churned out by Hollywood to great fanfare from critics and movie goers alike. By the time I was old enough to know who she was, she was already on husband number four (Eddie Fisher) and I remember reading about her reaping an unprecedented salary of $1 million dollars for her work in "Cleopatra" opposite husband number five and six (Richard Burton). Even at such a tender age, I was amazed at how beautiful she was and it was the first time I had ever heard of anyone having been described as having violet eyes. Yes, truly violet eyes. They were definitely not blue and definitely not brown, but an intense light purple that almost denied adequate description. To this day I have only met one other person who had violet eyes. While her eyes may have been her most striking point, the rest of her body in her prime was almost that of a gliding goddess who had set down on earth. She was magnificent. While her career hit the skids in the last two decades, she managed to become an integral founder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR) after the death of her friend and former co-star Rock Hudson as well as a well-known designer of jewelry and a manufacturer of perfume. She was a bright woman whose compassion shone even during times when she was besieged by a number of health concerns or private tragedies. A winner of two Academy Awards for Best Actress in "BUtterfield 8" and "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," she was a star among stars. Her passing from congestive heart failure will never diminish her legacy nor dilute her importance on the Hollywood scene. She will live on as long as we remember her and treasure that gift of her many moving and brilliant performances she has bestowed upon us and other generations of film lovers to come. Rest, sweet lady, for you have earned your peace. And we shall have you "to-morrow, and to-morrow and to-morrow."

Get the lead out

Daneel Playgrond looking out from the middle of the park toward St. Charles Avenue

An alarming announcement came from city officials yesterday. Not one, not two, but three different playgrounds have come under scrutiny as having had high levels of lead in the soil. This follows a similar report and closing of Markey Park in the Ninth Ward this past January. That park's soil was remediated and, after several weeks of efforts by city workers was declared safe and reopened earlier this month. The most recent announcement concerns Daneel Playground in the uptown area along historic St Charles Avenue as well as Taylor and Annunciation Playspots in Central City and the Lower Garden District respectively. These parks are considered as having the highest priority, since the levels of lead tested out much higher than most of the others. City officials have acknowledged another 10 playgrounds have tested for higher than permissible levels, but they fall short of the top three. In 2008, the last year such testing data is available, Orleans Parish children tested as having had the highest levels of lead in the blood than any other parish in the state. The shocking level of six percent announced by state officials is of particular concern because high levels of lead exposure have a direct link to delayed development, difficulties in learning and violent behavior by older children and teenagers. New Orleans neighborhoods tested for higher levels of lead exposure than permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 15 out of 46 neighborhoods. What concerns me is that Daneel Playground was the playspot where my son used to enjoy hanging out on the slides and swings. It's serene atmosphere was recently enhanced when Kaboom!, a non-profit group that specializes in upgrading existing or installing new playgrounds replaced equipment there in July of 2009. So, just how did the lead get into the soil? Scientists suggest it is an outgrowth of rampant sandblasting and the use of lead paint over many decades. Leaded gasoline, while now outlawed, might also have contributed to particulates in the air from exhausts of automobiles and fallen to the ground. It seems our children have been swimming in a virtual sea of lead toxicity right under our very noses. Why it's taken so long to discover this is a mystery. Pre-Katrina the results of testing showed Orleans Parish students as among the worst in the state. To say they were challenged by poor facilities, poor curricula and poor teachers would probably be the understatement of the year. In the post-deluvian time as charter schools have sprung up to attempt to bridge the gap in delivery of education to the children of Orleans Parish, we have seen test scores indicate a marked improvement. It is by no means perfect, but indications are that education efforts had begun to turn around a system that failed students in significant ways. Throw into the mix lead toxicity and all of the gains that have been made in the last five years could be threatened. It is expected that the three playgrounds will be fenced and signs will be posted in the coming days alerting the public to the problem. Then a mesh will be placed on the ground to seal the leaded soil and a new layer of fresh soil will be added on top of that to ensure the safety of play areas. If all goes well, the turnaround should be in six weeks or less. Thank goodness the present city administration took the initiative to investigate. The question should be posed: what was going on with the previous administrations that didn't allow such testing to take place? Why did it take so long to respond to the level of lead exposure in our greatest hope and resource for the future (our children)? Also, what can we do to ensure that we don't inadvertently expose our offspring to lead? Should we keep them indoors or is the danger inside from leaded paint even more dangerous than that found in natural environments? My child is a fully grown adult, but I feel for those parents who must now make decisions to protect their children. I pray the closure of these three parks will be the beginning of a new era of health service by city officials to protect the young rather than a way to protect investors and backers of future administrations.

