Citizen Culture(Third Issue).eps 10/27/2004 11:47:29 AM

The Magazine for the Young Intellectual | www.CitizenCulture.com | Number Three

EXCLUSIVES:EXCLUSIVES: ProvocativeProvocative FictionFiction byby PlayboyPlayboy PlaymatePlaymate DiviniDivini RaeRae All Sorts of Entertainment OriginalOriginal ArtArt andand WritingWriting byby TalentedTalented AmericanAmerican ConvictsConvicts Plus:Plus: TheThe GoldenGolden AgeAge ofof AA FittingFitting EulogyEulogy toto thethe ImmortalImmortal RockRock && RollRoll RayRay CharlesCharles —Captured—Captured inin PicturesPictures InsideInside HareHare KrishnaKrishna BillBill Clinton’sClinton’s Post-PresidentialPost-Presidential FisticuffsFisticuffs TheThe BIGBIG QuestionQuestion onon thethe FenceFence:: $3.00 U.S. $4.00 CAN. WhereWhere DoDo HollywoodHollywood andand WashingtonWashington Fuse?Fuse?

the contents C i t i z e n C u l t u r e Number 3

34 50 65 features ANECDOTE HMM ... (STRANGE BUT TRUE) Do-It-Your-Lonesome-Self From Online to Onboard 6 by Jen Miller 40 by Marguerete Hemphill

FAMILY PORTRAIT HIDDEN GEMS Grandma & Company, The Liberation of Bobby West A Day in the Life 44 The Talents of Garen Zakarian 8 by Albert Adato by John Bowers

ART AROUND THE WORLD FICTION Patchwork Journey The Golden Cage: A Cautionary Tale 12 by Veronika Ruff 50 by Divini Rae Sorenson

CCM INVESTIGATES EULOGY Hare Krishna Comes of Age Effortless Genius: by Michael Kress 18 65 Ray Charles in Ronald Reagan’s World by Nick A. Zaino INSIDE ENTERTAINMENT Vicarious 28 by Donald Dewey FAR BEYOND FILM 82 Hedy Lamarr: Vamp, Actor, Unlikely Inventor by Christopher Mari LARGER THAN LIFE The Oh-So-Stressful New York Life 34 of Boxin’ Billy Clinton THE ENTREPRENEURIAL WAY by Lakshmi Kumar 84 Tough Love by Jennifer Chu THE GLOBAL CITIZENRY I Brake for Environmentalists INSIDE LOOKING OUT—THEATRE 38 (And You Should, Too) The Current Question: by Monette Bebow-Reinhard 96 To Demolish or Not to Demolish? C 1 by Steve Newman CM the contents photo essays, interviews, and reviews PORTFOLIO 56 Through the Eye of a Fan Photos and Reflections by Henry Diltz

FAST-RISING FISH 15 Minutes with Dwayne Perkins 87 Interview by Evan Sanders

To Build a House 90 Interview by Joelle Asaro Berman

PEANUT GALLERY CRITICS—MUSIC 99 Pete Belasco: A Deeper Look by Evan Sanders

PEANUT GALLERY CRITICS—VIDEO 100 Garden State: The Little Film that Could by Amanda J. Feuerman 100

ONALIGHTER NOTE 104 Must-Miss TV (Just in Time for Sweeps) by David Gianatasio columns

THIS AMERICAN LIFE 24 Farseeing by Peter Rutenberg

SEXY TASTES 54 72-Hour Party People by Jen Karetnick

ON THE FENCE: THE RIGHT 68 by Ben Barron

ON THE FENCE:THE LEFT 71 by Ari Paul

THE FENCE: READER RESPONSE 74 by Giselle Frommer

THE FENCE: READER RESPONSE 78 by Krissy Gasbarre

PRISM 90 Memories of a Dear, 80 Microprocessing Friend 2 Citizen Culture by Sasha Haines-Stiles contributors Albert Adato New Rochelle, NY Albert started writing fiction less than ten years ago. Just recently, a story of was been accepted by Pindeldyboz. Albert has also been published in various academic journals. While he used to teach and write sociology, he is now a social worker with the Jewish Child Care Association.

Ben Barron Davis, CA Ben Barron comes to Citizen Culture Magazine freshly graduated from UC Berkeley. He has served as news editor of two college publications, The Daily Californian and The California Patriot, receiving national recognition for his work. He has since written features and news reports for The Hayward Daily Review, The Oakland Tribune, and The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

Monette Bebow-Reinhard Abrams, WI A history grad student whose passion has always been energy efficient vehicles, Monette now drives a Honda Civic Hybrid, purchased while researching the 1990s promotion of the SUV. She has a published ebook and has written for Conscious Choice, Sagewoman, New Writer, and more.

Jennifer Chu Somerville, MA Jennifer Chu is a producer for Living on Earth, National Public Radio’s environment show, and a graduate of the Boston University Science Journalism graduate program.

Donald Dewey Jamaica, NY Donald Dewey is a novelist, playwright, and biographer who has published 23 books of fiction and non-fic- tion, several of which have been translated into various languages. His most recent books are The Tenth Man and The Black Prince of Baseball, both published in the spring of 2004. He has also served as the edi- torial director of two magazines that have won ASME awards.

Henry Diltz Los Angeles, CA Henry Diltz is a renowned photographer whose work has appeared on the covers of Life, Rolling Stone, Cashbox, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Also a musician, he was a founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet. Henry continues to shoot for album covers for musicians around the world.

Giselle Frommer Maclean, VA Giselle Frommer has contributed research and articles for Cultural Survival Quarterly, Yes! Magazine, the Queens Botanical Garden, The New York Community Trust, the Centre for Developing Area Studies (www.cdas.mcgill.ca) and The Centre for Society, Technology and Development (Montréal).

Krissy Gasbarre New York, NY Krissy recently completed her MA in Public Communications & Media Studies at Fordham University. She works in children’s publishing and writes for other magazines such as New York Moves. Originally from central Pennsylvania, Krissy lives and works in New York City.

David Gianatasio Brookline, MA David’s work has recently appeared in the print or online editions of McSweeney’s, the Boston Globe, Quick Fiction, Pindeldyboz, Opium Magazine and many others.

Sasha Haines-Stiles New York, NY Sasha Haines-Stiles is newly returned to the U.S. from England, where she received her Master’s degree from Oxford in Twentieth Century Literature. She lives and writes in New York City.

Marguerete Hemphill New York, NY By way of Oregon, Boston and L.A., Marguerete Hemphill currently resides in New York City, where she finds constant inspiration in the streets, tunnels, buildings, parks and people there.

Jen Karetnick Miami Shores, FL Poet and freelance writer Jen Karetnick lives in Miami Shores, Florida. She is the features editor for The Wine News and a columnist for Rescue magazine and The Drexel Online Journal. Other work is forthcom- ing in North American Review, Blue Unicorn, Ocean Drive, and Women’s Health & Fitness.

Lakshmi Kumar New York, NY Lakshmi is a freelance writer working in New York City. She am currently employed at Film Forum, a non- profit filmhouse, and at the magazine Art AsiaPacific.

Christopher Mari Astoria, NY Christopher Mari was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is the editor of Space Exploration, a book detailing the major space program initiatives at the turn of the century. He has recently completed work on a novel and has begun work on his next.

Jen Miller Haddonfield, NJ Jen Miller is the editor of SJ Magazine, a lifestyle publication about Southern New Jersey. She holds a masters degree in English Literature from Rutgers University-Camden, and her work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, Student Leader Magazine, and on mediabistro.com.

Steve Newman Stratford-upon-Avon, Steve Newman is a playwright, director, and freelance writer, living and working in Shakespeare’s England Stratford. Apart from writing an ongoing “drama-documentary” about Ernest Hemingway for the ezine, Keep It Coming, Steve is also writing a history of Stratford’s theatres.

Ari Paul Chicago, IL Ari Paul has also written for Clamor, Creative Loafing, The Next American City, the Ann Arbor News, and Pulp Syndicate.

Veronika Ruff New York, NY Veronika Ruff is a freelance writer who has contributed to Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, ELLEgirl, and New York Magazine. Previously living and working in Shizuoka, Japan, she is now working towards a Master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Peter Rutenberg Los Angeles, CA Peter Rutenberg is a conductor, composer, record producer and raconteur who has written about music, entertainment, travel, food, and less savory subjects, for radio and print, for over 25 years. He is founding director of Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella and co-owner of the classical record label RCM.

Divini Rae Sorenson Los Angeles, CA Divini Rae Sorenson lived in Alaska until she graduated from high school in 1995 at the top of her class, and left for college on an academic scholarship. In 1999 she moved to Sydney, Australia, where she became a recognized model, actress, and writer/publisher. In November of 2003 she was featured in Playboy Magazine as the “Playmate of the Month,” and has interviewed hundreds of models, actresses and Playmates as research for her upcoming book on love and sex. She now resides in Los Angeles.

Nick A. Zaino III Boston, MA Nick A. Zaino III is a freelance writer covering the arts in Boston, Massachusetts. He writes the weekly Comedy Notes column for the Boston Globe, and his work has appeared in Paste Magazine, Playboy, the Boston Phoenix, and other local and national publications. Addendum to Contributors’ Bios Page (issue #2): Kevin Nealon Los Angeles, CA Although he holds a marketing degree from Sacred Heart University, Kevin Nealon is best known for hav- ing appeared the greatest number of consecutive years as a player (and sketch writer) on Saturday Night Live. He is often seen supporting such actors as Adam Sandler in feature films, and he tours renowned comedy clubs throughout the year to perform stand-up. C i t i z e n C u l t u r e magazine an imprint of the HUMAN/intelligence Creative Group, Inc. Citizen Culture Magazine aims to be a magazine journalism career launch pad for talented writers, photographers, critics and reviewers, poets and storytellers, as well as production-minded people who have professional skill but just need a foot in the industry’s door. Each month we aim to fill a niche by bringing excellent writing about a different general theme to a national audience of educated, socially involved men AND women aged 20-40.

The HUMAN/intelligence Creative Group, Inc.

JONATHON SCOTT FEIT President & CEO, Editor-in-Chief EVAN SANDERS Vice President & COO, Publisher IRFAN “SAM SHABEER Chief Financial Officer & General Manager ROBERT FAVUZZA Chief Marketing Officer TIMOTHY PATRICK Senior Executive, Projects & Acquisitions ANTHONY ISTRICO Executive Director, Cocktail Diplomacy Communications

Editorial Joelle Asaro-Berman Deputy Editor: Columns Heather Holcombe Executive Editor Kelly Brumleve Senior Associate Editor Damien Power Associate Editor: Boston: Fence Section Michael Pullman Associate Editor: New York City: Submissions Ross Schneiderman Associate Editor: New York City: Universities Allison Keiley Associate Editor: New York City Dina Santorelli Associate Editor: New York City

Production Sara Jones Deputy Publisher: Design Maria Knapp Associate Designer Suzanne Manning Circulation Director Kevin Spector Reflexive Advertising Producer Darren Wotherspoon Cover Design Garen Zakarian Cover Art

In Association With:

Skye Design

Manuscript Submissions [email protected] Advertising Sales [email protected] Human Resources [email protected] Subscriptions www.CitizenCulture.com/subscribe

Citizen Culture Magazine is dedicated to publishing the highest quality works by new and talented Contributors, fostering the free flow of ideas, no matter how controversial. Our editorial policy is to refrain, to the maximum degree possible, from editorial content, though we reserve the right to edit for length, style, and clarity. Therefore, the opinions herein expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the HUMAN/intelligence Creative Group, Inc., Citizen Culture Magazine, its editors, publishers, advertisers, affiliates, agents, suppliers, or Contributors other than the work’s respective author. Neither the HUMAN/intelligence Creative Group nor Citizen Culture Magazine assumes any responsibility for unsolicited editorial or graphic material. All rights in unsolicited editorial and graphic material will be treated as intended and available for publication. Submission implies the availability of appropriate copyrights. Material will be subject to our unrestricted editorial rights and the policy stated above. Unsolicited materials selected for publication are purchased in their publishable format on the release date of the issue in which they feature. Design and content © 2004 by the HUMAN/intel- ligence Creative Group, Inc., except as otherwise credited. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without expressed permission from the Publisher. Citizen Culture Magazine (ISSN 1553-2747) is distributed by Disticor Magazine Distribution Services, 695 Westney Road South, Suite 14, Ajax, Ontario L1S 6M9 Canada. Subscriptions in the U.S., $20.00 for 12 issues. “Citizen Culture Magazine” and the “CCM” logo are trademarks. All rights reserved. a note from the E-in-C

hen a start-up publication with a mis- sion statement reaches its three-month w anniversary, it’s time to recline and reflect. We ran a fun first issue— Diversions was its theme—followed by a substantial- ly weightier second edition—Conflict in its Broadest Sense. In it we aimed to demonstrate that the responsibility derived from freedom of the press and the creativity inherent in literary journalism should, ideally, temper one another. With this third publica- tion we’ve found our footing and expanded the swath, including over one hundred pages of content ranging from the pathetically romantic (sailors seek- ing online dates, pg. 40) to the steadfastly political (the Fence section, beginning pg. 66), to the scan- dalous (pg. 50), the nostalgic (pg. 56), and the sweetly sentimental (pages 6, 8, and 65). Like we said: All Sorts of Entertainment. But something’s bothering me, and that is the misconception that in our fine country, and in our fine world, “entertainment” implies any semblance of homogeneity. As I sat down to write this note, I realized that entertainment’s inherent individuality is its essence: the common thread that binds the so- many types of entertainment—film, theatre, opera, and dance; music; wining and dining; arts, crafts, and photography; poetry, comedy, and tragedy—is that they are “entertaining,” whatever that means. Entertainment defies definition, as do we each and all. And so my eyebrows raised when I picked up an August copy of Vanity Fair and came upon, long past its deadline, a contest to have published an original article that “explain[s] the character of the American people to the rest of the world.” By the time you read this, our country will have elected itself a new president, likely amid a hail of protests, insults, and late-night-television jokes—none of which is so virulent, I hope, as to incite civil war. TV sweeps will be in swing, holiday plans and New Year’s resolutions will be lined up, and unless you’re like my family, there will be Thanksgiving leftovers still packed away in the fridge. Yet there seems to be little in the way of a concrete “American character”—such a fantasy is too simplistic to be possible, at least these days. We have American values—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; also the Bill of Rights, with the exception (perhaps) of the Second Amendment. We have American trends, for better and worse—Michael Jackson, jazz, the bellbottom, and the iPod. And we have that notoriously effective American work ethic. Still, our collective character changes, just like that which entertains. Sometimes war is a positive necessity. Sometimes it’s not. And sometimes it was but isn’t as much anymore. The perspectival possibilities certainly outnumber the voters in this country, and so we try and try again, patriotically supporting the systems that have done us fairly well for the past two centuries. For perhaps to err is human, to forgive is divine (no matter what one’s faith). But—with a bow to long-ago President Calvin Coolidge—only that we persevere in solidarity is distinctly and characteristically American.

Happy holidays and New Year, in advance.

Admiringly yours,

Jonathon Scott Feit, Editor-in-Chief on behalf of Citizen Culture Magazine C 5 CM anecdote

6 Citizen Culture anecdote DDo - IIt - YYour- L ONESOME-S ELF

Sweet, lonely, romantic dreams. On sale in bulk.

~by Jen Miller Haddonfield, NJ

ingle people shouldn’t go to Ikea alone. ent (or unwilling, and I don’t blame them based on the demon- This is something I didn’t know. Otherwise, I ic pace some of these women set while attached to their cellu- wouldn’t have ventured into the store’s aisles shortly lar devices, scribbling notes in their Palm Pilots), their couple- s after moving into my first out-of-home home—not a dom is omnipresent, reminding singles like me of what we are college dorm, nor a spare room over my parents’ garage, but a truly lacking. And all I thought I needed was something to bona fide place for me to eat, sleep, and be merry without the hold my shoes so I could store them under my bed. worry that a resident assistant or bleary-eyed parent would The only possibility of a single male was in the lighting lecture me on the imprudence of loud music and alcohol on a section where three gents bickered about lamps but gave the Tuesday night. Of course, this meant that I didn’t have much general appearance of circling with no purpose. Was it me furniture and, now shouldering the extra expenses of food and they were wandering toward? I parked my cart and walked rent, I also didn’t have much money. Off to Ikea. around, pretending that I actually had a desire for tract light- In case you live under a rock (or in Florida), Ikea is a ing. Of course, when I passed one said man, all I managed to Swedish home furnishings company. If I were translating the do was gaze at the ground and awkwardly shuffle off. I don’t store’s motto, it would say: “Hip, semi-cheap pieces of furni- know if they were paying attention, but at least they were ture that will get you through your first few rentals. Much funny. They obviously weren’t faithful viewers of Trading assembly acquired.” Spaces because they had no idea what they were looking for. There is one part of the Ikea culture, however, that I They went home empty-handed, and I left feeling a little hol- missed, that I didn’t pick up on during my previous visits with lower inside. parents or friends. Ikea is prime shopping space for newly Only when I got home and hunkered down to put the cohabitating couples. Whether they are just living together or shoeboxes together did I realize why Ikea is a couples’ store. bonded through the holy vows of matrimony, couples in their You can’t put the damn things together alone. Ikea prides twenties and thirties litter the Ikea isles. They consult. They itself on being Do-It-Yourself and simple, but it’s DIY for two, bicker. They hold hands. They kiss. They sigh over cribs, the not one. It took me two hours to put together four slats of future sparkling in their interlocked gazes. Their love is new wood and one piece of particle board. It was only after it was and under-funded. For couples, Ikea shopping means they all together, and I was sweating in heart and mind, that I dis- can make it for at least ten years, until they can ditch all of it covered that the box was too big to fit under my bed. for a house and Pottery Barn. When I returned the boxes, I brought my mom with me, and Many of those who shop alone are attached, too: glued to I have never returned to Ikea alone since. A radio report recent- cell phones, muttering, “Oh, you’d like this,” or, “This would ly said that Ikea is a hot spot to meet singles, but this socio- look great in our new living room. Do you have the dimen- phobe disagrees. And I’m not about to retest their theory—at sions?” Even when the partner is unable to be physically pres- least not without a friend or mom in tow.

