liz

The passing of Elizabeth Taylor saddens me. Few people have led more interesting or privileged lives than she did. True, she hadn't worked in front of the camera in years, nor had she been very active recently, as she'd been ill and infirm for the past few years. When she left this world yesterday morning she was wealthy, world famous, and surrounded by her family. Certainly, sadder and more tragic deaths happen every day. However, Elizabeth Taylor's death stands as a reminder that time is passing and the world continues to change.

Celebrity is everywhere, yet it seems to have less and less meaning. Elizabeth Taylor's face will forever remain iconic, just as her name will remain synonymous with the words Movie Star. Yesterday the world lost one of its brightest shining stars. In a time when reality television makes celebrities out of contestants, and anyone, anywhere has the ability to follow a “star’s” twitter feed, or watch movies on their hand-held devices, the era of the larger-than-life movie star is gone forever. Taylor was the product of another era - a woman who grew up in the spotlight, and lived under the weight of the enormity of her fame since childhood. When mediums and tastes changed, she didn’t recede into obscurity or use her celebrity for personal gain, rather she wielded her celebrity like a weapon, bravely and unwaveringly speaking out for people with AIDS when no one else would do it - when it was wildly unpopular. She fought tirelessly for AIDS awareness, leaving AMFAR as her legacy, an organization that couldn’t have happened without her. She was a beacon of glamor, humanitarianism, and compassion. She saved lives, she made people feel loved, she made a difference.

I’m not sad because a dazzlingly beautiful academy award winning movie star died. I’m not sad because the death of this great lady is a reminder of the impermanence of beauty and of the inevitability of decay. I’m sad because without the presence of this unique, shining spirit – the world is a little less vibrant today, a little less hopeful.

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shame

I haven't written anything in a while because I feel like I'm really at a loss for what to say lately. It's certainly not that I don't have opinions about what's been going on in the world, but I'm so disheartened by the state of my country that I feel I might only be venting my anger and frustration if I took to the blog with my feelings.

The anti union bill that was illegally pushed through in Wisconsin last night not only wages a class war on America's workers, but is a travesty to American democracy. The Macarthy-istic hearings of Representative Peter King in Washington beginning this morning is an embarrassment in the face of our country's commitment to the freedom of religion and is no more than a legally sanctioned, thinly veiled witchhunt against Muslim Americans. The commitment of House Republicans to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a giant step backwards in terms of civil rights. I've signed numerous online petitions, posted countless articles and links on facebook to try and educate all my friends to these recent injustices, and yammered on with like-minded folks about how these transgressions of the right plan to strip our nation of the very principles on which it was founded. Heck, I've even emailed the White House! My feelings of powerlessness have almost overwhelmed me to the point of wanting to put my head in the sand, or at the very least overeat, and hideout in movie theaters all day, every day.

I am infuriated by the unjust, back-handed, and short-sighted moves of the "new breed" that have recently been elected to power. I'm also embarrassed and ashamed of my country. I am, however, holding onto the slightest sliver of hope that these recent sociopathic overreaches of power by the far right will backfire in their faces, and that the working poor who were suckered into supporting them by having their anger exploited will wake up to the fact that they've been used as pawns, and see these heartless creeps for what they are - criminals. Perhaps their anger and resolve, as witnessed these past weeks in Madison Wisconsin, will be properly directed and make a difference.

Well, I've broken the silence and I've gotten a chance to express why I've been so quiet lately. I don't want you to think I'm apathetic, just terribly, terribly frustrated.