The triple tragedies of Nippon

A third explosion rocks the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 14, 2011

The horrors of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan is a triple whammy from which few modern nations could ever hope to recover. But there they are again. Day after day. Night after night. The Japanese people are resolute and they are stoic. Despite the loss of power, basic necessities like food and water and the grief of losing at least ten thousand souls to the ravages of Mother Nature, the Japanese people seem unflappable. They mourn their lost family members when they find out they are, indeed, gone, but hold out interminable hope that their loved ones will turn up soon, despite all indications to the contrary. In an extraordinary fashion they wait in lines for food and medical care. There are no riots. There has been no looting. Perhaps it is because of their centuries-long isolation, but the Japanese people have demonstrated an incredible resilience and self-dependence in the face of what would certainly be considered the most stressful of times. Now on top of this already heavy burden comes more chilling news. A meltdown at not one, but several affected power plants lacking means to contain the radiation cores or to cool spent fuel rods has ramped up to a frightening real possibility of nuclear disaster. Residents within a 12-mile radius of the Fukeshima Power Plant have been evacuated and those within a 19-mile radius have been advised to stay indoors and tape shut their windows. The invisible threat of nuclear pollution stands in stark contrast to the massive 9.0 earthquake and four-story tall torrent of water unleashed on the unsuspecting countryside following that seismic event. At least that devastation could be seen and measured. The whole scale destruction is overwhelming, but the unseen menace of radioactivity is perhaps known best in Japan, the only nation to have suffered nuclear attacks on its people. Now their nation's line of defense rests with the scores of workers assigned to clean up and contain the nuclear radiation threat. If the worst nuclear accident - the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine back in 1986 - stands for anything, it should serve as a reminder of what these workers and nearby residents could be anticipating. First of all the rescue workers could be exposed to such massive amounts of radiation that their short-term health outlook could be severely impacted. The firemen who responded to the plant breakdown at Chernobyl and were credited with saving hundreds, if not thousands, of nearby residents from radiation exposure died within 30 days of their efforts and those not as severely affected found many of their ranks thinned by rampant cancer just a few years later. The workers being rushed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could be just as much at risk while attempting to keep nearby residents out of harm's way. Nuclear fallout that is spewed from the plants, carried airborne and falls to nearby fields could find its way into the food chain. Cattle who consumed such affected grass or hay in the days and months following the Chernobyl disaster produced milk with high radiation levels that spiked an increase in thyroid and other cancers in the years following the accident. Japanese residents could be put at similar risk if levels of radiation are not checked and rechecked constantly. Meanwhile efforts to find any remaining victims still goes on and the heavy task of cleanup and demolition must be conducted before rebuilding can begin. There is little time for the Japanese people to grieve for the tasks at hand are heavy and the challenges they face are daunting. Our charitable and relief efforts will help them, but there is a feeling and indications suggest they will first and foremost help themselves during this most troubling period. Aside from donations we should all offer our prayers for their immediate and long-term survival and for a lessening of this crisis.

Manuscriptus interuptus

Historic Gallier Hall (© Baronplantagenet)

2010 Okeanos Queen Martha Dart and Gallier Hall announcer

In many ways this is the most satisfying part of the busy Carnival season. Two of the Carnival balls for which I serve as both manuscript writer and narrator were held this past weekend. There is only one rehearsal left and that won't take place until the week before big day. Mardi Gras is late this year, March 8, and with the exception of that one remaining script, all other manuscripts have been edited, copied and bound. It is an amazing thing this Carnival season in the city of my birth. With the election of new mayor Mitch Landrieu a year ago, a concerted effort has begun to change some aspects of the official functions at historic Gallier Hall, the hallowed former New Orleans city hall. Festooned with ten massive ionic columns that support a large tympanum and named in honor of its famous architect, Gallier Hall is unique in the history of Carnival insofar that every single Mardi Gras parade that has rolled through the streets of New Orleans has passed in front of its official reviewing stand. This makes my job as the announcer for five of this year's parades even more important and not to be taken lightly. In past years the Carnival captains who run the krewes, the non-profit organizations that are responsible for putting on the street parades and holding the various bal masques and massive parties held at area hotels or at giant venues like the Louisiana Superdome or the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center felt taken for granted or in some cases taken advantage of. The attendant costs of having their royal courts appear at Gallier Hall became outrageously overpriced. The amenities were Spartan and the food items offered were oftentimes inedible. After being handed huge bills for what increasingly became a battle ground between city officials and the krewes who wanted to use the facilities, many captains and their organizations opted to move their official parties to nearby hotels that would accommodate their needs more deliberately and respectfully. As it turns out, of the 29 parading organizations who could use the facilities at Gallier Hall to toast their royal courts, only five do so today. Even the mighty Rex organization toasts its queen and royal court at the Intercontinental Hotel, located a scant two blocks away from Gallier Hall. For many years the Rex toast was held at the tony Boston Club on Canal Street, a practice that was challenged by city fathers who in the 1980s questioned its politically incorrect practice of excluding blacks and Jews. The celebrations at Gallier Hall will become more austere and will take on a less raucous tone in acknowledgment that the way previous administrations ran the hall were less than respectful to the parading krewes and in the hopes of luring several of these back to the reviewing stands there in the coming years. In the meantime my work as the announcer for the Krewes of Ancient Druids, Carrollton, Okeanos , Mid City and Thoth will take on a bigger challenge for me to keep the grand tradition alive and well during this very exciting time in the city. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