C 7 CM family portrait

Grandma & Company, A Day in the Life ~by Albert Adato New Rochelle, NY

t first I’d feel a little depressed about this place. After this place, on Mary, Louie, Betty, Stella, Stanley ... while they’re all, it’s the last stop. Then I got to know its residents, still around. and the way it has a life of its own. I got to know them, I let Grandma lead the way to her room, to get a sweater a and they me, such as they could. Their faces and ways before going out for a walk. She has no idea where her room is; became familiar, their characteristics individual and rich. yet she knows to walk to the elevator, press three, turn right Mary usually sits in the same place in the main hallway; as when she gets off and head right for it. What her mind doesn’t we walk by she engages us in a brief exchange of pleasantries, know, her body still does. each time the same word for word. Ida, clutching her walker, We just exited the building onto Myrtle Avenue when it stops me and asks, “Young man, where should I go?” each time began to rain. We retreated back in and sit in the main lounge like it’s the first. And each time Louie sings in Betty’s vicinity, by a window looking out to the street now spotted by the light she tells him to shut up. But it’s to no avail. Each time, each rain. time. Rose, before she died, would tell me what a good son I “It’s raining,” she observes, as though for the first time. am. By about the fourth time I quit correcting her, that I’m We sat quietly for a while, each of us in our thoughts. Her face, Anna’s grandson. But oh, how Rose would bless me, as if she rumpled and wrinkled as it was, refused to betray her dementia. had the power to make it stick. I’d almost let myself believe it. And still too, occasionally, that sly smile that said more than Fanny, Stella, and Louise bonded; they clung together for much words would, as if she was tacitly sharing something only we of the day. When one was missing the other two would anx- knew. She had the countenance a historical document—if only iously inquire every few minutes, “Where could she be?” But I could read it. Fanny is now gone, and Stella, who is more intact than Louise, I retrieved the day’s New York Times from my black canvas must remind her of that when she asks, “Where could she be?” bag. She used to read it religiously, daily, and now she hardly And Stanley, who after ninety years hasn’t quite learned to dis- even listened to the news on radio or TV. “What’s the use,” she tinguish the world from his indulgent mother, whines and com- once said, “I can’t remember what I read or heard five minutes plains about most anything he can. I may try doing a film on ago ... maybe ten on a good day.” Like the whereabouts of her

8 Citizen Culture room, which only her body knew, she couldn’t freely recall the “I know, I know,” she snaps. “I haven’t lost my mind alto- president’s name, though she’d been left with but a vague gether, you know!” impression that he was young and a Democrat. What else has she lost? How much of who she is, or was? “You know Clinton is not very popular these days,” I said, Is she still that dedicated socialist who taught high school histo- pointing to his picture on the front page. ry and a lot more about the labor movement than her students “Clinton?” in that still-strong voice that denied her debility. would have learned otherwise? She kept the faith, against all “Yes, the president,” making sure she knew. odds, while seeing her lefty friends of long ago lapse in the face “He doesn’t look very happy.” It was a chest-up close-up of of post-war prosperity. “If there is nothing left but an ember,” him in front of a microphone, his lips tightly pressed together she once said, “I’ll blow on it.” showing how dead serious he was about something. The cap- “Howya doin’ Harry,” I greet him as he rolls up to us. tion read, “With elections a month off, the president went on “How’s the hip?” He incurred a hairline fracture a few weeks the attack yesterday.” ago. “The congressional elections are next month and the “It’s being very inconsiderate of me and taking its own Republicans might take over the congress, both the house and good time, like I’m going to live forever.” His Yiddish accent the senate ... for the first time in forty years.” comes in three modalities: funny, complaining, or the usual— “Clinton, he’s a Democrat,” she affirms, either by deduction or both at once. “Anna, I thought the fish for lunch was pretty from some vague memory or both. She was always very logical, good.” He reminds her of things like that when he can. scrupulous in securing basic points before proceeding with oth- “It’s nice of you to try to remind me, Harry.” She knows ers. So far that has remained intact within the limits of her him only when she sees him. And maybe not his name if I memory. hadn’t just mentioned it. But still she seems to know him as a “But you think the Republican are going to win?” friend. “The congressional races, it looks like. The presidential They might have known each other in the late thirties. One election isn’t for another couple of years.” day in June the three of us were sitting outside in the patio. He

C 9 CM family portrait

had come to the home only recently, soon after his wife died. those old memories, with a little prompting. Since he seemed in pretty good shape, physically and mentally, “I used to read the minutes at the meetings. They called I wondered why he’d give up his own place to live here. me the minute ma’am.” “Loneliness.” Harry chuckled and retorted, “The meetings in some build- “What about your sons, relatives, friends, the community,” ing on Union Square?” I asked. “I think so.” “One son is in California and the other in Manhattan has They fell silent looking at one another, each trying to his own life. The friends and relatives who matter are either decode the other’s timeworn face for what it might have been dead or they moved to Florida. And as for the so called commu- like over a half century ago. Neither came up with anything. nity, bingo is not for me.” Nevertheless, we occasionally speculate about that and try to “So what do you like,” Grandma asked. spring free a pivotal memory or two. “Well, the two things I liked most are sex and intelligent Harry leans over to take a closer look at the Times I placed conversation. One of them I can still do,” with a glint in his on the coffee table and remarks, “So now we’re going to get a eyes. They usually look amused; an inherent trait. I once tried Republican congress.” to imagine how they must have looked when his wife died ... “I’m afraid the country is moving further and further to the sort of creepy. right,” I reply. “How did you come to know your wife?” Grandma asked, a He shifts his weight in the wheel chair as if my comment smile left over from the laugh. She was having one of her better reminded him, like a wake up call, of his discomfort sitting too days. long in the same position. “Well, maybe labor has to suffer “We met at a demonstration in support of the Abraham more before it realizes what’s good for it. What do you think, Lincoln Brigade which went to Spain to fight Franco. It was on Anna?” Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, where the Italian consulate “I don’t think I can anymore ... think anything about that.” was.” His words seemed to come from the faraway look in his I feel sorry for Harry, like you would for a well-meaning hazel eyes. “It was winter and very cold, and thousands still unrequited lover. How he’d love to have with her those once came and filled up the whole avenue, for two or three blocks, upon a time conversations about ideas for which they had maybe more. And we shouted, ‘Lift, lift, lift the embargo on shared the same passion. While he still can, she can’t. And as Loyalist Spain,’” smiling indulgently over his precious reminis- to that passion they once shared, I think he still has it in him. cence. But what can be left of that in her? “Grandma, I remember you telling me that you helped We talk some more as the rain stops, with some sun seep- organize those demonstrations.” She can still come up with ing through the clouds. I propose going for a walk, inviting Harry to come along. He declines: “I like going for walks the old fashion way. Invite me when I’m able.” Wow! Scott’s hands must feel a lot better As we leave the building I get the since he started using those urge to go somewhere more interesting. ® I scan the possibilities, and we decide on Thergonomic Support Gloves. Soho. I score a space on Prince St., a squeeze even for my Civic, and we do the galleries, turning streets almost aimless- ly. She’s still sturdy enough for that. After an hour, maybe less, it was time to recoup. “How about the coffeehouse you once took me to,” I suggest. “You know, the one where you used to get together with friends in the old days.” It was nearby in the Village, an old haunt of hers in those long gone days when they were filled and fired with the idea of making a far far better world. I had only a vague idea of where it was and Grandma said she couldn’t remember at all. I called on her memo- ry a little more, but she insisted, “I just can’t remember. It may not even exist anymore, for all I know.” NO PAIN—YOU GAIN! “Well,” I offer, “let’s see just the Thergonomic® Hand-Aids Support Gloves are proven same,” and we proceed to walk in that to provide comfort and relief from pain and stiffness of direction. And as we get closer, she repetitive motion activities like computer processing, leads the way. music performance, and handicrafts. Sold in pairs, or as a single “Craft Glove,” in craft stores nationwide. Call 803-736-7494 for mail order sources. IT AIN’T FUNNY & IT AIN’T TRUE Exploiting Tourette Syndrome for Laughs

You see it on television and film, hear it on radio, read it in the press. A character spouts a stream of obscenities or behaves outrageously—and then it is falsely explained away as a “case of Tourette’s.”

The entertainment industry has done—and can do—better than this.

The fact is that obscene language and bizarre movements are not common symptoms of TS. Of all the youngsters and adults with this misunderstood neurological disorder, a very small percentage are prone to utter profanities. The others experience varying degrees of involuntary physical and/or vocal tics—some quite mild.

So what’s the harm? These distortions foster painful discrimination against anyone with TS looking for a job, applying to a school, or trying to make friends.

We at the Tourette Syndrome Association are always available to help.

TOURETTE SYNDROME ASSOCIATION, INC. 42-40 Bell Boulevard • Bayside • New York 11361 • (718) 224-2999 • (888) 4-TOURET http://tsa-usa.org art around the world

patchwork journey patchwork journey

~by Veronika Ruff New York, NY

apanese friends and colleagues think he’s crazy. They’re (a type of unarranged patchwork) creations using stitching not quite sure what an artist wants with their decrepit methods he learned by reading history books, studying with hand-me-downs and worn-thin dust rags. But Asian textile experts, and deconstructing ancient kimono. j Brooklyn-based textile artist Stephen Szczepanek has Looking at the artist’s work now and the antique pieces that turned his affinity for antique Japanese cloth into a inspire him, it’s difficult to miss the elements of beauty in the recycling program like no other. Using traditional Asian meth- countless shades of indigo, delicately patterned designs, and ods and materials, Szczepanek creates modern and original art immaculately stitched layers. But the antique items he uses— for the home. dust rags, fishermen’s overcoats, sake brewing bags, futon cov- Szczepanek’s bright white studio in a converted Greenpoint ers, and simple country kimono—were never intended to be factory is a far cry from the thatched-roof farmhouses of rural beautiful. pre-industrial Japan, but the work going on inside remains “We call it ‘patchwork’ now, but it wasn’t at all self-con- remarkably similar. Using bits of antique Japanese cloth that he scious then,” Szczepanek explained. “It was a practical way to and “sources” collect throughout Japan, Szczepanek sews boro patch holes, add warmth, and reuse precious materials. These

12 Citizen Culture art around the world

cloths symbolized poverty and the deplorable conditions of the suits. Soon, a vibrant trade in second-hand cotton began. By Japanese countryside. They weren’t aesthetic.” 1697, in fact, used cotton was second only to rice in traded items Szczepanek, however, immediately recognized the inherent at the Niigata port, according to Riches from Rags, a catalog beauty in these practical textiles, and based on the growing from the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum by Shin- interest in his products, others are starting to see it, too. Ichiro Yoshida and Dai Williams. Preservation societies in Japan are keeping some folk art Since the scraps of used cotton cloth did not allow the peas- (mingei) traditions alive today, but many of the practices and ants to create sailor suits, however, they combined them with materials Szczepanek employs were made nearly extinct by the asa and their own sewing or weaving techniques: sakiori, boro, wide availability of cotton and the adoption of industrial weav- and shashiko. ing methods in modern Japan. In sakiori, cottons are shredded into strips and woven with For centuries, Japan was an isolated island nation. And bast fibers (saku means “to tear,” oru means “to weave”). although it didn’t open widely for formal trade until 1854, prod- Sakiori is almost as tough as pure asa, and it is much warmer, ucts, practices, and belief systems more comfortable, and easier to infiltrated Japan primarily via make. Asian visitors who migrated from Boro (which literally means the Indian subcontinent, through “rag” in Japanese) is the collec- Southern China, and down the tive term for patched and mend- Korean Peninsula. Chief among ed Japanese textiles. Pieces of these “imports” were Buddhism second-hand cotton were layered and cotton, which would change and added to asa, all bound with the faith and face of Japan forev- a running stitch called sashiko. er. The effect? An unorganized The Japanese had always patchwork quilt with some sec- found India’s cloth “exotic,” tions of scrappy brown rags and according to Szczepanek. Lady others of beautifully patterned Murasaki made reference to an kimono. The multiple layers in Indian visitor who had a precious boro/sashiko made it especially cotton plant in her Heian Period popular in chilly northern Japan. (794-1192 A.D.) classic, The Tale When the bundles of sec- of Genji. India made and traded ond-hand cotton reached rural textiles as early as 700 B.C., ports, there were different grades according to Szczepanek, who of cotton available. The highest rattles off facts about the history quality (and most expensive) was of Asian textiles like a veritable for boro/sashiko, the lowest for Encyclopedia. “Indians figured sakiori. Though it could be left out how to color cloth with fixed, white or dyed shades of red, yel- mordant dyes … The entire low, and brown with natural process was well understood products, most cotton was dyed there very early. Indians were, in shades of blue, using indigo. and are, brilliant—the technical Indigo, another Indian mastery they used in weaving import, was popular in rural could be considered our first dig- Japan because it was cheap. “It’s ital medium, it’s basically a grid essentially a weed, and you don’t and pixels,” he said. need fancy techniques or mor- By the Edo Period (1603- dant for lasting results,” 1868) Japan had begun some cot- Szczepanek said. Farmers grew ton cultivation and the wealthier indigo leaves and brought them samurai and merchant classes were able to purchase luxury to the village dyer. When cotton is soaked in a vat of indigo, the items like silks and cottons. Feudal lords wore expensive clothes cloth turns green. As soon as it hits the air, it oxidizes into a to publicly exhibit their wealth and power, while the majority of shade of blue. The more dips, the darker the shade. Indigo even the Japanese population—the rural poor—never had clothing spawned the term, “blue-collar,” according to Szczepanek, choices to make. In the self-sufficient countryside, where diets because utilitarian workers’ clothes were always dyed in long and economies were based wholly on rice, female peasants wove lasting indigo. clothing out of natural forest bast fibers like nettle, wisteria, and Though elaborate indigo traditions and products are treas- paper mulberry. They cultivated others like hemp and ramie to ured today, the use of indigo gained popularity because of its make thread. Though neither comfortable nor warm, bast (asa) practicality for the lower classes. The authors of Riches from was tough enough to survive the hard labor. But most rural Rags call it, “an aesthetic of poverty.” Japanese did not yet know what they were missing in cotton. “Cotton brought Japan this added beauty and added Although they could not yet afford it (or government edicts warmth, but it’s nothing compared to the downs and fabrics we barred them from buying it), demand for cotton increased when have today, which is partly why these techniques and fabrics the peasants saw sailors on the shipping lines wearing cotton have come out of favor. They’re now impractical,” Szczepanek

C 13 CM art around the world

said. “Another reason, though, is that Japan’s textile traditions were completely born from poverty.” When Szczepanek first started collecting antique cottons, asa, sakiori, zookin (dust rags, the last stage of Japanese textile recycling) and boro for his art he asked Japanese friends and colleagues (in Japan) to send him any samples they could find. “Most Japanese are inveterate menders and savers. I knew there were piles of this stuff in houses all over the place, but my Japanese friends just didn’t get it,” he explained. They would send him newer textiles with one small patch of older cotton, for example. “To them, it’s embarrassing, it shows that their ances- tors were poor. There is a lot of shame associated with this material.” Exasperated by this phenomenon and his lack of ability to communicate in Japanese, Szczepanek contacted American expatriates living permanently in Japan. His small core group of top-secret “sources” scours temple markets and antique stores on the “Nara-Kyoto-Osaka junket” for textiles to send to New York (they receive a commission if a piece using their finds sells). Szczepanek said that he likes to keep their identities quiet because of the growing interest in and demand for traditional textiles. Once he gathers enough antique material (an ongoing process), Szczepanek begins his own artistic processes. To make one of his original pieces—most of which become large wall hangings, rugs, bed covers, or pieces of art mounted on canvas— he begins by deconstructing kimono, overcoats, futon covers, and other acquisitions. Next, following his instincts and eye, he combines pieces with other scraps from different eras and sto- ries. Using a traditional sashiko stitch, he reconnects the pieces by hand (“with respect for the fabric”) in a new, modern design. All of this takes at least a week of “full, crazy” days. Although Szczepanek said that he thrives on these new packed, creative days, he’s still getting used to them. He began constructing and selling his art relatively recently, but his inter- ests in art and Asia, and his burgeoning expertise in Asian tex- tiles have been brewing for years. Szczepanek has been taken with Asia “forever.” “If you knew me as a kid, what I’m doing now would make perfect sense,” he said. With two painting degrees under his belt (from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Indiana University), Szczepanek moved to New York in 1985 and undertook a variety of jobs, including mixing colors at Andy Warhol’s studios. Eventually he would become a personal curator for Steven Ross, the deceased CEO of Time Warner, and his wife Cynthia Ross Holst. Holst, whose collection ranges from early twentieth-centu- ry European decorative arts to pre-Columbian textiles to post- war American paintings by Willem DeKooning and Jackson Pollock—“It’s like a museum,” Szczepanek quipped—also has a passion for Asian art, particularly that of China and Japan, and Szczepanek frequently traveled with her to Asia to view private collections. During his ten-year stint working with Holst, Szczepanek’s biggest project was assisting her in opening the Ross School, a private school in East Hampton, New York, ded- icated to teaching children around themes of global cultural history. “The job gave me a sense of living in the world, and added to my appreciation for Asian aesthetics. Courtney and I were a perfect fit, we were interested on the same visceral level,” he said. “The job also gave me an external framework

14 Citizen Culture art around the world

for my own internal thinking.” By the late ’90s, however, Szczepanek was ready to estab- lish a new external framework. He had become increasingly interested in Asian textiles during personal travels to India in the mid-’90s and work-related travels to Japan with Holst. “I became fascinated first by Indian textiles because since India is so vast, each teeny neighborhood has its own weaving tradition, laden with meanings expressed by specific colors and symbols. It’s symbolism embedded in cloth,” he said. Soon, he moved on to Japanese textiles. “Who isn’t inter- ested in Japan if you’re interested in design? It goes without saying,” he explained. Szczepanek noticed that in Japan’s cloth, he could see traces of Indian tradition. “It’s all there,” he said. Basically, Szczepanek followed the same trail as cotton and Buddhism—taking his interest in India’s textiles through China to Japan, where he made traditions his own. “I became more and more fascinated by the beauty and language of textiles and what it says about the culture,” he said. “And textile is surface design, so it’s not all that different from painting, which is what I had a background in.” When Szczepanek started making his own boro designs, he felt like the new kid on the block, he said. “I had the passion and the interest in it, and an understanding of Asian art and Western painting, but not much else,” he said. He was relieved when Amy Katoh—an American who has lived most of her life in Japan and is now an expert on Japanese country living and indigo traditions—visited his studios after reading about him in a British interiors magazine. “She made me feel validated, like I was on to something,” he said. Since then, she has become a strong supporter of his art, even carry- ing some of his products in her Tokyo boutique, Blue and White. Katoh’s support was just the beginning. Since then, Szczepanek’s “buzz” has been getting louder. His client list now includes designers Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, private art dealer Christina Grajales, and antique furniture dealer Lou Marotta. Elite stores such as Donna Karan New York, Forty Five Ten in Dallas, and the New York branch of the Japanese department store, Takashimaya, have all carried his work. Through his own textile artisan company, ‘Sri, named in honor of the Hindu goddess of abundance, Szczepanek gets numerous one-of-a-kind custom orders (his favorite) and also sells some of the rare antique pieces he collects, though he finds that he can’t part with a lot of it. When he “restores” antique textiles, it’s impossible to tell where he’s been. “I patch the weak spaces, but I always leave a key in the back—a slit where you can see down to all the original layers. So while I do work my design sense into it, there’s still a cohesive- ness,” he said. “Sometimes I can’t even tell what I did!” One of his most treasured pieces is a tiny, mostly asa kimono, most likely from northern Japan. It looks so fragile it seems it will crumble in his hands at any second. “It’s a blue- print to a life, the life of a woman who worked hard. She wouldn’t have worn an obi, probably tied it with a rope,” he said. It’s definitely one of his oldest pieces, probably from the Edo Period. Szczepanek plans to use it someday, “but not quite yet,” he revealed with a guilty smile. Szczepanek also showed off a boro futon cover made with cotton scraps from the Meiji (1868-1912) and Edo Periods. Because of its asa hemp stitches, he is quite sure that its maker had just enough money for the cotton cloth, but couldn’t afford

C 15 CM art around the world

the stitching as well. “It’s just beautiful—layers over time,” he with an abstract geometric design—from the nineteenth centu- said. ry or earlier are very difficult to find today. If one does hit the In addition to his larger boro works and antique pieces, market, it costs between thirty and forty thousand dollars, Szczepanek keeps busy by expanding ‘Sri’s offerings, including according to Szczepanek. its home collection, which features boro/sashiko-styled pillows, “I like introducing pojagi to interior designers and archi- tabletop accessories made from asa and antique sakebukuro tects because they’ve never seen it before and they’re always in (sake brewing bags), rugs, custom window panels, and some awe of its beauty and modern lines,” he said. “Korea is an clothing. unsung hero of Asia, for design and otherwise. Japan owes so He recently started a new line with a Japanese weaver born much to Korea’s design history—Koreans know it, Japanese in Arimatsu, the epicenter of shibori. Hiroko Takeda is a “tech- know it, but globally, people don’t know about it … Korea was nically very competent, but out there” designer who is weaving just left behind.” cashmere sakiori for ‘Sri. And Szczepanek is developing a con- Szczepanek is visibly excited about the reaction he’s gotten sumer line, for which everything will still be hand-made, just from clients and fellow artists. “I’m lucky. People have been “slightly more mass-produced for stores.” really interested in what I’m doing,” he said. It’s no surprise Lest he grew bored, Szczepanek recently began investigat- really—his passion for these rare, nearly forgotten Asian textiles ing a nearly lost, relatively unknown Korean textile art called is unavoidably contagious, his sensitive academic approach to pojagi. “I’ve never been to Korea, but I saw these traditional the traditions of international cultures admirable. utilitarian cloths, and was immediately struck by them. They “A lot of this goes back to my role as a curator—teaching, are so appealing to the modern eye—very Frank Lloyd Wright,” sharing things. Helping people realize what this culture is, what he explained. these traditions are,” he said. “As a Western designer, I’m very Because a museum in Seoul has collected most of them, influenced by the traditions of other cultures. I just reinfuse pojagi—very delicately sewn wrapping cloths, usually adorned and reteach those traditions.”

