Gabrielle Giffords and a Lousy New Year
On the morning my mother, Dinorah Perez de Navarro, died, the front page of the local newspaper said that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been able to keep her eyes open and move her legs and hands. I smiled through tears. I had followed Giffords' progress as I tended to my mother in her last days. In my state of shock, I had related every bit of good news about Giffords' delicate state to my mom's own well-being – if Giffords, suffering from a gunshot wound in her head at 40 could make it, my 83-year-old mom, suffering from complications after a fall in the bathroom, could survive, ...
Oprah's Network: Shows That 'Lift You Up'
On New Year's Day, Oprah Winfrey is launching her own network. The Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, will offer the kind of shows "that lift you up and make you feel better about your life," Winfrey recently said on her "Oprah Winfrey Show." In other words, it will follow the same philosophy that has nurtured her magazine and her 25-year-old afternoon talk show, now in its farewell season. The Oprah touch means, for example, that a reality show about the singing duo "The Judds," part of OWN's lineup for 2011, won't be just about the competition and conflicts between Naomi Judd, the mother, and ...
A Girl Who Liked a Boy Who Liked Boys
"Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys," the title of a new Sundance Channel series my colleague Sarah Wildman wrote about yesterday, implies a sexual interest on the girl's part. After watching the first two episodes, I'm relieved that the relationships of the four starring couples depict close friendship, not frustrated desire. For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to gay men almost by gravitational pull. I have found an affinity similar to what draws me to my girlfriends -- we like the same things, we laugh at the same jokes, we view the world through a similar prism, we get each ...
Michelle Obama's Handshake, and Other Cultural Pitfalls in the Muslim World
The brouhaha over the Indonesian information minister who blamed Michelle Obama for leaving him no choice but to shake her hand -- in violation of his own Muslim rules to avoid contact with women not related to him -- reminded me of the "ugly American" scene in the movie "Sex and the City 2." There was Samantha, struggling with hot flashes while walking amid the throngs at a spice market in Abu Dhabi, when a group of religious men took exception to her exposed cleavage. Samantha being Samantha, she reached into her purse for her condoms and threw them at the men. Certainly, there must be a ...
Meg Whitman's $141 Million Spree; Could We Exchange It for These?
In her first campaign for public office, Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay, spent more than $141 million of her own money , a record, running for governor of California. She lost to Jerry Brown. It boggles the mind, unless you think of other ways you could spend this kind of money. This is what $141 million has recently bought: -- a year's worth of city services (the 2011 city budget) for Longview, Texas ( population: 78,000.) -- three weeks worth of claim payments for damages related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, paid to both people and businesses. -- efforts to turn ...
New York Judge to 4-Year-Old: See You in Court!
Between the political campaigns and the latest terrorist threat from Yemen, there was this story out of a Manhattan courtroom. The good news: A mother wasn't held responsible for the actions of her 4-year-old daughter, at least not legally. The bad news: The little girl is going down. A state Supreme Court judge ruled that the girl, accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle on a city sidewalk two years ago, can be sued for negligence, the New York Times reported Friday. The logic went something like this: Had she been 4 or younger, she wouldn't have known better. But ...
The Rutgers Suicide
The case of the Rutgers University students facing charges after the suicide of a fellow student is as sickening as they come. According to published reports, one of the students, Dharun Ravi, 18, is suspected of streaming his roommate's private sexual encounter live on the Internet. Another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, has also been charged in the case. Authorities say Ravi tweeted a message: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Ravi tried a similar live feed on the Internet a couple of days ...
On 9/11, A Passenger and Flight Attendant Make Peace
I had scheduled my flight back to New York without thinking about the date. On Thursday, as I wound up a work week in Arizona and started planning my return to the city, it finally dawned on me. "Darn, I'm flying on 9/11." I'm not sure what exactly I feared, but the "high" terror alert at the airport security checkpoint in Flagstaff did not make me feel any better. I usually feel like sheep when I fly. On Saturday, I felt the urge to quack. As it turned out, my flights to Phoenix and then on to New York on US Airways were right on schedule and just as packed with passengers as usual. We may ...
George Clooney and His Emmy: Not Just a Pretty Face
Among the glitz and glamour of the Emmys Sunday night, the highlight for me was George Clooney's intelligent acceptance speech for his humanitarian award. Named after Bob Hope, who brought comic relief to American troops in wartime, the award honors those who harness the power of television to do good. Clooney, not just a pretty face, has used both television and stardom to bring attention and raise money for victims around the world, from Darfur to Haiti. A self-effacing kind of movie star, Clooney hardly basked in the accolades. Instead, he took the opportunity during the Emmys to remind ...
Sarah Palin Says, 'Cojones'; I Say, 'Please Stop!'
Political bloggers have been busy dissecting the latest from Sarah Palin. Speaking about the governor of Arizona and her state's controversial immigration law, Palin said on "Fox News Sunday": "Jan Brewer has the 'cojones' that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country." This got me thinking. What is it that allows people to think that saying something in a foreign language makes it less offensive? First of all, if Jan Brewer really had ...
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