The need to remember

As the events of the past few days have spun into political chaos in Egypt, I have noted that the tradition of knee-jerk reactionism in American politics has continued. Last night President Obama essentially threw Egypt's President Mubarak under the bus when he spoke to the American people and advocated for change there. Perhaps a bit too idealistically, the President suggested the overthrow of Mubarak might be seen as a cry from the masses for political change and that the outcome might be a democratic republic patterned after our own government. Such was the hope for Iran when the United States advocated for the people to overthrow the unpopular Shah in the late 1970s. This fueled a power vacuum that was used to great advantage by the Islamic fundamentalists and resulted in the theocratic form of government we know today. The fact is popular revolts rarely result in the kind of democracies we appreciate here in the United States, but more often than not result in more repressive forms of government that ultimately oppose American interests in those countries. Remember that the precursor to the Bolshevik revolution was an attempt to install a democracy in Russia in 1917. When Hitler's thugs rose in Germany, many misguided Americans thought to applaud the dictator for what they thought might be simply a charismatic leader answering the call of popular opinion. We all know how wrong that turned out to be. Time and time again American foreign policy has been impotent in being able to bet on the right horse and come out unscathed when a popular revolt or civil war has shaken a government to its foundations. We were unable to predict the rise of Castro and the rapid diminution of power by the corrupt Battista administration in Cuba. That myopic vision has characterized our foreign policy decision making for decades. While gunboat diplomacy is no longer wise or considered politically correct, it has often proven the better of choices for the short term. When Grenada was a problem, President Reagan sent in the Marines. End of story. Even the British learned that diplomacy has its limitations and when Argentina absorbed the Falkland Islands and renamed them the Maldives Islands, the time for rhetoric was over. While I am in no way advocating for the United States to interfere with the internal political struggles of another nation directly, I am stating that oftentimes a more direct approach can achieve better results than by wishing and hoping things will turn out right. The United States failed to deal with Ho Chi Minh when it had opportunities decades before hostilities inflamed Viet Nam and the region there. The current crisis began when a popular uprising in Tunisia spilled over to Egypt and Yemen. Even Jordan's king has been forced to sack his government in a pre-emptive strike against unrest there. What should be feared is that the hoped for replacement of the government in Egypt might be more friendly towards Islamic fundamentalists like the Muslim Brotherhood, whose expressed intentions are to implement an Islamic republic in Egypt and break off friendly relations with Israel. The cornerstone of our teetering Middle East policy for the past three decades has been the continued cessation of hostilities in the area between Egypt, Israel and Jordan. Should the most populous Arab country in the world with the largest army, equipped by the United States, be overthrown by a weak or fledgling form of government, the Islamic fundamentalists will not be slow to take advantage of the situation. I am not sure if the decision by the Obama administration to speak out against Mubarak was wise or called for. By distancing ourselves from one of our most powerful allies in the region, we could be sending the wrong message to other world leaders, to wit: Don't count on America for support because when the tough gets going, so too will your American support. I am disquieted at the prospects for peace in the region, but most fearful that the actions of today will have wide-ranging consequences for the future. I hope the Egyptian people will remember what it was like to live under the threat of war and how their nationalism under Gamal Adbul Nasser was also disastrous to their economy. The changes in Egypt and potential changes in other Arab countries could take a terrible toll on the Israeli economy, which has soared in the past three decades when the threat of invasion from Egypt was lessened. A change in the government in Egypt to one that is opposed to the existence of Israel could have long-term effects for the Jewish State and, coupled with the existing Palestinian problem, might result in a downward economy marked by preparations for war rather than continued progress and prosperity. Now that we have abandoned Mubarak and distanced ourselves from him while the demands for his ouster continue, we need to look to our tentative allies in the region and to those already opposed to us (as is the case in Syria) and think about where we can do the most good in the short term. We need to know that as far as our word is considered, we don't have the most sterling of reputations. Perhaps our actions will now speak louder than our words.