16 Citizen Culture

ccm investigates

Hare Krishna Comes of Age

~by Michael Kress Cambridge, MA

uper Bowl Sunday, and Boston is fixated on its For support, they look to their religious community, put- Patriots. But here, in Boston’s chic Back Bay, I’m ting ISKCON in a role it is not accustomed to playing. “We’re with just about the only people not thinking of foot- addressing the needs of their kids for Sunday School and park- s ball. Here, as most pre-game parties are starting, a ing lots and playgrounds,” says Anuttama Dasa, an ISKCON horn sounds, and a familiar chant is repeated over and over: leader and spokesman. “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna ... ” He speaks enthusiastically about committees, training pro- If you thought the Hare Krishnas faded away with bell bot- grams, and systems—just the kind of institutionalization that toms and disco, the scene at 72 Commonwealth Avenue in early converts to ISKCON were fleeing in the mainstream. Boston tells a different story. This former boarding house “Twenty-year-olds who are single can live pretty simply,” serves as the local temple of the International Society for Anuttama says. “You don’t need playgrounds if your whole Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)—the group more commonly community is twenty-year-olds. You may not need marriage known simply as the Hare Krishnas. counseling. You may not need to deal with a lot of the different While their mantra may bring many back to a bygone Free kinds of social issues that churches and synagogues all over the Love era, a look at the worshippers this Sunday makes clear country deal with.” these are vastly different Hare Krishnas than those who were It was has not been an easy transition, but without it, once ubiquitous in American cities. Thirty years ago, this room ISKCON could easily have faded away into irrelevance like would have been packed with devotees looking every bit the so many spiritual fads. That it’s still here is a testament to stereotype: white, young, and wearing colorful robes, the men the dedication of its members. But its history—which sporting heads shaven except for one tuft at the crown of their includes a devastating sexual abuse scandal not unlike scalp. what’s happened in the Catholic Church—also provides a This is 2004, though, and these are the faces of Krishna in cautionary tale about the dangers of unbridled spiritual exu- the twenty-first century. berance and what it takes to “make it” as a religion in In 2004, the robed monks are still here, but fewer in num- America. Four decades after its founding, ISKCON is today ber. They’re worshipping alongside people dressed in jeans or caught in limbo, hopeful for a bright future while facing other casual clothes. Maybe half the faces are white, and the immense challenges. rest belong to Indian immigrants and their American-born chil- dren. They are students, pharmacists, stay-at-home moms. If they weren’t here, chanting in praise of a Hindu deity whose * likeness graces the ornate altar, they would be at any of the It was on another Super Bowl Sunday, this one in 1992, Super Bowl parties going on right now (and to which many wor- that Paul Swinford first stepped into a Hare Krishna temple. shippers are heading afterward). Fourteen years later, now known as Premananda Dasa, he is “It’s entirely possible these days that a Hare Krishna could pastor of the Boston community. be living next door to you and you wouldn’t know it,” says After college, Swinford worked in grassroots politics before Middlebury College professor Burke Rochford, who has studied joining the corporate world to pay off debts. He developed an ISKCON since the 1970s. “They’re just now part of the culture interest in spirituality and was intrigued by the personal rela- in ways that the average person couldn’t have imagined some tionship with God promised by the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu twenty or twenty-five years ago ... Now we’re looking at what I scripture central to ISKCON. After that first Sunday service, he just think of as an American religious community.” started attending regularly and worshipping at home. Today’s Hare Krishnas live as part of—not apart from— He then took a step that is increasingly rare, quitting his mainstream American society. The overwhelming majority job to move into the temple. There, he eschewed bookselling— make their homes outside the temple, work in secular profes- the occupation of most temple residents back then—and sions, get married, have children—and cope with all the accom- instead assumed a variety of administrative roles: treasurer, panying anxieties, like paying rent, finding excellent schools for secretary, congregational director. their children, and being good citizens. At forty, Premananda is again adapting to a major transi-

18 Citizen Culture ccm investigates

tion. After living in the temple for ten years, he got married last “Our duty is to make sure we create communities and an year and moved to New Hampshire, where his wife, also a Hare institution that care for the variety of people’s needs,” Krishna, works for a financial services company. He continues Anuttama says. to volunteer full-time for the temple. Among other adjust- Premananda dreams of someday opening a seminary in ments, Premananda has joined America’s commuter class, Boston and establishing a rural community to supplement the driving ninety minutes to the place he called home for a decade. urban temple. But first there’s the business of smoothing out Like ISKCON, the Boston community is at a pivotal everyday management operations and strengthening the com- moment in its history. mitment of existing congregants. The temple is undergoing a major management reorgani- Before leaving his office, I comment on a bookcase promi- zation, and with only sixteen devotees living in-house, leader- nently displaying a surprising title: Nori Muster’s Betrayal of ship will be key. Premananda speaks about “cultivating congre- the Spirit, a bitter memoir of the author’s involvement in gational leadership” and “systematizing” management. A com- ISKCON during its reckless youth. The name alone made me mittee will articulate a long-term vision for the temple, and a assume that people like Premananda would treat the book deri- “theological director” will be named. sively, but he accepts Muster’s rebuke. “Will we be a community that continues to struggle with “It’s something that helps to remind me I have a position of just a few devotees taking responsibility and some degree of a responsibility in the temple,” Premananda says. “If we don’t revolving door, people coming and going?” Premananda, wear- learn from the past, I’m afraid we’ll repeat it.” ing Western rather than devotional clothes for the first time since we met, asks during a conversation in his temple office. “Or will we go where the primary source of our stability and * strength is—the congregation—and inspire members of the When an elderly monk arrived in New York by ship in congregation to take more leadership roles, more responsibility September 1965, no one would have predicted that he would roles?” establish the first major orthodox Hindu presence in the West— Boston’s Hare Krishnas range in commitment from occa- for Westerners. sional attendance to near-constant presence. Young couples The story of the man known as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and their toddlers represent hope for the future, while devotees Prabhupada is lore among Hare Krishnas. Inspired by his guru in their fifties and sixties constitute a solid foundation. to spread Krishna Consciousness in the West, Prabhupada left “When ISKCON started, it was a missionary organization, India at age sixty-nine, began to gather disciples by chanting in and most of the emphasis was placed on expanding the mis- New York’s Tompkins Square Park, and launched the sion,” Premananda says. “Right now our primary emphasis is International Society for Krishna Consciousness in July 1966. more liturgical and pastoral.” With public chanting and proselytizing in places like airports, Throughout ISKCON, similar transformations are taking ISKCON grew rapidly, attracting disaffected youth and the place. Temple presidents attend management courses, coun- occasional cultural icon (former Beatle George Harrison among selors offer premarital classes, and lay leaders worry about col- them). lege acceptances among day-school students. Congregations Four decades later, the movement maintains fifty temples participate in interfaith activities— they run social service pro- in the United States and nearly four hundred worldwide. It grams and build parking lots and playgrounds. claims one hundred thousand domestic adherents in the U.S.

C 19 CM ccm investigates

and one million abroad (though scholars estimate the numbers Despite the success of those heady early days, ISKCON’s are likely much smaller). problems germinated. Living chaste and temperate lives Prabhupada brought with him a monotheistic Hinduism under a guru’s authority was difficult for these refugees from known as Gaudiya Vaishnava, which is based on the teachings an anything goes counterculture; many never abandoned the of the fifteenth-century Bengali monk Caitanya. Caitanya sex or drugs they’d vowed to live without. Some refused to ini- preached devotion through simple living and the repetitive tiate women, rallied against female sexuality, and were even chanting of the Lord’s name, giving birth to the mantra that abusive to women and children. defines ISKCON in the Western mind. Living “Krishna con- “I don’t think Prabhupada was expecting the movement to scious” starts with refraining from four activities: gambling, explode the way it did, and it did. So you had one elderly swami intoxication, eating meat, and illicit sex, which means sex out- and the next thing, you had tens of thousands of disciples. side of marriage and for purposes other than procreation with- Who’s going to manage all those people?” says Edwin Bryant, a in marriage. In America, Prabhupada adapted the tradition in professor of religion at Rutgers University and co-editor of The some ways—most notably by initiating women into the priest- Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a hood, which had not been done in India. Religious Transplant. “Kids that were one minute smoking pot Prabhupada’s early disciples took to it with such zeal that and living hedonistic lifestyles, the next minute they were being a serious Hare Krishna came to mean the total commit- shaved up and they were temple presidents.” ment to monasticism. Book distribution and proselytizing Prabhupada “left the planet”—a Hare Krishna euphemism became their primary focuses. The monks severed ties with for death—in 1977, as the movement was still expanding. their former lives, denounced the outside world, and through Instead of appointing a successor, he left ISKCON in the hands missionary work, encouraged—often even pressured—new of a coterie of gurus known as the Governing Body Commission recruits to do the same. (GBC). From the beginning, ISKCON faced hostility, as Americans Leadership struggles and misbehavior throughout the took one look at the youth, robed and shaven, and cried “cult.” 1980s led to ISKCON’s first major exodus of devotees. That was Ironically, it was partly ISKCON’s fidelity to tradition that also when devotees began moving out of the temples en masse made Americans uncomfortable. While other Eastern trans- for marriage and jobs, and because ISKCON’s financial prob- plants—Transcendental Meditation, for instance—didn’t lems made supporting large numbers of monks unfeasible. demand major lifestyle changes, Prabhupada’s followers fully embraced Indian religion and culture. “Dancing in the streets with okra robes on your men, * women in saris with the red dot on their forehead, and reciting Valuing the nuclear family may not seem revolutionary, in Bengali old Krishna stories that originate from the sixteenth- but to many of Hare Krishna’s earliest devotees, children were century is absolutely deemed to be cultic,” says Larry Shinn, little more than a distraction. “Dump the load and hit the president of Berea College and author of Dark Lord: Cult road,” went a saying about pregnant women in ISKCON. Images and the Hare Krishnas in America (1987). “But the Take Ananda Tiller. Born in 1975 to Hare Krishna parents, ‘strange’ behavior is really Indian and Hindu. It’s not some Tiller was enrolled in the Dallas gurukula (boarding school) aberrant human being who’s developed this system in the last when she was four. Her father was the community’s head ten or fifteen years.” priest, but he had little interaction with Tiller and her brother.

20 Citizen Culture ccm investigates

Their mother was off proselytizing and made only occasional says. visits. Critics, though, say the changes don’t run deep enough. At the gurukulas, students encountered a rigorous curricu- “There are some really wonderful, smart, liberal people who lum of religious instruction, and Tiller says she learned to write were always jumping up and down saying that something had her name in Sanskrit before English. Teachers—entirely to be done,” says Maria Ekstrand, a longtime Hare Krishna and untrained professionally—contested the evils of the outside a vocal ISKCON critic. “But the only reason the rest of them lis- world, with which children had few encounters. tened was out of fear of what would happen if they didn’t.” Tiller recalls vividly hearing the sound of her brother Modeled after Indian boarding schools, the gurukulas screaming from the adjacent boys’ ashram one night. “It were supposed to create a new generation of committed sounded like he was being tortured,” she says. She didn’t fare Krishnas, but the schools failed their children in a tragic way. any better, enduring physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. “As “They were going to be the future leaders,” Bryant says. a child, my body, mind, soul—everything—was given to this “Instead, the vast, vast, vast majority all left.” God and given to these people, and they took it all, even my six- Today, the movement has abandoned gurukulas in favor year-old body,” she says. of a Western model—Sunday schools and day schools. Change, In 1986, Tiller and her brother switched to public school, of course, never comes easy, and conservatives continue to where she was terrified. “We really never left that city block resist reform. A couple of independently-run gurukulas, not when we were in Dallas, and all we knew was that the outside officially ISKCON-affiliated, continue to operate, and some world were these devilish meat eaters that were going to poison gurus are said to still pressure proselytes to sever ties and move our minds,” she says. into the temple. But for the vast majority, family and home Tiller’s teen years were filled with drugs, sex, and suicide have replaced mission and temple as the center of Hare Krishna attempts. Other gurukula alumni are homeless and some kill life. themselves. Today, Tiller is a mother and has been striving to Many observers credit ISKCON for dealing proactively recover from the trauma. with the tragedy once it was revealed. But the attorney spear- Part of moving on was joining a four hundred million dol- heading the lawsuit, a veteran of such suits, says the abuse lar lawsuit brought against ISKCON by nearly one hundred for- described by gurukula alumni is the worst he has encoun- mer gurukula students. At first unsure about joining, Tiller vis- tered—including beyond that of the Catholic Church. It will ited the Dallas temple in 2001 for the first time in fifteen years. take years for ISKCON to fully move past the tragedy, just as it “These memories just started flooding me,” she says. “I became will take a lifetime for the victims to feel whole again. very bitter and wanted to see some changes.” Krishna leaders say those changes have happened already. By the time the suit was filed, ISKCON had been reeling from * the scandal for a decade, since the first whispers about abuse in “Child Protection Office Closing!” The article, written by the gurukulas began circulating in the early 1990s. In 1996, a the head of the office, appears on a Hare Krishna web site in group of alumni made a presentation to the GBC describing early February, and blames “tens of thousands of dollars in their experiences, and around that time, ISKCON closed the unfulfilled pledges” for the demise of the six-year-old office. last of its North American gurukulas. I asked Anuttama about it. He says he has funds saved for ISKCON established two organizations in response to the the office and is aggressively fundraising to keep it open. “I will revelations. Children of Krishna offers support and financial die before that office closes,” he insists. compensation to victims; it has distributed about two hundred Though a false alarm this time, the office’s budget has fifty thousand dollars. The Child Protection Office has three indeed shrunk yearly. Nevertheless, it has investigated about purposes—investigation and adjudication of abuse allegations; three hundred alleged abusers, and adjudicated about one hun- grants to victims; and establishing awareness and protection dred cases. Punishments include banishment from leadership programs in temples and schools. positions, restitution, and written apologies. Lately, the office The editor of an official ISKCON publication asked has run several healing seminars for abuse victims and devel- Rochford to write a no-holds-barred article documenting the oped prevention programs. abuse. It was published in 1999, and ISKCON’s revelation of Many see the process as inherently flawed. the horrors that took place in its schools became international “The GBC is trying to police itself, which never really works news. The lawsuit was filed soon afterward. Saying they have in an organization,” Ekstrand says. “If you are accused of doing nowhere near the four hundred million dollars demanded by these horrible things, I think the only thing to do is open up and the suit—a claim scholars have confirmed—several of the tem- allow professional outsiders to investigate what happened, let ples named in the suit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec- them make decisions based on their investigation, and let those tion. This allows them to negotiate a settlement while ensuring decisions stand.” the temples retain enough funds to stay open. As part of the She says the Child Protection Office’s decisions aren’t process, ISKCON invited any abused gurukula alumni to sub- always followed, and the office is not empowered to mete out mit a claim. About four hundred additional claimants came severe punishments, such as perpetual banishment from teach- forward. The settlement process could be completed by the end ing positions. If an abuser truly repents, Ekstrand says, “You of this year. should probably go and wash dishes and clean toilets and show ISKCON officials insist they are working not just to salvage that you’re really humble and you regret things.” temples but to do right by the victims. “As individual devotees, To most Hare Krishnas, the abuse tragedy is not an every- and as parents, and as elders, and as an institution, we bear a day presence. Hare Krishnas that I encountered expressed var- tremendous moral responsibility to help these kids,” Anuttama ied reactions to the scandals. Some say that many religions

C 21 CM ccm investigates

have to deal with abuse, so ISKCON isn’t unique. Others rele- that doesn’t look to India for names, clothing, food, and liturgy. gate it to the past, and trust that ISKCON has eradicated it. Still “If we are to have a future—and I believe we are—then we have others consign themselves to the knowledge that the perpetra- to adopt forms that are more constant with Western styles,” he tors were acting against Krishna’s teachings and won’t be says. allowed to do so again. Listening to him muse about the future, it is easy to forget A fourth reaction was best summed up in the words of the challenges threatening ISKCON. Mangala-Arotick Dasi, a twenty-eight-year-old convert who As Nitai’s story shows, ISKCON and Krishna lives with her husband near the Boston temple. “I feel respon- Consciousness are no longer synonymous. Dissenting groups sible. Just by aligning myself with this society, and with this siphon off ISKCON members, while many other individuals group, I’ve voluntarily taken on that experience, that identity, worship privately, without temple affiliation. “The tradition and that responsibility.” has taken root here,” Ekstrand says, “but the more time that goes by, it seems that ISKCON does not have a monopoly any- more.” * Additionally, a major demographics problem looms. Worship over, it’s time to feast. The vegetarian meal is Though there are dedicated young people in Boston, new con- prasadam, itself an offering to Krishna. As the congregation verts are rare and missionary activity is no longer a priority. fans out to eat and socialize, I sit with Nimai Nitai, who, at fifty- The children of early converts have mostly fled the movement, two years old, is something of something of an elder statesman scarred by their gurukula experiences. at the Boston temple. Outside of this community, Nitai is One source of vitality for ISKCON has been Indian immi- Nicolas Carballeira, a doctor of naturopathy who teaches at grants, without whom many temples would be in serious trou- Tufts Medical School and works at a health center. A Hare ble. In some places, ISKCON offers the only Hindu worship, Krishna since 1977, he is retiring this summer to move into the but even given options, many choose ISKCON. The movement, temple, where he will offer counsel and train young devotees. though, remains almost entirely run by white converts, and in As his prasadam gets cold, he tells me how he left ISKCON many temples, the two groups scarcely mix. in the mid-1990s and returned five years later. “We may have, in time, the very curious possibility of hav- “I had some gurus who fell down and left the movement,” ing a largely East Indian congregation with white-faced he says, “and I didn’t feel that ISKCON was doing its job of Westerners preaching and serving on the altar in Hindu tem- making sure that spirituality was the first and foremost thing.” ples to a congregation of Indian people,” Rochford says. Leaving did not mean abandoning Krishna, as Nitai joined And then there are financial qualms. Bookselling, once an India-based Hindu sect whose founder came from the same the movement’s economic backbone, no longer provides sub- spiritual lineage as Prabhupada. But he returned to ISKCON in stantial income. Communities rely on donations, and, 2001 after realizing the difficulty of practicing without a com- Rochford says, “they’re struggling in most every instance to get munity. He found it a vastly changed ISKCON. “Now that the by.” movement is poor—surviving, but poor—those who have But that’s true only in North America. Abroad, ISKCON is remained have remained because they truly believe, they truly thriving—especially in India, where this Hindu movement practice, and they truly care,” he says. founded for Westerners is surprisingly popular. Bryant sug- Nitai dreams of creating a fully American ISKCON, one gests that for Indians eager to modernize, ISKCON offers a

22 Citizen Culture ccm investigates

bridge between past and present, as a traditional religion “But at the same time,” Ekstrand warns, “there is a very strong imported from the coveted West. fundamentalist contingent, and they are going to be fighting But when it comes to child abuse awareness in India, all of this tooth and nail.” Anuttama says, “They’re where we were twenty years ago,” For their part, ISKCON leaders are finding that doing the meaning they are in denial. At least one American who over- things an American religion does is not easy. For an American saw an American gurukula rife with abuse is rumored to be religion to reach the proper balance between institutionaliza- teaching in India. tion and expressive spirituality is a major challenge, says Still, the movement’s stunning new Indian temples Anuttama, who, like many Hare Krishnas, joined ISKCON to attract VIPs and pilgrims alike, while in America, ISKCON escape organized religion. labors just to keep its existing temples open. “The future is “How do you address those broader needs of parking lots going to be one of continual change, but I think it’s going to be and playgrounds and marriage counseling but not lose the one where a movement that’s already struggling, financially essential spirituality that inspires religious people?” he asks. and otherwise, is likely to continue to struggle,” Rochford However, he offers a vague but optimistic answer centering on says. ISKCON’s values. “People become overwhelmed with wanting The struggle is not just for resources—the soul of ISKCON to possess more and own more and lust for power and eco- is at stake. Battles rage on many fronts—the role of women; nomic exploitation. If we stay true to our principles, then we denominational authority versus local autonomy; the limits of will be okay.” dissent; the abuse and attempts to eradicate it. Schisms. Lagging attendance. Debates over women’s It would seem that the liberals are winning. More women issues and the limits of religious authority. Struggles to main- than ever serve as leaders. Web sites feature vociferous tain spiritual focus amid pressing material needs. Sounds debate on everything from theology to the lawsuit, and child eerily like an American religion. If the Hare Krishnas figure it abuse prevention is a clear priority to most ISKCON leaders. out, maybe they can inform the rest of us.

C 23 CM T HIS AMERICAN LIFE

FARSEEING ~by Peter Rutenberg Los Angeles, CA

Disclaimer: Nothing in this medium should be taken to reflect “real life” as we know it. It’s Another World. I’m not referring to the soap, of course, but wagging a disconsolate finger in the general direction of myopic American television. Rest assured that it is a tireless finger.

n the 1950s, the TV world was black and white in have awoken at last from the long winter of its government- every respect. Lucy was “expecting” and millions embedded discontent. MTV has amnesia. PBS remains laughed along with the Ricardos’ and Mertzes’ provocative when it isn’t hoovering our pockets for pledges. i antics just trying to get to the hospital. The Lone Only the premium cable channels seem to have retained the Ranger showed up in the nick of time and left before the thank- backbone of their creativity. But then, HBO is only too happy to yous got maudlin. Our Miss Brooks was the world’s wisest- remind us that the one thing it isn’t is television. cracking authority on teenagers, Oedipal bachelors, and her I suppose I should explain the title. In German, television tea-potted tempest of a principal. Walter Cronkite read the is pronounced Fernsehen (lit. “far-seeing”). What you “see” is, news and that’s the way it was. We trusted them. They never obviously, coming from “far” away. What’s more, you don’t disappointed us. “watch” it, you “look” at it. A lot of German technical words are Who do we trust, now that Johnny Carson has retired to like that—literal translations of their Greek and Latin cognates. Malibu? ABC has outsized mouse ears. NBC is becoming We Americans, on the contrary, are expected to watch our tele- Universally blah with its maybe-see tv. And CBS would Rather visions. Otherwise, they might get away from us, unguarded, not divulge its sources. Fox is one innoculation away from an unloved, and unwilling to be merely observed with the afore- STD. Fox News is so ingrown with neocon invective, you can’t mentioned Teutonic aloofness. tell where the corporate hair up its ass ends and the pus-filled It’s a cultural difference of minor but telling import. follicle that sprung it begins. The WB is so-so. CNN appears to Although they try hard to pretend otherwise, we forget just how

24 Citizen Culture T HIS AMERICAN LIFE far removed in place and time these shows are from our daily was marred by variable audio levels and an audacious misap- arcs. We can lose our perspective and be easily swept away by propriation of that catchy but overused Ford commercial jazz the vicarious fantasies they offer, drifting into a hypnotic state, riff. The plot sank quicker than this sentence into the clutches insidiously abetted by the unseen, but incessant, effects of the of kitschy cliché-dom, with a bomb scare, a loose dog, a loose mechanism’s frame lines. Well, my little couch potatoes, they terrorist-or-is-he, a loose security chief who at last is loosed don’t call it “horizontal hold” for nothing. from his job for being a little loose with security, and, for the Friends spoofed this other-worldly aspect of television coup de grace, Operation “Chinese Orphan Exodus.” when they all imagined “what if we had different lives.” Joey The second episode proffered more vapid story lines had become a superstar on Days of Our Lives and Rachel, hav- (bemoaning the inconvenience of the wetlands preserve at the ing married her philandering dentist after all, was a refugee end of the runways, “bumping” an entire little league team on from suburbia who couldn’t see that Joey was anything differ- their way to the championship game, et cetera, ad nauseam). ent from the character he played. The “avid fan” syndrome had The lone ray of hope shone through the sidelight characteriza- completely severed her link to real life. Every TV set should tion of the drunken cop, Harry Engels (sympathetically played have a giant Las Vegas-style neon sign on the front that flashes, by Frank John Hughes), who somehow managed to make his “Yeah, like that will ever happen to you!” collar, despite filling his big-gulp soda cup with mini-bottles of It won’t surprise you to learn, then, that I approached the vodka and barely concealing his staggering and blurred vision. onslaught of the new fall line-up with the paralyzed alarm of a The question that kept creeping into my mind was, “What desert rodent on its dark, one-way trip to the noisy end of the LAX did they model their set after?” The interior is spacious rattlesnake. But that’s the way the networks like you—numb and quiet—a veritable oasis of relaxed travel convenience— and with a fixed gaze. when, in reality, the LAX I know and have come to detest is Peter Sellers’ character in the 1979 film Being There “liked loud, disorganized, crowded, and populated with security to watch.” Intellectual characters figured him for an astute goons whose sole job seems to be the harassment of clientele at observer of the human condition. Friskier types pegged him a every step from the curb to the gate. L.A.’s Mayor Hahn’s ill- voyeur. But we all knew he meant “television.” These days you conceived plan to “upgrade” the actual airport (as in, from a D have to be both frisky and astute just to hold your own with to an F!) is the only worse thing imaginable for LAX. most television programs. Here’s the long and short of it, for a select few. Rating: NIX.

Freshest Attitude: Blue Collar TV * One Tree Hill. One wee nil. Jeff Foxworthy and company bring hilarity in kaleidoscop- ic array with perfectly-honed hayseed humor. There’s some- * thing for everybody, especially those of us who remember when Unsinkable Texas Soccer Mom: Reba formulaic TV was just a jagged glimmer in some network wonk’s eye, when the thrill of pushing the envelope (early I have to admit I’ve had a crush on Reba McEntire ever Saturday Night Live, Laugh-In, and That Was The Week That since she exploded onto the country music scene with great Was before them) was not met with protests from hell’s-fury- songs, style, and a litany of awards beginning in the mid-1980s. oppositionists who would “rather direct” than turn off the tube. She was the genuine article, never more so than when confront- In one sketch, Foxworthy’s paean to the plight of the pater ed with the tragic loss of her band in a plane crash. Out of that familias on holiday sets an exemplary tone: “Dads rarely have a intense grief sprang a resilience of spirit that amazes to this good time on vacation,” he snickers, introducing a yarn whose day. The series theme song wails her steadfast proclamation protagonist is a sleep-deprived human cash machine with a dri- that she is, indeed, “a survivor.” She knocked ’em dead on ver’s license, spewing dollars faster than an AK-47, eventually Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun and took Hollywood by storm becoming the snarling antagonist in a delirious dither for which with the just-right combination of emotions and believable (if the only antidote is—God help him—another vacation. slightly shallow) stable of characters that populate her hit Friday night TV series. Reba is about a divorced mother of Rating: Looks like deep-fried catfish with home fries. Tastes three, redefining her shattered world with equal parts grace like Saumon en croûte avec Pommes Anna. and humor. Among the well-cast cast is supporting actor Steve Howey in the role of Van—the ebullient doofus of a live-in son- * in-law, who, like any good clown, finds a way to make you think It turns out that Superboy can fly, and without a cape yet. Who amid the laughter. The scripts do the same, as a matter of poli- knew? cy, with lines like, “We may be from a broken home, but at least * it’s still intact.” First you laugh, then you get it. Been There, Don’t Go There: LAX Rating: Reba rocks.

Heather Locklear is proof that cats not only have nine lives, * Homer Simpson’s fourth-wall-smashing MasterCard com- but each one is slicker than the last. Is this the last? Pit her mercial? Priceless! Almost makes me want to go deeper in debt. against Blair Underwood, a pretty, sly dog himself, and let the caterwauling and territory marking begin. The debut episode * C 25 CM T HIS AMERICAN LIFE

The Sorrowful and the Driven: Everwood personnel. Like Gold Rush boomtowns, not everyone strikes it rich. Not everyone can, for neither opportunity nor training can Usually, shows about doctors focus on their patients’ prob- guarantee a successful or even passable product. It might get lems. In Everwood’s case, it’s about the doctors’ and their fam- you a Pontiac and a large tax bill, but that’s another story. And ilies’ problems, and rarely medical ones at that. Patients do play forget great art. For that, you need talent, craft, and inspiration, minor roles, but their presence is merely a mechanism for the and even then, “The Muse must find you worthy,” as they say. delivery of not-so-subtle public service messages about birth The other continuum is the compulsive-gambler-risk fac- control, the threat of AIDS, and the dangers of obesity. It’s tor. You’ve seen him at the racetrack or the craps table ... agitat- patently artificial, but in a land where medical services and the ed, sweating, fearful, all his chips on the old lucky number. This average citizen’s understanding of them are less and less a is his last chance. In television, this is the basis of what I call the given, the show provides a necessary source of basic informa- formula-fortune dichotomy. The reasoning goes, if I hire the tion to a wider audience. Kudos on that score. Of course, with same people, do the same thing, and throw enough money at death being both the single act from which Everwood’s story- what worked in the past, I’ll have a hit. (If you’re Dick Wolf, lines spring, as well as the looming consequence of every seri- with his Law and Order dynasty, maybe. Yet not all aspects of ous condition it treats, there is a genuine melancholy that hov- his formulae are formulaic, and therein lies his success!) ers like a fog in the rarified air of this mountain town. These types underestimate the true value of fresh inspira- Everwood is a town of emotional “icebergs” whose tips jut tion; they’ve never encountered The Muse, it would seem; and above the horizon just often enough to remind us of their por- they don’t appear to understand how so-called reliable ele- tent. It is populated with people who have real problems, make ments can all too easily yield unreliable results. Great chefs will bad choices, and pay dear consequences. In this reflecting pool, tell you of their greatest failures, all the right ingredients we can—if we choose—see our own character flaws and, per- notwithstanding. Artists are, by definition, the only ones who haps, understand what hard work it takes to overcome them. create something from nothing; in other words, who have the Rich dramatic textures, intelligent scripts, and rotating break- requisite talent, skills, and inspiration, in proper balance, to out bands featured on the soundtrack all add up to a durable conjure The Muse and deliver something the world has never and, ultimately, hopeful saga, elucidating the imperfect but not seen before. They are the only ones who should be trusted to do really ordinary people who are constantly challenged by the so. Network executives aren’t really able to replay a previously choices free will affords. successful formula any more than gamblers are able to predict, with certainty, the outcome of a game of chance. Still, no great Rating: “Rocky” mountain highs. work of art ever arose without taking that chance. Nevertheless, with so much at stake, the network execs can’t take them. * Neither can they afford to wait for chemistry to develop. There are, it seems, only instant hits and instant failures. In acts of What I Like About You. Can’t think of anything. OK, just ultimate cowardice, they eschew the courage of what should be one: the girl-on-girl pudding fight, about which star Amanda their convictions, if they had any. Bynes’ new British rocker-boyfriend exclaims, “God Bless So now, in the main, we have a surfeit of cable channels, America!” with their large pool of trained workers and narrower division of subject matter, all in direct competition with the old network * model. We have premium services such as HBO and Showtime that, for the simple reason of being commercial-free, can and Joey. Phooey. do take chances. We have other forms of at-home entertain- ment—computers and game boxes with joysticks, not to men- tion state-of-the-art home theater systems and surround-sound * super-audio. The networks are losing audience and desperately trying to reclaim their relevance. Advertisers are understand- So how is it that the advent of “color” television some 40 ably looking to cut their investments. The system is rotting years ago was able to take a relatively pristine medium (never from the inside out. mind the early game show scandals!) and, with a few notable What's missing? In a word: vision. In another: perspective. exceptions, turn it to a vast, gray wasteland? In a last: corporate cojones. What's taken their place? Micro- At a minimum there are two continuums to scan. One is managing and fretting over minutiae: art-free business man- the “concentration-of-creative-talent” factor. When there were agement has supplanted creative leadership and risk-taking. three networks that controlled the national airwaves, each Research and Development, and the endless stream of focus major market had at most seven stations—the affiliates and groups who provide their fodder, are focused too tightly and four independents—and minor markets had fewer. All of the narrowly: “Here's the product. Do you like it? What would talent was concentrated in very small producing pools. The only make you like it more? Oh, please, please, like it!” It's not the training was on the job. The top brass understood the art form. product that needs to be tweaked. The entire system is out of At present, the population has grown considerably and so has kilter. What we need is someone to take a crucial step back from the talent pool, but not necessarily commensurately, and cer- that distant other world. Someone to reinstill trust in the audi- tainly not in an orderly fashion. Now there are hundreds of ence, trust that real art and commercial airwaves can and do schools that teach media arts in one form or another. The mix, for everyone's enlightenment, entertainment, and mutual explosion of cable over the last twenty years brought with it a benefit. Someone with clear vision, vast perspective, and big thrust toward low-budget programming, as well as a thirst for brass you-know-whats.

26 Citizen Culture

inside entertainment

VICARIOUS VICARIOUSVICARIOUSVICARIOUSVICARIOUSVICARIOUS

~by Donald Dewey Jamaica, NY

28 Citizen Culture inside entertainment

used to wonder about people who faithfully watched orders when slaughtering the wrong children at the wrong time. Cheers on NBC every week. Not because the show A final cry of agony, a last check to make sure the deus ex wasn’t a cut above the normal network sitcom fare, machina didn’t have another entrance in mind, and I was i but because the program engaged viewers who, myself again, shuffling on down the steps to go home. I didn’t instead of indulging fantasies and mythologizing on real saloon want to be those people—just get away from myself for awhile stools once a week, sat on their doldrums on their couches and to get a taste of how they lived (and died in torment!), given watching others do just that. While I could understand the their “clear” socio-political superiority. appeal to AA members and those pathetic souls without money Two-thousand years later, in England, if I wasn’t entitled to for even one beer, Such a circular lifestyle does not a giant step a daily meal at the king’s or prince’s or thane’s table, at I could at toward socialization make. What would be next, a weekly least get a whiff of their belches at the Globe Theatre. I could movie about people watching weekly movies? plot with schemers, identify with pretenders, applaud with A few years before Sam Malone opened the Cheers bar for carousers. Their battles were my battles not because they business, the Canadian sketch comedy program Second City ordered me into them, but because, for a couple of hours in the Television (often affectionately shortened to SCTV) insinuated cheap seats, they didn’t have to order me into them; I went will- that television was a singular reality for TV viewers. Rare has ingly, as I never would have if the wars I was watching were real. been the comedy skit since, whether on Saturday Night Live or Their anguish was my pleasure. Not to be was to be. And clear- elsewhere, that didn’t lampoon targets who are not only in the ly all the world was not a stage, for they were up there while I was public eye, , but who got there vis-à-vis television. Grotesque back here. And yet, I was the vehicle by which they achieved family stereotype spring up from the context of the sitcom fam- their nobility, and happy for it. I was a commoner, the rabble, ilies we encounter; barbs are aimed at Italian tenors or because it weas the only “part” left—the actors had to be allowed Colombian coffee growers during mock television newscasts; to play their roles by my becoming the audience they needed. the so-familiar caricatures of talk shows and infomercials seek Their portrayals saved me the trouble of constructing fantasies. to separate us from our money in the name of trimmer waist- I first noticed a substantial change in what was expected of lines, feel-good best-sellers, and Florida real estate. Wit, it me as an audience-member with the marketing of so-called seems, has become increasingly consigned to operate at half- “movie” stars, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. strength, with the assumption that its only window on “real” Unlike the stars of theater, vaudeville, and opera, celluloid society is television. showstoppers meshed with realistic decors, and so failed to Asked once what he thought of the television version of his remind me that they were out of their daily contexts. I was film M*A*S*H, director Robert Altman once complained that asked—and agreed—to accept them and their surroundings as a what he had approached (in the motion picture) as flamboyant real life in which merely to act. When the characters on film human defenses against the horrors of an undeclared war, had rolled open the door of a train they were about to rob, I felt my become on the small screen an implicit weekly acceptance of arm muscles twinge. When the robbers jumped into a waiting death in Korea and the “U.N. police action.” According to automobile and flipped the ignition, I sensed the apprehension Altman, the ironic politics of the television cast were rendered that the engine might not turn over. When they fell into a love moot by the nation’s comfort level as it gathered weekly for an seat in a passionate kiss, I’ll confess that I gave way to passing appointment with silly tales of triage in the tents. At the time I thoughts of what should have been happening at that moment found Archie Bunker more endearing. in my own chair. They didn’t have that kind of problem in Greece 2400 As realistic as movies are, they fates are sealed, my expect- years ago. There were inside jokes back then too, like when ed commitment to them-a particular, immutable mood-is Aristophanes got on his bandwagon about Euripides (The spelled out from beginning to end before they have even yet Frogs) or Socrates (The Clouds); writing has always involved begun. They might influence me, but I cannot influence them. institutional as well as personal narcissism. But when I camped What can make one feel more negligible? Neither a sandbag or out at the amphitheater to see the latest Euripides production, a coughing attack or a demented audience member can change I knew he was going to give me my best glimpse of life among the outcome of what I had paid to see, and so I become more the divinities and the royals, that through him I was going to obligated to the movie star than I ever could be to a stage star, realize my fleeting aspirations to be a god, a king, or, if all else for without submission to the medium, I have no access to the failed, a boob of a palace guard captain who was just following story. Films assume my passivity; only the pictures move.

C 29 CM “Once we choose hope, everything is possible.” —Christopher Reeve

The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF) is committed to funding research that develops treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other central nervous system disorders.The Foundation also vigorously works to improve the quality of life for people living with disabilities through its grants program, paralysis resource center, and advocacy efforts. CRPF relies on your generosity and commitment.Your gift will move us closer to treatments and cures, so please make a donation today!

www.ChristopherReeve.org

500 Morris Avenue, Springfield, NJ 07081 800.225.0292 973.379.2690 fax: 973.912.9433 ADVERTISEMENT L IFE of the PARTY

Interview with DJ Tom E. Boy of SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Channel 62, the Remix Channel.

et’s get started ... what got you wrapped up in one of the keys to trendy venue. the DJ/music scene? Speaking of trendy venues, here in New York, there I startedl when I was thirteen. My older brother had DJ equip- are so many hot, trendy places. What do you think ment, and luckily wasn’t any good. When he would go out I makes them so trendy? Is there a common factor or is would sneak into his room and play with whatever records I each just so unique? could get my hands on. One day he just passed it all to me, when he realized how bad he was. At fifteen I started to play Good music, the atmosphere, and staff make or a break a small spots at various clubs throughout New York, and from place’s reputation. There are some phenomenal places, but there it just snowballed. their bouncers are animals so the place is terrible, making peo- ple wait an hour outside to look crowded, only to step into an Since you have been in the game for a while, what are empty club. That’s a place I would never go back to. Hand pick- some changes that you have seen in the nightlife arena ing only the “beautiful people”? This is not Studio 54 ... sorry to and music in general? break it to you. People need to relax. Another thing is high prices for watered down drinks. I’m not looking for a bargain, It’s weird how some of the most legendary nightclubs just van- by any means, but when I pay fifteen dollars for an ounce of ish, turn into college dorms or goon hiatus for several years. cranberry juice and five ounces of ice, with a splash of no-frills Palladium for example, a Mecca for all New York City club- vodka, that’s not a good sign. Nothing replaces a great staff, goers, now houses NYU students (to think Mary-Kate and outgoing, accommodating, and personable. Throw in a great Ashley could be sleeping right above where I used to DJ ... crazy DJ and some nice designs, and you set the mood for a great spot stuff). These one-time NYC nightlife landmarks are gone. with a line because the place is packed, not pretentious! Limelight however has been completely reinvented and is bet- ter than ever. Now it’s called AVALON, and it still has the same gothic, church-like charm, except it has all the amenities of Where is the line drawn between pretentious and 2004. It’s a truly great space. It’s not just the places that have trendy? changed either; it’s the music as well. I have seen complete 360s. Ten years ago, dance, tribal, techno ... that was it. Hip- I’d have to say attitude makes all the difference. If you think hop was maybe in a back room of the club, if at all. Now it is you are the best, you better be able to back it up. I love the predominantly hip-hop, a little bit of vocals, and reggae is exclusive places that go night after night with tons of people everywhere. My personal preference is a multi-room venue outside, six people inside and then close. When someone’s with a good mix, really brings a good crowd too. Diversity is pride gets in the way, and they turn down a group of guys ADVERTISEMENT

(rather than admit paying customers), they deserve to close. It’s sad when some bouncer ruins a club’s reputation. Some people are just pathetic I guess.

Does sex sell?