The Egyptian question

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The news coming out of Cairo is not very encouraging. While we in America have been concerned about who is sitting next to each other in Congress during the State of the Union speech, there is a revolution that is under foot going on in Egypt that has all the markings of what recently occurred in Tunisia. The demonstrations were quelled by riot gear clad policemen, who fired on the crowds in the central square with water cannon, rubber bullets and clubs. The people demanding President Hosni Mubarak's resignation are not friendly to the United States and certainly will do nothing to bring Middle East peace closer to fruition. In fact, much of the gains that have been garnered in progress towards lasting peace between Egypt and Israel may be lost if the Islamists who are intent in overthrowing Mubarak succeed. Understandably, Israel must also be alarmed, but that nation has been dealing with hostile relations with Egypt for a very long time. Several commentators have noted recently that the miserable conditions existing in Egypt are breeding contempt for the government, particularly those among the young, impressionable students and young adults who see no way out for them in an economy with little growth. Were we to look at Tunisia as a precursor to the violence going on in Egypt, that would be too simplistic. The fact is the Tunisian government was so corrupt and guilty of brazen, outrageous behavior, particularly that played out by the now-ousted president and his wife, that it could not help but implode upon itself in a popular uprising. The opportunists in Egypt, many of whom are allied with interests outside of their country, are looking for any reason to remove Mubarak from office and attempt to install a form of government more friendly to Iran and Hezbollah. Look at what's going on in Lebanon with Hezbollah poised to take over the reins of government there and it's a potential nightmare for American diplomacy and the hope of a faint possibility of lasting peace. The unrest and protests have thus far brought about three deaths. That number can only go up higher as police units ramp up their more deadly approaches to dispersing the angry crowds demanding the president's resignation. I am reminded of Iran in the late 1970s and how their Islamic revolution occurred in a very short order with similar seemingly small protests that then grew out of hand. I pray I am wrong. Indeed, I pray I am very wrong.

The Honorable Mr. Shriver

When Sargent Shriver died yesterday at 95 years of age, he did so with a whimper rather than a bang. The man whose vision was behind the creation of the Peace Corps, Vista, Head Start and whose commitment to public service had him on the Democratic ballot in 1972 as vice president with running mate George McGovern, finally succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. In the end the horror of that malady had left Shriver was little more a shadow of his former self, much to the regret of his family members who survive him. Even his wife Eunice could not fully be mourned by Shriver when she died in August of 2009 following 53 years of marriage. It took years for Shrivers mind - so sharp and clear - to have been sullied and clouded in a slow, insidious fashion. Like President Ronald Reagan and other famous vicitms of Alzheimer's, Shriver didn't know his children or even how many he had fathered at the time of his demise. If cancer is thought to be the most dreaded form of physical suffering, then Alzheimer's must clearly be the same for the mind. When one exits life as a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, he does so bit by bit, memory by memory until what remains is a hollow shell with no soul. I wasn't surprised to learn of Shriver's heroism in the navy during World War II, but I was very impressed to find out that the way he became a part of the Kennedy family was through his management skills. The story was that while working as an editor at Newsweek, he was hand chosen by Joseph Kennedy himself to run a building he had purchased in Chicago. That building was the enormous Merchandise Mart, located on the Chicago River's edge in the downtown area there, the world's largest commercial building at the time. Big jobs were never a problem for Sargent Shriver. Even the courtship of his eventual wife Eunice took him nine years till she broke down and married. He simply held his course and did what he did best: run an organization to the best of his abilities and make it the envy of all onlookers. The Special Olympics, an organization he and his wife founded, would be the last major cause he would organize and one that like all the others blossomed under his leadership. Shriver's death follows Senator Edward Kennedy's, which occurred around the same time as his wife, and with the recent retirement announcement from Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island), the extended Kennedy family's longtime years of service and dedication to America may now be a subject for history books. That would be a shame because, despite the political leanings of anyone in or outside of Washington, few would criticize Shriver or his intentions to make the United States stronger andbetter and citizens more in tune with one another. If his selfless work inspires one person to take up such a cause in the future, then his well-lived life will not have been in vain.