Absolutely. For instance, most nightspots have female bar- tenders because guys usually hang out around the bar and buy the girls drinks. The hotter the bartender, the more the guy pays, you can say it’s sex selling ... I say it’s supply and demand!

Speaking of trends, let’s get SIRIUS. Satellite radio: where is it going and where has it been?

Satellite radio is doing really well. It’s now becoming standard in cars. We even have Howard Stern coming on board in 2006. AVALON Nightclub, the former Limelight, is located There are so many options, and people are used to instant grat- on 6th Avenue and West 20th Street in New York. ification. This is the age of online shopping. You can buy a car The Mecca of all nightspots, Avalon boasts a and have it delivered to your door ... why should you not be able different experience in each of its many rooms. The to listen to top-quality, commercial-free music? I can drive main floor pounds heart thumping music into the from New York to LA and listen to the same station, uninter- rupted. You can’t beat that. early morning, while the spider lounge is the most exclusive corner of this venue with its members only How did you get into SIRIUS? Did your brother pave status. Being such a legendary location, it can the way again? almost be a tourist spot, but don’t let its fame keep you away. When you want to go to a nightclub, you Nah, my brother gave up music twenty years ago, and now he is want to go to AVALON. For more information on in films. Anyway, two close friends of mine and mentors, Harry AVALON, contact Forrest Mallard at (646) 345-2010. Towers and Glenn Friscia, had been at SIRIUS for some time. They asked me for a demo, and the rest is history. I got a call one day from Geronimo saying, “Welcome aboard!” I’ve been doing my mix show for channel 62 Remix ever since. The show is really taking off, doing great in a lot of markets.

Nice segue ... that leads right to my next question. How is the show doing? What’s your big market?

I have been lucky. My show has attracted a diverse crowd. It’s made of deep house, tribal, trance, classic house, disco, etc. I play whatever sounds good. I have a reputation for being a House DJ, but I play whatever gets the crowd going. That’s what makes a versatile DJ. I play for the crowd, not myself.

What are your favorite types of tracks to play?

Well, since a little self promotion never hurts, I throw in a lot of my own remixes. I like to get creative, and the remixes go over well. I really take pride in my work, I stand behind my product, and I think it really shows.

Viscaya lounge is located at 191 7th Avenue Last question: how can somebody break into the DJ between 21st and 22nd streets in New York City. world? Viscaya features a sexy and stylish atmosphere in all three rooms. This is hands-down the most attractive It’s not easy. Lots of hours, countless hours. And you have to nightspot in NYC. If you go to Viscaya, be sure to try give up going out on weekends, sort of. You are at the party, and The Blue Sky and The Viscaya at the twenty-foot you have to love music to be a DJ, nobody in this business should just show up for work. If you are having a bad time, so is long main bar! When ambience and style are what everyone else. There is a place you can go to get a headstart on you seek, look no further ... Viscaya is the place to everybody else; check out the NY DJ School. I teach some class- be and be seen! For more information on Viscaya, es there, and it’s a great introduction to the DJ world. The URL contact Darlene Pergola at (212) 675-5980. is www.NYDJSchool.com!

larger than life

The Oh-So-Stressful New York Life of BOXIN’ BILLY CLINTON

~by Lakshmi Kumar New York, NY

ou’re an embarrassment to our country!” cheers. “Why is it you don’t like me? Wasn’t the country better Slowly turning around, Bill Clinton smoothly off after I left than before I arrived? The facts speak for them- retorted, “I hope we have more judgmental peo- selves.” A nod of approval flutters through the growing crowd. “y ple like you in America, people who prefer fic- “I don’t like you because you’re a liar.” The man, let’s call him tion to fact.” Looking around at the small crowd the Clinton-castrator (alliteration to match the Bush-bashing gathering with mouths open and eyes wide, I saw the same that’s taken off with such force), has triggered something in the thought running through all our heads: Damn. former president. Clinton’s suddenly angry. Then before anyone can applaud the former president’s “Liar?” With a passionate pointing of his finger, it’s now sarcasm, the debate begins. And here I was, just happy to have Clinton who’s in attack mode. He starts with, “I never lied,” and shaken William Jefferson Clinton’s hand, when suddenly I ends with, “If you’re so worried about lying, how come you became a frontline witness to a forty-five-minute debate don’t hate Ken Starr, his cronies, and all the Republicans who between an everyday Republican and the most famous lied about Whitewater, Vincent Foster, and everything else?” Democrat of the last twenty years. The best part: no lights, Leaning in with that familiar narrowing of his eyes, like he’s camera, action. Just me, the president, an angry conservative, finally honed in on his target, Clinton asks, “And what about some Secret Service men, and a few dozen speechless stragglers your current president? I’ll admit I misled the people about my in New York’s Central Park. personal life. And I have even apologized for it, but I never mis- The stranger, pushing a stroller with a blond toddler led the people about policy and I certainly never misled the peo- inside, repeats, “You were an embarrassment to the office of ple about going to war.” Commander-in-Chief.” “You’re immoral.” Clinton, finishing off yet another of the many autographs All heads turn, eager for Clinton’s comeback. “Then your he signed that evening, shakes his head, and with that charac- definition of morality is very different from mine.” After some teristic you-don’t-know-what-you’ve-gotten-yourself-into-by- tussling on economics, foreign policy, tax cuts, education, and challenging-me smirk says, “Oh really? I think I did a helluva terrorism—the same arguments we’ve heard before—Clinton job, but I guess that’s just me.” Pause. “And a few million surprisingly brings up Bob Dole’s name. “Right after I got elect- American people.” Laughter erupts along with a few random ed for my second term, I smoked a cigar with Bob Dole and

34 Citizen Culture larger than life

asked him, ‘Bob, you’ve been in politics much longer than I tions. I’ve mentioned that people tend to have their best have and longer than most other people in politics right now. moments when nobody’s paying attention, right? Well, I must Do you think politics has become more dishonest, the corrupt have been having the best moment of my life: besides being mess the newspapers and people say it is?’” ignored by the people around me (including my friend, who Eyebrows raised, eyes to everyone, Clinton gave us Dole’s yelled into the phone, “Listen to who’s talking right in front of answer: “‘Are you kidding? It’s become more honest, fairer. me!” and then held up his phone so his mother could hear), I People can’t hide things as easily anymore.’” Not the anecdote was also being ignored the forty-second president of the United expected from a formerly impeached president who somehow States. still managed to leave office with an approval rating higher than But then, the moment came! I got to ask him a question. Reagan’s. Small shouts burst “You see, it’s the from my mouth while nostalgia,” Clinton he ignored me. But goes on, “it’s the nos- finally, probably hav- talgia we have for the ing noticed my des- past, as if our politi- peration, he pointed cians were perfect to me. This is it, I then. But he’s right. can’t screw this up. People forget history.” Deep breath and, Under his breath, he “What do you think mentions FDR and his about the computer- lack of support for an ized voting booths anti-lynching act. At sweeping the country, this point most people especially after all the are shuffling and whis- controversy sur- pering, maybe because rounding Florida’s they’re shocked by the votes?” After the reference to Bob Dole, bipartisan brouhaha or maybe because they over the 2000 elec- don’t want to pay tion scandal and its attention to something lost or stolen votes that might involve a (depending on one’s shift of what they’ve point of view and always thought, some- political affiliation), thing that might be rel- Bill Clinton gave me a evant or, even worse, completely unexpect- true. Roosevelt not ed answer. the perfect presi- He began: “Well, dent? What? Clinton people shouldn’t fear respects Bob Dole? technology.” (Right That’s not a political then I wanted to ploy? interrupt him and A moment later, make it clear that it maybe in reaction to wasn’t the technology the crowd’s unapolo- I feared but rather the getic disinterest in a people directing that piece of What Clinton technology. But I Really Thinks, Political decided not to inter- Bill returns on-mes- rupt. He was a presi- sage and slick as ice, dent of the United proving that, contrary States after all.) to popular belief, politicians do tend to give their followers what Clinton continued on, explaining that in a county of multiple they want. The Bill Clinton who knows the uncomfortable intri- tongues, like America, a system that allows voters to choose cacies of history, the guy who’s actually open to the opinions of their language would greatly improve the electoral system. He his governmental colleagues—a group that, to the Democrats’ pointed out that Americans tend to forget that a computerized dismay, includes some old, conservative Republicans— voting system was used in Northern California in the last presi- retreated. I guess it holds true that people tend to have their dential election and that it actually increased voter turnout. best moments when nobody’s paying attention. People could choose the language they wanted to use to vote, After listening to all the insults and judgments made by the which particularly helped increase the state’s Hispanic turnout. Clinton-castrator, Bill Clinton coolly ended their debate by say- And in India’s recent election, when 550 million people voted ing, “Well, I hope your children turn out to be as perfect as you using computerized voting booths, the winner was an utter sur- are, sir.” The crowd applauded and he began taking more ques- prise. Instead of the popular VJP party, the Congress Party

C 35 CM larger than life

won, but nobody questioned the results. With a paper printout a grand scale. of their vote given to each person at the moment they cast their There’s no denying that Clinton’s comments were most votes and another paper printout kept for records at all the vot- exciting when he seemed to forget his audience (when he forgot ing centers, Indians had full faith that their votes were counted. people were paying attention): his rare bouts of edgy sarcasm, “What we need here in the U.S.,” Clinton says, “is a uniform his frustration with an opponent who wasn’t listening, and his voting act that makes sure there is a paper trail that allows unashamed admittance of certain conservative ideas that liber- Americans to be sure that their vote was counted.” al Democrats would not find kosher. How did I feel about his answer? I missed having a presi- Like watching Hillary pull up in her own black SUV, look- dent who surprises me, not with bad grammar, but with a ing pretty pissed after having to wait for her attention-loving genuine intelligence. husband for over an hour, these were the moments that aren’t As the informal question-and-answer session wound broadcast, that don’t have commentators, that are left to per- down with a Secret Service agent cordoning Clinton off— sonal phone calls and next-day storytelling sessions. These are “Folks, we’re sorry but the president has to go”—he walked the moments that allow a president to become human. And a away still signing autographs, shaking hands, and graciously human president, as Bill Clinton and all his dirty laundry taking cards handed to him. The slowdown of events didn’t showed us, is not a bad, or even unpopular, thing. It can actu- match how we felt: warm, excited, out of breath; ready to cam- ally make people more excited about politics and remind us all paign, legislate, change the world. what it’s essentially about: the need for government, the need When the thrill wore off, the two of us were back to being for leaders, for people guiding people to figure out the best way twenty-somethings, calling all our friends to tell them about to share resources. It’s also about the tragic lessons we learn in the crazy thing that just happened to us. Not legislating, not an era governed by overarching media: that how you say it is as necessarily changing the world, but wondering how Bill important as what you say; that politics is as much perform- Clinton got us energized and optimistic about American poli- ance as it is policy; that the private self is always part of the tics again. public man. Bill Clinton may not break a sweat in a three-piece It wasn’t just the adrenaline of coming face-to-face with suit defending himself in hot and humid Central Park, but even fame, but of hearing the truth when you’re used to fiction. It he needs to go for a stroll in the park once in awhile. That pol- was the unexpected face-to-face with the untelevised honesty itics can’t be ignored. It will eventually come and stand right in of politics and what politics essentially is: social interaction on front of you.

36 Citizen Culture Did you know that 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke?

Ask about the link between diabetes and heart disease and learn how the ABCs of diabetes can help you lower your risk: A: Lower your A1C, a test that measures average blood sugar over the past 3 months, to less than 7 B: Keep your Blood pressure below 130/80 C: Get your “bad” Cholesterol (LDL) below 100 Call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit www.diabetes.org/MakeTheLink

An educational partnership of the the global citizenry I Brake for Environmentalists (and you should, too)

~by Monette Bebow-Reinhard Abrams, WI

nvironmentalists have a hard life. They’re hated for But we all know cancer is a common reality in today’s telling us that we don’t have the right to drive what world, more than getting stuck in a muddy dirt road with a dead we want. They call Hummers evil. They complain cell phone. On the news awhile back I saw an SUV driver e because people drive all-terrain SUVs on city pave- stranded in a flood—he couldn’t get out! Now here’s a common ment instead of that for which they were initially fact—only people who know how to swim take chances in the designed—those occasions when we’re caught in a flash flood water and drown. Only people with SUVs drive into a major on a dirt road or behind a ten-foot wall of snow in below-thirty- blizzard and freeze to death. degree weather. What environmentalists are trying to do—and maybe this Maybe it’s time we give them a brake—I mean, break. is what makes them unpopular—is to help preserve air, water, Correct me if I’m wrong, but maybe the only people who really soil, and natural resources for all of us. The environmentalist— need SUVs are those who live in such rural areas that the snow- isn’t there a shorter label we can give them?—are like “commu- plow forgets about them, or who work or live where the roads nists” (not the shorter label I was searching for) because they are still dirt, or where roads don’t exist at all. The rest of us are interested in the good of ALL people and not in individual should live responsibly in the city where we work, play, and go desires. Individual desires—what you want, what I want—are out to eat. But the movement today is to live farther and farther not their concern. That’s what makes them unpopular. The from the city, and many people buy SUVs thinking that they’re Cold War is over and the big “C” capitalists have won! Where going to get stranded. They view driving vehicles like insur- do these “Es” come from? What communist assembly line is ance—buy the big wheels “just in case.” I know a fellow who still in operation? bought his AFTER the gas went up to two dollars a gallon— The reason they’re so unpopular is that the E forgets that because he feels “he deserves it.” we are an Individualistic—with a capital I—society. We don’t And maybe he does. But that “just in case” that people care about the common good of all. One of the Republican cries worry about? The odds of one of those major disasters happen- is that the Democrats are trying to get rid of the “free market ing to any SUV driver are less—that’s right, less—than the odds society” on which capitalism is based because they talk about of dying from cancer due to polluted water, air, and soil. Check health care for all. Only the rich deserve good health, I guess. the obituaries if you don’t believe me. Wait—they don’t usually Let’s go back to the SUV to demonstrate the difference tell us what people die of, do they? They should. “Inhaling SUV between the E and the I, and how communist consumerism fumes” would probably be right up there. works. An E will drive a hybrid, a car that’s now available and the global citizenry

can get 50-60 m.p.g. (I know a 2003 Honda Civic hybrid that is Here’s another disturbing fact: problems in the Middle hovering at 58 m.p.g. ) An I doesn’t care about gas mileage and East began after the fall of the Ottoman Turk empire during buys whatever’s cool and reflects status. If that’s a Hummer World War I. This was shortly after the automobile began its that doesn’t get even 10 m.p.g., so what? Arnold slow economic grip on the American (and world) lifestyle. Schwarzenegger is cool, and he owned five of them, at least Since then, the Middle East has been in a near constant state of before gas went up over two dollars a gallon. turmoil, and why? If we could explain it in one word, yes, it Now you’ve got an E and an I, each driving 500 miles in a would be oil. Greece had been at war with the Ottomans since weekend. E uses 10 gallons of gas and doesn’t even need to fill the 1800s, but the Ottomans weren’t conquered until WWI. up once in those 500 miles. I uses 50 gallons of gas and, Maybe if it were allowed to work out its own problems without depending on the size of his tank, fills up at least once. inference for oil, the country could be stabilized by now. Now if you have a limited gas supply in the world—let’s Those folks in the Middle East have every right to control imagine that right now all that’s left is 500,000 gallons—the ‘I’ their resources, but no one wants to let them. Peace can come will use up that supply in 10,000 of those 500-mile trips; the E, if resources are shared. We love our vehicles, but we can love however, will be able to go 500 miles for a total of 50,000 times. them even more when we reduce the number of stops needed at Here comes the real kicker. The I is using the E’s oil sup- the service station, when less of our paycheck goes to fuel our ply. That’s right. No matter how well E conserves, he won’t obsession. With a new attitude in the gas economy category we benefit by getting to drive all those miles because I is sucking it technology-loving Americans could even encourage the devel- up. So communist capitalism means that we recognize that opment of hybrid converters for our treasured SUVs, those cars there are resources that some conserve while others waste. It’s we love and have to have and will probably have to give up, at kind of like tossing garbage out the window—we all get the least if environmentalists get their way. view, but some of us figure there’s always more where that But would cleaner air and water really be so bad? comes from. So the next time you see an environmentalist, give him a The logic of sharing equally applies to air, water, soil, and handshake or a pat on the back. They have a hard life, trying to other natural resources. The Es will try to conserve resources save the Earth for all of us. Someday, maybe a year a two away, for all of us, but when it’s gone, it’s gone for all of us. Little good with the proper encouragement, the Es will find a way to make it does us to have half a river of clean water. Or clean air in half clean living a status symbol, to feed the Is in all of us. the city. While it is true that Es help reduce the wasted oil sup- plies caused by the way the Is drive, they can only help for so long. And when the oil supply is gone, it’s gone for everybody. Can Es still have a better view of the Smoky Mountains now that pollution has snaked its way through the hills? One way we could equalize the playing field at the gas pump is by having two gas prices—one for those who get over 30 m.p.g. and one for people who get under 30 m.p.g. That way people who guzzle more would pay more. Imagine a credit card that’s encoded with the kind of vehicle you drive, and using it was the only way you could get gas. People should pay more for status as opposed to those making efforts to save communal resources for everyone’s use. That’s just common sense. It’s the same principle as the rich paying more than the poor. Wait—that’s not working too well right now either, is it? If Bill O’Reilly had his way, the rich could check a box on their form that would make their tax pay- ments more equal with the rest of us—but the problem with that is, where would their additional tax income go? To gain more control of the Middle East so that we can have more oil reserves so that the Is can keep guzzling, probably. Ponder this: The U.S. is the last developed country on Earth paying high gas prices. Japan pays $4.25 per gallon, India pays $3.18 per gallon, and London pays $5.23 per gallon. You might want to live in Venezuela where gas is going for $.14 a gallon. You might also want to dig for oil in some of the U.S. national park areas, but that is only a solution after we learn to conserve, not while we’re guzzling. Now that gas prices are stabilized at an all-time U.S. high, we hear numerous complaints about this hit on our pocket- book. But the only way to encourage conservation of this dwin- dling resource is to keep those prices high. We’ll adjust, as Americans. We’ll have to. Britain adjusted, and we’re smarter than they are. We whipped them in the Revolutionary War, after all. hmm ... (strange but true) From Online to Onboard

Sailors take to the Internet to Find a First Mate

~by Marguerete Hemphill New York, NY

ordon Gregg, 42, a self-proclaimed dreamer, a hope- know an interest in sailing is a prerequisite. Most sailing sites less romantic, wants a medium-weight woman, not have bulletin boards where captains advertise for crewmembers blubbery, with curves. Ideally she should be support- to help on offshore voyages. While these websites are not dating- g ive, positive, adventurous, humorous, brave, quiet, oriented or intended as a forum for the sailing singles scene, this patient. One more important thing she needs: A pass- is where captains looking for companions put their postings, port from a country that enables fairly free travel. hoping the right woman will reply. Steve Roberts, 52, a tall, longhaired, athletic man seeks an Steve W., 68, can’t meet women on land. “I don’t hang out adventurous geek, and doesn’t see himself with someone who in bars,” he says. “When I get on shore, I’m shy. No lines. The likes to shop. And she can’t be significantly younger because he’s Internet’s probably the easiest place and you keep them at e- been with younger women, and they tend to use him as a step- mail’s distance until you have a good feeling about them.” His ad ping-stone. In the same boat is Keith MacKenzie, 41. He asks: on 7knots.com reads: “I am still looking for an adventuresome “Single female sailing fanatic: where are you?” He wants a lady to join me on a cruise of a lifetime. She should be fit, trim, woman to join him in a tropical paradise, where they would energetic and eager to see the world from the deck of a well snorkel, walk pristine beaches and sail through amazing islands. equipped sailboat.” A few women have responded, but so far, no Yet one major factor prevents Gregg, Roberts and MacKenzie one’s fit the bill. from finding their ideals. They’re sailors. Most captains have few, if any, responses to their ads. If Single women are few and far between in the sailing com- they should be so lucky as to get a reply, then the process gener- munity, making it hard for single-handers to find a cruising com- ally goes as follows: e-mail back and forth for a few weeks; meet panion. So they’ve taken to the Internet to fulfill their dreams. in person (preferably at the boat); go for sails near the shore to They post ads, luring potential mates to read what they have to get a sense of each other. Chris Duvall, 53, has an ad on offer, hoping some woman will find sailing and them attractive. 7knots.com. He says if he met a suitable woman online then he These single sailors want it all: their boat and a woman on it. would fly her to the boat and take her on a cruise close to land. According to a ComScore Media Metrix report, nearly 27 “She would think it was primarily to assess her sailing skills,” million people visit online singles sites every month. Online dat- Duvall says. “I would be evaluating her character. Seamanship ing provides a much larger pool for singles to choose from. And, can be taught-character flaws cannot be corrected.” it takes the humiliation and awkwardness out of face-to-face While most of the men don’t care if a woman knows port rejections. from starboard, a woman must meet their criteria, however Sailing sites add an extra filter: the women looking at them strict or loose they may be. Duvall, who has not had success

40 Citizen Culture hmm ... (strange but true)

since he posted the ad a year and a half ago, says he couldn’t find 7knots.com because she had a “good feeling” about him when someone acceptable. “They were dreamers who somehow she read the posting. She knew nothing about sailing but expected to be aboard a private cruise ship, sailing blithely from thought the adventure sounded appealing. The two e-mailed for one Tiki bar to the next,” he says. “Don’t misunderstand-I like three months and Bdmer was lured by his promise that “life with Tiki bars, there just isn’t one at every anchorage.” He also had a him will never be boring, but adventurous and thrilling,” she problem with “escapists having one last rush at life” and women says. She then did her homework: researched his yacht, the who didn’t understand the concept of a cruising adventure-it’s marina it was in, and Thailand, where Robinson was sailing. hard work maintaining and sailing a boat around the world. Bdmer gave up her apartment and job in Switzerland and flew to But a few have found the ideal woman to sail the world with meet Robinson in Thailand. them and fill a void. Bill Robinson, 57, enjoyed sailing by himself Her first impressions matched her expectations. “It was as after his divorce, but it got old. “As soon as I arrived somewhere, if I met an old friend again,” she says. “I share with him some of I missed not having someone around,” he says. “It was also a bit the most important things in life, like a positive approach to life, awkward socially being a single man in a predominantly paired the same philosophy, adventurous spirit, love of nature, and we society.” Instead of waiting for fate to deliver an ideal woman to are compatible in things like food, music, and sex.” The two plan his dock, he took matters into his own fingertips and wrote four to sail to the Maldives, Chagos, Madagascar and across the simple, straightforward words: “Female Cruising Companion Atlantic to Brazil “and so on,” Bdmer says. Wanted.” Why does Robinson think he was successful with his online Robinson says he received a number of responses from all posting when so many others aren’t? “It may be just blind luck,” over the world from women ages 24 to 62. He replied to all these he says, “but I believe that the amount of effort put in by Marlyse women with further details of himself, his yacht and his plans. is the major factor.” Only twenty-five percent of the original group responded, but he Keith MacKenzie also says it’s the women who are responsi- found a winner in the bunch. Marlyse Bdmer, a fit fifty-one- ble for his luck with online dating. But he’s still single-handing. year-old divorcé from Switzerland, answered Robinson’s ad on He claims that he was unsuccessful in finding a cruising com-

IVY LEAGUE OVERACHIEVERS by Elizabeth Milkes Jerome

C 41 CM hmm ... (strange but true)

panion because there are not enough risk takers in the world. woman-and that was that.” “Most people just want to sit on the couch and watch life go by Each online posting varies in what it asks potential mates to instead of getting into it,” he explains. (His ad reads: “If you are have or contribute. Julian Roe, 50, says someone who can type single, adventurous, fit, fun, happy, like to sail at double digits, is a big plus because he’s writing his autobiography. For Jim have a passion for sailing and living aboard full time, please e- Phillips, 57, a woman who can dance is a bonus. John Button mail Keith, or if you have a friend that you might know that wants a cook: “Experience with galley would be helpful. would love to “sail away” and live the dream full time, please Captain’s culinary skills are questionable.” pass this on to them. Thank you for your time.”) Dianne Siebrasse is a rarity on the posting boards-a female So where are the seaworthy women? Spooked by what hap- captain looking for a male companion. Siebrasse, a forty-seven- pened to Ginger and Mary Ann? Probably not. Jon Bickel, a year-old from Minnesota, has a posting on 7knots.com that is sailor out of Maryland, says the most widely accepted theory is quite specific as to who she’s looking for: someone fun, adven- that women like to nest and men tend to roam. Regardless of the turous, and romantic. And he should have a farming back- reason, the bottom line is there aren’t many females wandering ground. “I’m pretty picky on who I’m going to take on,” the docks or responding to online ads. Siebrasse says. “I haven’t met anyone who meets my criteria.” Hayden Orme, a beautiful twenty-one-year-old singleton, She needs someone who will be able to “handle a strong has sailed for more than a decade. She would be a great catch for woman,” contribute financially, and work hard. She’d also do a a single sailor, but she wouldn’t go for it. “I’m sorry, but that’s background check on potential mates. “I do that on my not the way I’m going to meet someone,” she says. She looks for employees, so there’s no reason I wouldn’t do it on somebody crew positions online and has a posting, which garners many else,” she says. unwanted responses from sailing singles. The photos of single Whether it’s guys looking for gals, or vice versa, some sailors men that flood her inbox turn her off of the sailing singles scene. don’t like the crew boards used as a dating site. Gina McMurray, Gina McMurray, 36, also receives an abundance of mail from who has a crewing ad on 7knots.com, says she’s bothered by the single sailors. “[The emails] are like what you would see on the relationship postings. “Crew websites are for crew, not for online dating sites-what they are seeking, etc.,” she says. “They romance,” she says. John North, a twenty-five-year sailing vet- usually offer pictures and web site links. I reply out of politeness eran, agrees. “The world’s full of people and there should be no that I am uninterested.” reason guys are writing these sad luck stories,” he says. “I would Perhaps the added pressure of being thrown into a man’s never do that because I have too much confidence in myself.” living space turns some women off of online ads. It’s rare to hear One sailor went on LatsandAtts.com (the site for the maga- a story of someone who met on Yahoo! Singles and moved in zine Latitudes and Attitudes) and posted the following note: “All together after just a few weeks of e-mailing. The dating scene at this griping about finding a mate and a cruising partner. All of sea seems to progress a relationship to a higher level than land you who have a nice sailboat should think of the fact that the dating. world (especially the tropics) is full of half-naked babes who Glen Newcomer, Steve Roberts, Steve W., Keith MacKenzie would love to go for a few days’ sail about the islands. Who the and Chris Duvall are all up front about their expectations as to heck wants to wake up everyday with the same old story lying how the relationship should progress, though they have varying next to you?? All that a woman is going to bring to the table is a degrees of expectations regarding companionship and sex. claim against half of the value of that boat when she decides to Newcomer plays the gentleman: he tells women that sex is not advertise for a new captain.” The posting prompted seventy-five expected and offers potential mates their own room and head sailors to reply in agreement or disgust. (bathroom) onboard. Steve Roberts wants an “all encompass- Since then, LatsandAtts.com has a new sailing singles ing” relationship-he does not want sex without a meaningful board. It operates the same as the site’s “regular” crewing board, bond. He feels like it’s hard for a single sailor to come across as but now the singles have a forum to discuss meeting each other genuine when the reputation of the carousing sailor infiltrates that doesn’t taint the “serious” crew and captains’ message people’s minds. “I feel like I’m competing with a lot of lonely, forum. But some of the postings make it hard to tell how serious- horny, single guys just trying to get a woman,” he says. And ly people take the board. The following posting is from “Gulf Steve W., 68, says sex just isn’t a high priority for him anymore. Mermaid”: For MacKenzie, “making love comes naturally in a relationship [at sea], just as it would on land.” Over forty, frumpy female seeks husband. I’m fat, Duvall is on the same wavelength, but instead of a relation- tired, and need to spend hours putting on makeup to ship progression that leads to sex, he sees it as a natural occur- camouflage my age. I always dress up, can’t carry rence between two people confined to a small space, even if it’s on an intelligent conversation, and hate sex. I expect not at a “relationship” level. He asks, “What are we to do? Run everyone to wait on me and I can’t support myself. ashore at every desire and try to get laid?” The last time I exercised was typing this post. Hate Aside from sharing a relationship and a sailing adventure, sailing or anything outdoors. Love soaps. I have sev- many single sailors want the woman to help work and contribute eral children who need a father. Any takers??? financially to the voyage. But a lot of the women who respond don’t want to make it a working vacation. Steve W. says women lose interest after he asks them to come to the boat and help with A couple dozen people have posted responses, all with a repairs and preparations, and others expect a free ride with no similar sarcastic tone. financial contribution. Jack Quinn, 69, expects a woman to If Gulf Mermaid can get responses, hopefully the same will share expenses. “One woman balked at that,” he says. “I happen for Gregg, Roberts, MacKenzie, Duvall, Steve W., and all promptly responded there was a name for a man keeping a the other single sailors looking for their first mate online.

42 Citizen Culture UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MFA IN DRAMATIC WRITING

An Intimate, Dynamic 3-Year Program that approaches the craft through its critical roots in playwriting and investigates other genres of dramatic writing — exploring all means of communication with today’s audiences through the media of stage, film and television. Offered in association with the USC School of Cinema-Television. Faculty: Dr. Velina Hasu Houston, Director USC School of Theatre Oliver Mayer Paula Cizmar University Park Campus Los Angeles, CA 90089-0791 visit us on the web at http://theatre.usc.edu (213) 740-1286 // [email protected]

IS THERE A TESTING GROUND FOR NEW THINKING?

The New School will challenge you to think about your role in a future already in progress. FOR A SPRING COURSE BULLETIN CALL (800) 319-4321 EXT. 805 OR We offer graduate and undergraduate degrees and courses in: Media Studies and WWW.NSU.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/SPRING805 Film, Writing, International Affairs, Social Sciences, Humanities, Foreign Languages, English Language Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, Photography, Computer Instruction, Culinary Arts, and Business. The New School. Knowledge that matters. THE NEW SCHOOL hidden gems

BIOGRAPHIES AND ORIGINAL ART BY AND ABOUT A TRIO OF INMATES AT A FEDERAL PENITENTIARY.

nside America’s prisons, the atmosphere is unstable, violent, celibate, and impoverished. Still, many inmates The ignore their physical world and express themselves i through art. Some prison artists imbed cigarette-ash inks into human flesh, others use pencils and pens to create sur- real portraits, while fewer still possess the talent to paint white canvas into beautiful modern impressions. In an environment Liberation where time stands still, thousands of artists hone their craft with no expectation of payment, satisfied only with the knowledge that these incredible pieces were borne by them alone. Artist Bobby West’s coffee-colored hands gently revisit and redefine African culture through his passionate renditions. of Bobby West Bobby has been locked behind concrete walls for the past twenty- three years transforming canvas into some of the most brilliant, original, African-American reflections composed today. Bobby’s inspiration comes from a lonely, desperate childhood. Born in Oakland, California, in 1952 (his father having died during the ~by John Bowers seventh month of the pregnancy), he attended elementary school Lompoc, CA and recalls, “The teachers used to scold me because my school- work lacked attention. I would just sit all day by the window and draw.” Attending high school at the California School of Art at Berkeley, he studied for two years under the watchful eyes of his

44 Citizen Culture hidden gems

mentor, John Allen, “learning the master’s styles of art.” When Bobby turned seventeen, tragedy again touched his young life; his thirty-six-year-old mother died from lung cancer. Devastated and alone, he embarked on a path so many like him had taken: crime. In 1981, he was sentenced to forty-five years in federal prison for bank robbery. While incarcerated, he admits not tak- ing his artistic ability too seriously “until I gave my life to the Lord; then my eyes opened to the gifts He blessed me with.” Bobby employs many disciplines in his work. While travel- ing throughout institutions, he polished his skills and perfected every art form that was permitted there. He paints with acrylics, oils, and watercolors, and draws with pencils, ink, pens, and chalk. His work is distinct. He has mastered an autonomous “line-style” incomparable to any other artist. A painting titled Before Birth, arguably one of his finest achievements, has been said to have a “Picasso influence,” bringing a proud grin to its cre- ator’s face. Presently, Bobby’s reverent mood and themes of Biblical serenity move the artist to pour his affections across fabric, self- lessly giving an intimate view of his private world of pain, remorse, life, healing, and forgiveness. The cold concrete holds his feet and a steel bunk cradles his aging body. As with so many others, artwork is the liberation of Bobby West.

C 45 CM hidden gems

aren “Zak” Zakarian was born in 1964 in Yerevan, Armenia, U.S.S.R. He admits his passion to create comes from a society that fosters and encourages its cit- The g izens to study fine arts and music. The door was always open for him to express himself on canvas, in sym- phonies, and in other media. “I’ve been painting all my life,” Zak drawls in a heavy Armenia of accent, “but in prison, it’s a diversion, a way of concentrating and Talents staying away from the chaos. It takes me out of here; painting soothes me.” Zak achieved his education in the USSR, receiving a B.S. and an M.S. in Structural Engineering. He is married and has two chil- Garen Zakarian dren. “Because I am here, accused of doing something wrong, doesn’t automatically make me a scumbag. I still have a life, a shell of a life from which I came, and after ten years in custody, I only have those vague recollections to inspire me to continue my works. When I paint, it is for myself, to relax me, to remember, to relive a past of happiness … painting is a private emotion I enjoy feeling.” A devout Armenian Apostolic (Eastern Orthodox), Zak recalls once being thrown into solitary confinement and only supplied with a two-inch pencil. He perched himself on the steel bed and stretched into a corner of the cell and began drawing clouds, and altar, Mother Mary, and angels. The pencil wore to a stub and he acquired another, incorporating four tubes of white toothpaste for highlighting against his dingy, cigarette-tarred beige “canvas.”

46 Citizen Culture hidden gems

The result, he exclaims, was perfect. A few weeks later, the an excuse to remove this positive program as well. So, I carry inmates were moved to different cells and he left behind the the proper prison attitude, I work with whatever is available.” wonderful image for the next man to appreciate. The following Zak is an artist in several areas: he is a musician, playing day, he awoke to horrific screams echoing down the corridor. the violin and classical piano until electronic instruments were Apparently, a Satanist had drawn the lot to occupy Zak’s old banned and violins were deemed too expensive for inmates to cell, and was averse to the Fresco painted across its walls and possess. Now he writes screenplays. He teaches a screenwrit- ceiling. “You can’t tell me God’s without a sense of humor!” he ing course, and his students groan after he grades their work, laughs, pointing to the sky. knowing he has meticulously corrected every mistake. In a way, prison has furthered Zak’s development as an Zak began writing screenplays when an old-timer encour- artist. “I was a painter and artist long before I came to aged him to drop his nearly-completed novel because it was American prison. Because I am here, that will not change. This “ten times easier to sell a script than a book.” Zak says this is provides me the time that I did not have before … when I was “bullshit.” He’s written seven screenplays with little or no trying to support my family.” While incarcerated, Zak has response from Hollywood. His favorite work, entitled The twelve finished pieces ranging in size from 18 x 24 to 24 x 36 Gardener, a story about a prisoner whose artwork is stolen, inches. forged, and sold for thousands while he is incarcerated. After Still, the system has serious drawbacks. “The materials are release, the prisoner discovers the theft and triumphs over the very limited here. We are not allowed oils, only acrylics. The wrongs that have befallen him. He has yet to finish and heavily size of the canvas is restricted as is the time allowed to be spent promote it, living by Mark Twain’s quote, “I’m not a good in the hobby shop. When acquiring materials, there is a four- to writer, I’m a good re-writer.” five-month wait to receive them and the B.O.P. (Bureau of Zak’s ultimate goal is to earn enough money to reopen his Prisons) adds an additional twenty-five or thrity percent to criminal case. He feels confident that eventually his artwork every order, making artwork very expensive. I am not com- will sell, and in the interim, he will continue to perfect his plaining—nor should anyone, at all! The B.O.P. will then have crafts.

C 47 CM hidden gems

48 Citizen Culture hidden gems

C 49 CM

The GOLDEN CAGE a cautionary tale

~by Divini Rae Sorenson Los Angeles, CA fiction

Date: Thurs, 06 May 2023 03:17:01 -0800(PST) company. After watching the documentaries and reading a great From: “anika” variety of news articles, opinion pieces, and exposés, I Subject: You’ll never believe this approached the coming weeks with a generally positive outlook. To: “mommamia” [email protected] In the documentaries the Palace always looked grandiose, the parties held there fabulous. Charlie came across as kind and witty, so I was convinced that everyone and everything would be Mom, lovely. Charlie was, and still is, known as the quintessential Guess what?! My manager just called me and said that Toys bachelor, with a constant stream of ten or more girlfriends living for Boys Magazine is interested in shooting a pictorial of me. I with him in the Palace at any one time. Yet I never judged his know you shot for them back in the day but you’ve never talked lifestyle. He and the women around him all seemed to be con- much about it—should I do it? I’ll call you tonight after I get senting adults living as a fun, harmonious, wildly unconvention- home from class. al family. I was young and still very naïve. Love, I’ll never forget pulling up to the imposing wrought iron Anika gates of the Palace that groaned in agony as they parted on our approach, and joking to the solemn driver: “It looks like I’m Date: Thurs, 06 May 202304:18:03 -0900(PST) going to be kept in a cage for a few weeks.” Ignoring my remark, he helped me out of the limo and showed me to the guesthouse From: “mommamia” where Toys stay while shooting their pictorials. He told me I Subject: My Toys for Boys experience would be sharing a room with another Toy. To: “anika” [email protected] With a small knock I hesitantly entered the room to find a petite, cinnamon-haired girl lying in a ball, crying, on the bed Dear Ani, furthest from the door. Maura didn’t look any older than twelve. You are a beautiful girl, so I’m not surprised they want to The room was dark, smelled of stale cigarettes, and was photograph you for the magazine. I will talk to you about it more filled with inexplicably intense sorrow. Upon hearing me enter, tonight, but first read this. As you know, I tend to express myself Maura uncurled from her fetal position and looked up. Silently best in writing. she got up from the bed, went into the bathroom, and shut the I will describe my experience with Toys for Boys without door. mincing words. It may sound fantastical; you may feel some- what incredulous, but it’s the truth. Everyone that has posed for * Toys for Boys Magazine has her own experience, her own No Toys staying at Charles Lester’s Palace were allowed to unique story. This is mine. leave the property without first getting his permission. Once I was twenty-two years old when my modeling agent called approved to leave the grounds, a Palace security guard would be me. “Toys for Boys Magazine has noticed you,” she said, “and with the girl every moment, monitoring her activities for the found out that I represent you. They want you to shoot a Toy of report he was to give Charlie later. No Toys (including Charlie’s the Moment nude pictorial that takes four weeks to shoot. The girlfriends) were allowed to stay away past 8 P.M. “as a safety pre- pay is thirty-five thousand dollars and they will fly you to the caution.” It didn’t take long to grasp that this regulation and Palace where you will stay in the guesthouse while shooting. Are many others were actually rooted in Charlie’s controlling, jealous you interested?” I said I’d get back to her. egomania. Charlie felt that all females on his property were actu- When nude pictures of Hollywood starlet Tabitha Taylor ally his, and he wanted “his girls” around as much as possible, were published in the first issue of Toys for Boys, the magazine but especially after dark. If any among the Palace’s male staff became instantly popular. Over the years, posing for the presti- were seen conversing with one of Charlie’s girlfriends, the Toys, gious men’s magazine became a trendy career move for ambi- or any female guests for longer than five minutes, their employ- tious models and actresses. It was Toys for Boys’ journalistic ment would be immediately terminated. Oftentimes, late at quality, however, that had always impressed me. I fantasized night or early in the morning, Charlie would use his master key about one day having my own writing published in it. I thought to unlock the door to a girl’s room and check her bed to ascertain that perhaps posing would be my “in” with the company—that in that she was really there. I found it very hard to sleep. time, if I gave 100% to promoting the magazine, and proved Charlie’s girlfriends complained that though financially through written submissions that my talents far exceeded “tak- cared for, they were miserable. They talked about how Charlie ing pretty pictures,” perhaps they might consider creating a col- made them engage in orgies with him twice a week. Because he umn for me. I knew the magazine had a positive reputation and was sexually dysfunctional, despite a spate of pharmaceutical that the pictorials were tasteful. I also felt they were offering me remedies, most of the “required sex” nights wound up consisting fair compensation for a month-long modeling shoot. of girlfriends performing sexual acts on each other and on Charlie according to his own personal, kinky predilections. Hence, his girlfriends didn’t call him “the Asshole” for nothing. * Charlie expected Toys to join in the dreaded orgy nights. I was picked up at the airport by a staff member of Toys for Although he wouldn’t force Toys to participate, he insisted they Boys in a black stretch limousine and taken to the renowned “observe” because he liked to watch people watching. Most of Palace of Charles Lester, owner and creator of Toys for Boys Charlie’s girlfriends admitted to hating Charlie but resigned Magazine, whom everyone just called “Charlie.” I was looking themselves to having chosen their lifestyle—they were being forward to the experience, having thoroughly researched the “taken care of.” I remember asking one of Charlie’s girlfriends,

52 Citizen Culture fiction

The room was dark, smelled of stale cigarettes, and was filled with inexplicably intense sorrow.

“If you’re so miserable why don’t you just leave?” She respond- don’t want it. Thanks for the advice,” I said and hung up the phone. ed, “Where would I go and what would I do? Besides, if I stay maybe Charlie will let me shoot a Toy pictorial and then I can get rich and famous.” * Toys are paid to promote the myth and legends of Charles Lester and his company. I’ve never met any employee of Toys for * Boys who was willing to go public with the truth about the com- A few days into my stay Maura told me the reason she had pany’s seedy internal goings-on in the face of Charlie’s wrath and been crying when I arrived. She explained how a few nights a subsequent lawsuit. Besides, his audiences adore Charlie’s before, Pinky, Charlie’s most devious girlfriend, had insisted that myths—who wants to be the one to pull back the rug, expose the she should* come up to the bedroom “to watch.” Maura was dirt, and taint the fantasy? Men around the world idolize, emu- handed a drink, then awoke much later lying naked and groggy late, even admit wanting to be Charlie Lester. How ironic that he in Charlie’s bedroom closet. The next day Maura asked if she is the loneliest individual I have ever encountered, living a façade could go home but was denied. She was told that because she of a life that has been created for show, in which no one truly had signed the contract she must stay at the Palace and finish her loves him and he truly loves no one. He sold his soul to the devil shoot, or else she would owe Toys for Boys thousands of dollars well over half a century ago, and has been described by col- in lost revenue. She told me she felt completely helpless, alone, leagues, friends, and employees as intelligent, quick-witted, and at fault for having agreed to pose for the magazine in the first manipulative, cold, heartless, mercurial, soulless, insecure, place. insincere, narcissistic, controlling, lonely, and misogynistic. All A few of Charlie’s girlfriends confirmed to Maura that she the descriptions are accurate. had indeed been drugged and molested the previous night. I But you, dear daughter, are strong, talented, and intelligent. decided that no matter what happened I wouldn’t abandon I wish I could protect you from all the evils and deceptions in this Maura; there was no one else to take care of her, to make sure she world. Still, every woman who has made the conscious decision didn’t get hurt again. to pose for Toys for Boys Magazine has done so of her own Darling Anika, so many young girls are truly clueless of what accord. They weren’t forced. But no one should ever jump blind- they are getting themselves into when they sign the contract to ly into a cesspool, and at the very least it is my duty as your moth- become Toys. I certainly was: at the Toys for Boys photo studio er to caution you as strongly as I can. You know I find nothing I was given less than a minute to scan the contract before being distasteful about pin-up pictures. If shooting a pin-up pictorial is told, “Sign it now so we can start shooting. We can’t get behind something you’d like to do, then you have my full support, as schedule.” I signed, trustingly, without realizing that I had sold always. But go, please, to a company where no one will deceive, myself into a glamourized indentured servitude. disrespect, drug, or abuse you, so that you might come away I spent a few months diligently working the promotional cir- from the experience with a positive, proud impression. cuit as per my contract, but when I tried to talk to Charlie about I keep a poem in an old scrapbook that I wrote while staying writing for his magazine I was laughed-at and dismissed. in the Palace guesthouse, nearly two decades ago: Then came the day that I received a call from one of Toys for Boys’ studio employees, telling me I had won the annual Toy for The city of crying angels a Moment Longer award. Winning the award came with the and I cry too prospect of enough money to put a large deposit down on a It is so bright outside house, so of course I was delighted, but I was instructed, under- and so dark inside standably, not to reveal my selection to anyone. After two days of My tears are drowning me shooting the Toy for a Moment Longer pictorial I received yet and I’m growing afraid another call telling me that the pictorial I had begun shooting I’m in a golden cage would now be called a “test shoot.” I would no longer be consid- and I want out ered the “official” winner until Charlie had finalized his decision. It was a test indeed—of the moral sort. When I finished my photo shoot and finally left the Palace “You’ve shot the pictorial for the annual Toy for a Moment grounds with $35,000 and none of the innocence with which I Longer award, now there’s just one other thing,” the studio had arrived, I had a little falcon tattooed on my back, a small employee said. “As you know, Charlie doesn’t insist that a Toy of emblem to forever declare: No one owns or controls me; I am the Moment be intimate with him. However, if a girl wants to free—free as a bird. win the annual award she will need to be intimate with Charlie. I’m not advocating that or anything; it’s entirely up to you how much you want the title and the money.” Love you always, I felt a deep sadness envelop me. “If that’s what it’s all about, I Mom

C 53 CM S EXY TASTES 72-Hour Party ~by Jen Karetnick People Miami Shores, FL

f hurricanes are the price you pay for living in sub- and the Pall Malls have become as scarce as batteries and flash- tropical paradise, then hurricane parties are the lights, pay for a packet of Nicoret gum instead. If your heroin compensation—if, that is, you know how to throw dealer’s phone has already gone dead, head to the methadone i (or scout out) a proper one. clinic. During the recent and dangerously dreary onslaught of Food-wise, the culinary rule of thumb for hurricanes is Frances, the pokiest of squalls to ever approach Florida’s east don’t bother with perishables. Instead load up on canned and coast, we Miamians learned some valuable lessons in gastro- dry products, with the understanding that after the Frigidaire nomic storm management. None of which, however, involved motor moans to a halt, you’ll be spending the first twenty-four thinking up precious and ridiculously redundant names for hours eating the defrosted Wagyu beef (known colloquially but dishes such as a chef-acquaintance’s reinvented Cobb salad, incorrectly as Kobe beef) you were saving for a special occasion. a.k.a. “hurricane rollup salad,” comprising outer band Indeed it doesn’t hurt to augment such treats with other gour- clouds”of sliced turkey and prosciutto with an eye of Brie met goods. They act as a buffer for boredom much the same cheese set atop an ocean of baby greens with cherry tomato way the metal shutters shield window glass. Thus the almonds islands, cucumber rafts, blue cheese seas, bacon driftwood and I brought back from Spain, a gift from Grupo Osborne in Jerez sliced egg life rafts for $10.95. We leave recipes like that to the, de la Fonterra where I was tasting the family’s rare Sherry, were er, professionals. almost immediately consumed. I had put them aside to cele- No, we realized instead that imbibing is actually the most brate my husband’s one-year mark of surviving testicular can- important activity for surviving speeding coconuts and crack- cer. But I guess the themed fete I had planned—”Almond Joy’s ing avocado tree limbs. As such, you simply can’t have too got nuts, Jon don’t”—can rage on with pecan pie instead. much alcohol to hand. Go ahead and overestimate how much Frances fooled us, though. First predicted to make condi- you’ll need; it’s not as if the vodka is going to spoil when the tions dangerous at about noon on Friday, she forced us into our electricity goes out. And while you don’t have to surf the blinkered bunkers by sheer nervous anticipation alone. Then Internet and then scour the supermarket shelves for the ingre- she slowed to five miles per hour at times, a speed of travel I can dients for authentic New Orleans-style hurricanes, don’t forget run faster than. We finally felt the brunt of the hurricane gusts the mixers. Our last-minute run to Walgreen’s yielded only Saturday, late evening. By that time, we’d been partying for cranberry juice, which can get cloying after a while. But we did about thirty-six hours, twelve more than those twenty-four- have the added benefit of knowing we were relatively immune hour folks who think they’re all that. We’d consumed every egg, to urinary tract infections during the course of the storm. drop of milk, and speck of butter in the house. We were run- We were also educated on how to attend to various other ning low on Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, the Publix wine-of-the- habits via an idiot who drove off the road during the height of week of which we’d bought nearly a case. And we still had the Frances’ gastropod-inspired landfall, got trapped in a watery second half of the storm to get through, as well as several small ditch for several hours, and had to be rescued by emergency children to entertain. personnel. Afterwards, he hung around in the wind and rain Indeed our party numbers had unexpectedly grown. My giving interviews to newscasters. His mission? He was on his family had planned to ride out Frances at the house of our code- way to replenish his supply of cigarettes. Moral of the story: pendent neighbors, simply because we spend almost every This is Darwinism at its finest. With a sense of survival like weekend together anyway, so that the kids can torture each that, you might as well actively court carcinoma. Smoke up, my other while the adults drink wine, cook communally, and play friend. such various complicated card games as “Strip Go Fish.” We Admittedly, stockpiling essentials can be somewhat tricky. vacation with each other for the same decadent reasons. It was But exercising common sense helps: If you’re late to the store more of a stretch to imagine living without our drinking bud-

54 Citizen Culture S EXY TASTES dies for a few days than it was to dwell on cooping up together. Company,” made the front page of the region’s daily paper the Their newly renovated house is appealing for other rea- following day, prompting my local friend Dindy to e-mail me sons, such as the high-impact hurricane windows they had with “the Herald tells me you are fine,” and Jon’s mate Erhan to installed. Windows, as opposed to the permanent dusk that Blackberry him from California: “Glad to hear you’re living plywood and shutters supply, tend to prevent the acute onset of large in your neighbor’s phat crib while the rest of your state is Seasonal Affective Disorder (the reason why many of us migrat- cowering in a living nightmare.” A sentiment that reminded us, ed from more dreary climes in the first place). Not to mention of course, to be grateful that Frances was not the kind of storm that you can watch the storm bands plow through the yard that those of us who lived through 1992’s Hurricane Andrew or without actually leaving the building—a plus for subtropically the more recent Charlie truly feared. I should also note that it’s seasoned adults, though a minus for children frightened by only possible to enjoy a hurricane party if you’ve taken every power lines whipping in the wind like infuriated snakes being precaution to protect both family and property, as we did. held by the tail. The kitchen also has a gas stove, as opposed to As it turned out, Frances’ more violent nature missed the electric ones the rest of us in Miami Shores possess, which much of Miami-Dade County altogether. So she proved hardly is a boon when the current proves as increasingly fickle as the an impediment when, seventy-two hours into the storm, the wind speeds. And there are retreats enough for various child- entire augmented household—our minds stir-crazy by captivi- less folk to retire to when the chaos became unbearable, and ty, foreheads steeled by muscle-paralyzing poison and appetites nooks aplenty for those of a mind to hook up—a sure thing whetted by wind and vindaloo—headed south for a huge family- when so much alcohol and enforced intimacy abounds. Right, style brunch at Imlee, a well-heeled Indian bistro. Sean? But even as Frances was behind us, Hurricane Ivan, fol- All this to say that a successful hurricane party employs the lowed by Jeanne, loomed in our near future. Good thing we’d same philosophy as the positioning of a promising restaurant: left the storm shutters up and restocked the Belvedere. Ivan the prime location, eye-candy casting, good eats, and a talented Terrible skirted us, but Jeanne forced us into an identical situ- bartender or two. Additional friends, relatives and neighbors, ation. Well, almost identical—this time we went with a tradi- including an Indian-born plastic surgeon who had already lost tional, all-American turkey dinner and discussed the possibility electricity and had to dispense both a chicken vindaloo and an of liposuction as we watched the trees and roof tiles of our less- open bottle of Botox before they went bad, abided by the same fortunate neighbors to the north getting sucked up by the wind credo. By the time a fellow journalist found his way to the like so many fat cells. And in the end, we started bickering over house, drawn presumably by the noise as well as the promise of stuffing and gravy. Even seventy-two-hour party people who a bloody Mary and basmati rice, we had three pots of food on have the benefits of confirmed roofs over our heads and the the stove, eleven adults and five children in the living room on miracle of electricity during killer storms can get enough of a Twister mat, and eight needle marks—and no more frown each other. All blitheness aside, this hurricane season has been lines—in our foreheads. giving the folks of Florida one hell of a reason to get drunk—and Naturally our party, under the heading “Misery Loves consequences that are far worse than a mere hangover. Through the EEYYEE of a FFAANN

photos and reflections by Henry Diltz portfolio

Right: Their first single had just hit and Capitol Records hired me to photograph their appearance at Tower Records in West Hollywood. As a musician, I always feel at home standing on stage where exciting music is happening. I was ten feet away from Thom Yorke of Radiohead when I took this picture.

Below: Too often in today’s image- controlling concerts, photographers are given only the space of one song to do their job. Nirvana, at the Forum, was that way for me. Every shot on the roll looked quite ordinary with the exception of this one frame, which magically appeared. It alone looked like how the music sounded.

C 57 CM portfolio

58 Citizen Culture portfolio

Left: Mama Cass was a laughing, loving earth mother who was always putting people together. She introduced Nash to Crosby and Stills, knowing what would happen. She met a very shy Eric Clapton on a TV show and brought him home to meet her friends at a picnic in her backyard with Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, and Micky Dolenz. Eric was fascinated with the guitar tunings Joni and David were using as they sang together out under the trees.

Above: This day was a total time warp back to the Old West. The Eagles always thought that rock n’ roll musicians probably would have been gunfighters had they lived back then. They recorded an album called Desperado to reflect that feeling.

C 59 CM

portfolio RISON HO OR GALLERY TEL ™ MFINE ART MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF HENRY DILTZ

Stephen Stills had bought these jackets for himself and his bandmates. They tried them out on a trip to the snow in Big Bear where I photographed the inside of their first ©Henry Diltz album cover. They were the furs of predators. Wolf for Crosby and 124 PRINCE STREET NEW YORK, NY 10012 212.941.8770 Nash and wolverine for Stephen. WWW.MORRISONHOTEL.US portfolio

Above: It was early Monday morning, and I had been up all night on the edge of the stage. A lot of the crowd had already left before Jimi Hendrix let loose with his famous Star Spangled Banner. It was the high point of Woodstock for me.

Opposite right: A fifty-dollar cab ride from Las Vegas puts you out in the beautiful Red Rocks desert area. What better place to capture the spirit of Joni Mitchell. When we returned to the city, I realized I was finally embarrassed and had to borrow the fare from Joni.

Right: We arrived at dawn in a limo from LA. By 8 A.M. Cass’s makeup was melting in the Palm Springs desert heat. We spent the day by a motel pool, went back at dusk and took this picture for a billboard on the Sunset Strip.

62 Citizen Culture portfolio

C 63 CM portfolio

Ringo has a dry Liverpool sense of humor that’s great fun to be around. It happens fast, like the instant he ripped this tape off an instrument case and stuck it on his forehead. One frame and it was gone.

64 Citizen Culture Effortless GENIUS RAY CHARLES in RONALD REAGAN’S World

~by Nick A. Zaino III Boston, MA eulogy

And if Charles wasn't always front and center while I was exploring music, he was always in the mix somewhere. It seemed almost anywhere I went musically, Charles had already been there.

hen Ronald Reagan and Ray Charles died the Cold War, and racism in South Africa (which is also when I same week, it was easy to predict who would have became aware of Little Steven and his bandana). I was also try- the spotlight. Reagan has gotten credit for ending ing to wrap my head around the emergence of hip-hop, and try- w the hostage crisis in Iran, defeating the Soviet ing to figure out why Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson empire, and generally making America feel all warm and fuzzy seemed to care more about feeding people than the president. again. As Reagan was paraded around the country, I felt sad for And if Charles wasn’t always front and center while I was a guy whose* politics I abhor and whose turn as president was exploring music, he was always in the mix somewhere. When I more overhyped than the Kobe/Shaq feud, but whom I think was discovering comedy, he was in the reruns of Saturday would have made an outstanding drinking buddy. Night Live I treasured as a kid, John Belushi sitting at a piano Mostly, though, I was offended on behalf of Ray Charles. I and singing What’d I Say?. Before I had even found that really had no right to be. I never knew Charles personally or record, he was singing with Willie Nelson, another early idol of even interviewed him. But in my mind, Charles was every bit mine, the two of them subtly breaking down barriers between the American legend that Reagan was. Reagan was the one who country and soul before I could learn they existed. When I went to West Berlin to say, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this came back to country music after going through classic rock, wall.” But Charles was the one who traveled the country for indie rock, folk, punk, and everything else I was exposed to in decades singing, “See the girl with the diamond ring? She college, I found Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and knows how to shake that thing.” To me, there is no comparison Western Music. It seemed almost anywhere I went musically, as to which one carries more weight. The Berlin Wall was on its Charles had already been there. way down anyway. But people need motivation to shake, and Every time I cared to look, there was fun, passion, and Charles supplied a lifetime of that. soul. And when I wasn’t looking directly, I was looking through I first discovered Ray Charles in my basement in a musty someone else Charles was influencing. Charles was a comfort- old box of records my parents had bought at an auction. I had ing thread weaved into a cultural tapestry that is often shrill, been playing drums for a couple of years and was just starting depressing, and lacking in soul. What he had to offer was com- to bang around on an old Strat copy a neighbor had lent me. I pletely obvious and omnipresent. As Reagan gave way to Bush, didn’t know how to play guitar, but I could muster a confident Bush to Clinton, and Clinton back to Bush, Charles was never racket. Good enough for rock and roll, I thought. The album really a political voice, certainly not a voice of opposition. But was Spotlight on Ray Charles and the George Brown he was a source of strength. Strength that the same society that Orchestra, Vol II, and none of the tunes were Charles stan- could produce the vicious political infighting between dards, exactly. I recognized names like Sentimental Blues and Republicans and Democrats could also produce Ray Charles Blues Before Sunrise as more history than music. Jug of Joel (and Willie Nelson and John Belushi). and Flip Flooie Flip were completely off of my small town white Charles is getting his share of tributes now, including this boy radar. But I took that record out of the box, Charles staring one, and his parade will wind through reviews of Genius Loves out from a faded golden background, and put it on an old play- Company, his final album, and Ray, the much hyped biopic er. It was probably half music, half pops and surface noise, but starring Jamie Foxx. It’s fitting that the last album is a collec- it made sense. tion of duets with everyone from Nelson to Norah Jones, Van I wasn’t suddenly imbued with a Robert Johnson-like tal- Morrison, Johnny Mathis, and Natalie Cole. It’s easy to see the ent to play the blues, and I didn’t become a Ray Charles fanat- respect these artist have for Charles, and his talent as a singer ic. But what I gained from trying to twist my guitar around and musician is clear. He blends best with artists like Jones, that record was an awareness of soul. That was sorely lacking James Taylor, and B.B. King who give honest, direct perform- in the prog rock and bad eighties metal I learned to love (and in ances. But when Elton John goes over the top on his own Sorry some cases, still do). And it was certainly lacking in the head- Seems the Hardest Word, Charles really stands out. He man- lines. ages as much power just breathing into the microphone as The Reagan era was when I became politically, and musi- John does belting his guts out. Which just goes to show, put cally, aware. I was thirteen or fourteen years old, trying to Charles next to anybody, anybody at all, and he will stand out comprehend a new disease called AIDS, the final days of the without trying. Effortless genius.

66 Citizen Culture

O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

From the Right ~by Ben Barron Davis, CA

Liberals lost the battle of the mind, so they have taken hat do modern liberals, in modern America, their policies to believe? Better question: why do liberals sup- port John Kerry? the battleground w The most obvious answer is the latest trend to hit the country’s cosmopolitan streets: unfettered loathing of of the heart. George W. Bush and all things conservative, often accompa- nied by an open embrace of the word “hate.” Is it really Fahrenheit 9/11, a film that offers no constructive political viewpoint, which goads people by the droves to supporting Kerry? I know few liberals—or voters in general—who can name a single Kerry platform, and yet Kerry has somehow amassed an enormous war chest of nearly $200 million at the time of this writing. Surely, liberals have some positive vision for America, gird- ed by a philosophy of government, by which they have come to the decision to cast their vote for John Kerry. (Right?) Look just about anywhere in the media and you’re bound to run into the Republican-hating craze. Go to the political section of your local bookstore and try to find one modern book that sets out a rational argument for liberal platforms. You’ll have to wade through such eloquent works as Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, The Lies of George W. Bush and The I Hate George

68 Citizen Culture O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

Bush Reader, all written by or featuring the most prominent ping that abortion should be legal but also rare. The liberal voices of our day. Republicans were not just a Clinton-bashing party. They Jonathan Chait, senior editor of the liberal magazine The became the party of ideas—and their ideas were winning. New Republic, has embraced explicit hatred for George Bush and has deemed it appropriate for liberals to be open with theirs. Even Nicholas Kristof, a liberal columnist for the New * York Times, has bemoaned the Left’s hatred of President Bush as well as their incessant accusations that he is a liar. Perhaps our best strategy to search for the underpinnings Admittedly, I have listened to little of the liberal radio sta- of modern liberalism is to work from the top-down. Sift tion Air America, but everything I have heard thus far has through liberal platforms until we hit the roots of their views amounted to a hate fest of George Bush. Well, not always; and are able to see if anything truly substantial lies behind the sometimes they add John Ashcroft to the mix to spice things trend of empty Bush-hatred. up. On the social front, liberals favor maintaining the legaliza- It took weeks for Dan Rather to come clean that he had tion of abortions (although many are uncomfortable with used fraudulent evidence to smear our president in a them), legalizing gay marriage and enforcing affirmative action September 60 Minutes report. Would he have brought the in public institutions. On the economic front, they support same lack of journalistic integrity to a story on Swiftboat using tax money to support government programs, most of Veterans for Truth? And just last month, the political director which assist the poor and elderly; they often support raising of ABC News ordered his reporters to hold President Bush more taxes in order to create or fund those programs; and they sup- accountable than John Kerry in reporting alleged lies and dis- port market regulations to ensure, e.g., fairness in hiring and tortions, according to a memo leaked to The Drudge Report. rent. The Public Editor of the New York Times has written columns But liberals today make no attempt to offer a rational basis openly admitting the pro-Kerry running rampant throughout for supporting these platforms. That is to say, there is no over- the paper’s sections. arching political philosophy (like supply-side economics) nor is Is this really what the left in America has come to? I’m not there a core set of values (like family values) underlining these asking, nor am I accusing. I’m searching. I desperately want to policies. believe that there is more to a sizable chunk of our voting pop- What view justifies liberal social policies? Some point to a ulace than a seething tide of anger. Where is the gravity and rejection of enforced morality as we find in the prohibition of rationality, where is the fine-tuned worldview needed to shape abortion. But that is exactly what affirmative action amounts to national and foreign policy or at the very least debate it in a the imposition of de facto quotas on public institutions so as to constructive manner? I fear it’s gone the way of Michael Moore. impose a just (read: moral) distribution of employment. Rent The vilification of a sitting president is not a new trend. As control is the imposition of fair (read: moral) rents on the hous- many liberals will tell you to justify their hatred, it all started ing market. (I certainly don’t believe that liberals support with the feral conservative loathing for Bill Clinton. That these policies because they hope to erode or alter our concep- hatred, they’ll let you know, led to the “witch hunt” by conser- tion of family values.) vative special investigator Ken Starr, leading ultimately to Decades ago, these types of policies were justified by the Clinton’s impeachment. And, to be fair, a number of conserva- social iniquities they mended. Women and blacks had been tive books have been written that deride the former president discriminated-against, and the Civil Rights and Women’s and his wife. Liberation movements were the Left-leaning forces that fought But there’s a crucial contraposition begging to be high- back. Now, those injustices (with the possible exception of gay lighted: throughout the impeachment ordeal, conservatives marriage) have been eliminated, though the “Liberation Now!” continued to promote their policy ideas and to contribute to a mentality and anger at the perceived bigotry of rich white men positive debate in this country. Even as Ken Starr and Henry remains. Liberals call on us to have compassion for the social Hyde pushed for Clinton’s impeachment, conservative publica- plight of blacks, whose social iniquities are due to white dis- tions and think tanks continued to churn out the slew of articles crimination past and present. White America should feel guilty and ideas that have made the conservative movement such a for the position we have put them in. revolutionary force in the last generation. Shock at stained Liberal justification for social policies thus seems to be dresses and alternative uses of cigars was grounded by contin- emotive rather than rational. Liberals point to injustices in ued discussions of welfare reform, limited government, and the society in order to elicit compassion and guilt. But there are no rise of neoconservative foreign policy, to name a few hot topics. positive moral or intellectual values put forth to justify those Behind these views were not just minds of startling intelli- policies. Conservatives uphold the sanctity of the nuclear fam- gence working with institutions such as the Heritage ily and, indeed, studies across the board show families with two Foundation or publications like The Weekly Standard, but a married parents tend to avoid poverty and tend to raise chil- concerted effort to form a holistic, rational conservative philos- dren who avoid drugs and crime. The same cannot be said of ophy. The benefits of supply-side economics and family values liberal social platforms, which seem to only address transitory became the trademark of the Republican resurgence under social ills—indeed, social ills that haven’t been widespread for Newt Gingrich. It is no coincidence that just as conservatism decades. began growing in popularity, Bill Clinton became one of the most conservative Democrat presidents in history, pushing through landmark welfare reforms, fighting a war in the Balkans without United Nations support, and famously quip- *

C 69 CM O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

The issue of liberal economic policies becomes stickier: a it on the latter issue, to my dismay). Senator Hillary Clinton generation ago liberals staunchly held to a cogent viewpoint in shocked much of the country when she called for a repeal of the justifying government programs and welfare handouts— tax cuts, going so far as to utter a socialist mantra: “We’re going Keynesian economics. Franklin Roosevelt made deficit spend- to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” ing fashionable by creating a slew of government programs to What schools of thought are these policy shapers utilizing assuage the impact of the Great Depression. But those pro- in putting forth these ideas? Keynesian philosophy as a politi- grams weren’t pushed forward under the bulwark of liberalism cal force died years ago, so emotional forces compel liberals to until the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, whose Great Society frame social policies at work, again with no rational underpin- expanded the government by leaps and bounds. Declaring “all- nings. out war on poverty and unemployment,” Johnson initiated Conservative commentator Michael Medved has repeated- such mainstays as Medicare and Medicaid. Punishments were ly claimed that what separates liberals and conservatives at softened in the name of rehabilitation. The National their roots is that conservatives are spiritualistic in nature Endowments for the Arts and Humanities were established. whereas liberals are materialistic. While there are certainly Feverish with excitement, 1960s liberals saw their moment merits to this argument, the real difference between them in the to reshape the American government following decades of modern era is that liberals fashion issues based on emotion, Republican control. They had long admired Europe and whereas conservatives use cold logic to come up with what can yearned for big-government socialism, thinking of government at first seem like unappetizing solutions for social and econom- intervention as the cure for all social ills. ic ills. Not give money to the poor? In the short run, welfare And what was the result of this experiment in unadulterat- may assuage their needs, but in the long run, you end up with ed liberalism? 8,000 homeless in San Francisco. You exacerbate the problem. Failure. Government isn’t the solution. The 1970s were beset with “stagflation,” despite Liberals lost the battle of the mind, so they have taken their Keynesians’ promises that their policies could keep the econo- policies to the battleground of the heart. Their guns are anti- my under control. Crime skyrocketed, and the black arrest rate quated—a fact about which their soldiers are clueless. But grew by more than 130 percent by the end of the decade. In the instead of stopping to reconsider their options, they fight on. words of John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, American And America continues veering to the Right as a result. political reporters for The Economist, “[The liberal elite] had no solution for the breakup of the family—other than with more generous welfare payments. They had no solution to the prob- lem of rising crime—other than more cash for rehabilitation and social science studies.” * Buy yourself a ticket to San Francisco. There you’ll see the product of years of anti-homeless programs amounting to costs of more than $200 million in recent years. Among the usual slate of liberal policies, San Francisco’s homeless population actually receives a monthly stipend. Yet the city’s homeless population ranks among the highest of any city in the country, HAT S THE IG DEA with an estimated 8,000 to 16,000 homeless out of 800,000 W ’ B I ? city residents. The condition is similar is any liberal bastion— Santa Monica, California; Portland, Oregon; Berkeley, California. If you would like to submit a new idea for a The failure of liberalism came shortly after the rise of a new themed column, or simply would like to see group of conservative intellectuals known as the Chicago School. Led by Milton Friedman and Austrian economist F.A. a CCM column cover a specific topic, Hayek, the Chicago School rebuffed New Deal policies and put forth the first modern supply-side philosophy. At a time when send an e-mail to the tax rate hit as high as seventy percent (following the Carter [email protected]. administration) and the government controls put the country in a malaise it hadn’t seen since the Great Depression, the idea of rolling back the government didn’t seem so bad. Now, for some inexplicable, astounding reason, Democrat after Democrat continues to push for rapid expansion of gov- ernment, tax hikes included. Every one of the 2004 Democratic presidential contenders declared their intention to repeal part of Bush’s tax cut. Each of them, including John Kerry, fought tooth and nail to put forward the most progressive universal health care plan and senior drug plan (until Bush beat them to

70 Citizen Culture O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

From the Left

~by Ari Paul Chicago, IL

ou know nothing of my work,” Marshall McLuhan, playing himself, told an uppity Columbia professor in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, “y “You mean my whole fallacy is wrong.” Allen used the role of the late media critic to vent his Must there be a own personal frustrations, but McLuhan’s cameo appearance symbolized how his own theories, popular in the sixties and sev- correlation between power enties, were greatly misunderstood by his fans and his contem- poraries in the field. and political trends? Can Radical then and passé now, McLuhan’s “the medium is we just ignore the fact that the message” philosophy holds that contemporary media have a profound effect on the structure of human relations. It is time the average American, to bring back McLuhan’s insight in order to understand how film—one of the most popular modern forms of expression—has who does not bother to affected the American social and political existence, and like- wise democracy writ large. vote even once every four But first, what are the American trends that any one medi- years, nevertheless goes um can define? Not simply Hollywood, but specifically the pro- ducers of the blockbuster fantasy films of the last ten years have out to the movies five contributed to the making of a culture relatively uninterested in the real and in politics, and thus have created a divide between times in a single year? the policy making apparatus and the common citizenry. But do fantasy films deserve distinction as a medium that credibly transmits messages beyond entertainment? The Oscar winners of the last few decades represent films—corporate and independent, domestic and foreign—that deal with issues such as the Holocaust, mental illness, and war. Yet only two of the ten highest grossing films (ever)—Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King—received coronations at the Academy Award ceremonies in their respective years. The blockbusters have been about outer space (Star Wars, E.T.), extinct animals coming to life (Jurassic Park), fantasy worlds (The Lord of the Rings), and mythical super heroes (Spider- Man, both parts). But do they really have significant influence society’s workings or values?

C 71 CM O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

Hollywood blacklisting. Ed Gernon, the executive producer of * Hitler: The Rise of Evil, was fired when he told the press that he thought the miniseries was important because the political cli- The popularity of fantasy films cannot be understated. mate of post-September 11th America was similar to the climate Americans pay in the hundreds of millions for the top movies. under which the Nazis thrived. Even Michael Moore’s The highest grossing film, Titanic, brought in over $1.8 billion, Fahrenheit 9/11, risked not being distributed, as Disney feared which equates to .02 percent of America’s Gross National the piece’s scathing indictment of President Bush was too con- Product for 1997, the year the film was released. The money troversial, even though it was quick to distribute Kill Bill: spent by studios to produce movies at such a scale, and by con- Volume 2, a gruesome and violent film, at the same time. sumers to see them dwarfs by comparison the expenditures The double standard between Quentin Tarantino’s work of seen in the other mass media industries. The motion picture gratuitous violence and Moore’s piece of cinematic journalism can industry, therefore, is one of the two largest drivers (the other be explained. Fantasy film successes prove that we pine for the being the computer industry) of the economy of the state of imaginary. Even disturbing depictions of violence, contextual- California, an economy that trumps that of most nations. ized in a movie with no basis in reality, are easily absorbed. But To suggest merely that they have a profound influence on a movie that showcases Iraqi babies being killed by American impressionable youths would deflect such films’ intensity. tax dollars and demonstrates that President Bush has signifi- While films in the past could boast of a devoted, playful fan fol- cant ties to the Saudi terrorist-harboring regime is something lowing, today’s successful fantasy dramas breed their own sub- the public is simply not used-to. In Fahrenheit 9/11 a woman cultures. Lined up outside theaters showing The Lord of the cries when she recalls learning of her son’s death in Iraq. While Rings and Star Wars are are countless Aragorns and the image is tame compared to what one usually sees on the sil- Skywalkers, dress and persona both adopted. Books, movies, ver screen, because it is real, it is far more harrowing. and role-playing games encourage and progress the prolifera- While an aversion to turning off corporate partners forces tion and sophistication of such subcultures with pre-planned Hollywood to be conciliatory, the military, one of the most hierarchical social structure. Thus, in addition to the economic provocative sectors of government, has realized that tapping power of the film industry, fantasy film fan bases tend to more into Hollywood’s popularity is an ideal vehicle for advancing its closely resemble the constituency of a religious faction or own interests. Before movie previews, one used to be able to modern day nation-state than of a for-profit enterprise. see a “Dungeons and Dragons”-like advertisement for the Fantasy films—let alone the entire realm of major motion Marines, obviously tapping into the vein of infatuation with pictures—have transcended the status of mere entertainment. film; the Army developed a video game to act as a vehicle for They may soon cross the economic boundary separating luxu- recruitment. ries and necessities. According to the U.S. Census and the The collaboration between Hollywood and the military is National Association of Theater Owners, there is approximate- nothing new. But the collaboration is crippling Hollywood’s ly one movie screen for every eight-thousand American citi- voice while furthering the expansionist impulses of our current zens. Not counting DVD players and computers that are State. War movies are popular, and therefore profitable. If a increasingly equipped to download pirated (and legal) films off producer wants to cash in such a film, he or she must coordi- the Internet. Hollywood is a ubiquitous focal point of the nate with the military to gain access to the necessary equip- American existence. ment. Hollywood journalist David Robb wrote for the American Movie Channel: “For the military, providing produc- tion assistance to filmmakers is mostly about getting its mes- * sage out [to] millions of potential recruits. An official Army Must there be a correlation between power and political publication, called A Producer’s Guide to U.S. Army trends? Can we just ignore the fact that the average American, Cooperation with the Entertainment Industry, states that film who does not bother to vote even once every four years, never- productions that seek the Army’s assistance ‘should help theless goes out to the movies five times in a single year? Armed Forces recruiting and retention programs.’” Hollywood’s sensationalism has exacerbated America’s Not only must a script be approved by the military for a short attention span and lack of interest in the daily news. producer to win its assistance, but the military also actively Worse is that Hollywood is purging: fantasy spectacles feed exploits the partnership. Major David Georgi in an memo con- popular hunger for distraction from reality, from economy, cerning the film Clear and Present Danger, wrote that the from politics. The process over time numbs the population to script was “revised to reflect Department of Defense concerns the ordeals of real life. regarding military command and control, recognition of And, contrary to tradition, Hollywood has largely decided Colombian sovereignty and an improved depiction of the presi- to shy away from political controversy. dency,” and that “military depictions have become more of a Elizabeth Guider wriote in Variety that “the parent compa- ‘commercial’ for [the military].” Hollywood has acted like an nies of the media are becoming increasingly reluctant to go out overgrown public relations firm for the Department of Defense on a limb about anything controversial.” The trend is not the and has held helped sugarcoat America’s involvement in result of any conspiracy by Hollywood executives to squeeze Colombia. dissent from discourse. Rather, Hollywood producers fear How ironic that Hollywood, once a hotbed of radicalism, is hurting or offending their corporate allies would in turn pum- now the vanguard of the American political establishment, pro- mel their bottom line, even if they personally see no problem tecting the discourse from outright criticism of the state! That with controversy. cinema, cornerstone of the so-called liberal media, is chiefly Many in Hollywood have felt the brunt of the new responsible for the dilution of dissent. Could an industry so

72 Citizen Culture O N THE FENCE: MEDIA AND POLITICS

saturated with Democrats really align itself with the state’s mil- dence and delivery, while the validity of their ideas fell by the itarist interests? discourse’s wayside. Depoliticized content streams from Hollywood to a mas- As McLuhan suggsted, political leaders are being elected sive portion of the American public, to the detriment of democ- based upon their image, rather than a dialectic of competing racy. But Hollywood’s growing tendency to add muscle to its ideals that gives rise to creative solutions. We see an electoral fantasy films and pieces may come to wield severe conse- war between competing public relations firms who represent quences for those that do participate in electoral action. the moderately conservative (the Democrats) and the very “Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery,” conservative (the Republicans), where the arena of political McLuhan laments. “The politician will be only too happy to discourse has been reduced to the level of beauty pageants, abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much professional sports, and advertising campaigns. Policy these more powerful than he could ever be.” Former governor of days is actually drawn out by the teams behind politicians. For California Jerry Brown, commenting on the recall of Governor example, when most Americans favored the image of George Gray Davis in 2003, told reporters that we no longer elect poli- W. Bush in 2000, they were actually electing people like Karl cy makers; rather, we elect the spokespeople of policy. Rove, who sits behind Bush’s regular-old-guy image, to run the The emptiness of most American media, coupled with the country. ubiquity of visual media, (especially film), leaves the public lit- Does Hollywood have a responsibility to be political, let tle option but to participate in and respond to a political dis- alone oppositional to the State? Hollywood is a free enterprise, course that is more akin to entertainment, a discourse that is and cannot be “forced” to do anything. But right now social more concerned with style than content. The electorate has conditions are inducing a capitulatation to the desires of the become more concerned with politician’s image than with his State and its corporate cohort. Right now, Hollywood is keep- or her ideas. For example, during the 2004 campaign season ing Americans fully distracted from the real. Considering its the candidates’ coverage often dwelled on immaterial issues god-like influence on the public, perhaps Hollywood has a such as their demeanors, upbringings, personal financial moral responsibility to keep the public more interested in con- assets, and Vietnam records, as opposed to their respective temporary issues for the sake of a healthy democracy—it is busy stances on health care, job creation, or any other issue that has churning out distracting fantasy films, it is being opportunistic significant impact on the daily affairs of the average American. and irresponsible. John Kerry and John Edwards won electoral points by making But all hope is not lost. There was a backlash; Moore’s film comical appearances on popular television shows like The was released. Some actors’ anti-war beliefs have caused turmoil Daily Show and Late Night with David Letterman, while the in their careers as of late, and they have found no reason to fear Bush campaign gained ground by launching fictitious hate a McCarthyist witch hunt. Still, the consequences of the current pieces on prime time airwaves that spread vicious lies about fantasy film craze are undeniable; trouble arises when their John Kerry’s heroic Vietnam War record. The scuttlebutt sur- messages, which have so much power to affect the American rounding the debates revolved around each candidate’s confi- political climate, run contrary to the ideal of democracy.

Agree? Disagree? Or stuck on the Fence? We want your impassioned responses! Send an E-mail to [email protected] T HE FENCE: READER RESPONSE

the message versus the medium

~by Giselle Frommer Maclean, VA

The current political administration has added such weight to he new student enrolled in my father’s course on cus- the political pendulum tom western bootmaking in Oregon was a surprise. The twenty-two-year-old Columbia University that it has dragged all t chemistry student-slash-aspiring viticulturalist was hardly the “typical” student lured by my father’s other systems in leather craft and romance with the Old West. Yet, I wondered if he could be one of that newest prototype of American idealists America off their who falls somewhere between the critical optimism of progres- sive politics and the materialist strategies of the power elite. natural course. Such an idealist would be educated with a social and environ- mental consciousness yet, finding him or herself in debt from the skyrocketing costs of higher ed, would embrace pioneering and technologically savvy entrepreneurial strategies, a sort of walking the talk. The possibility brewed in my mind further, as I coupled feminism, now having been declared “passe” by my European girlfriends, with the growing trend of young women entrepreneurs conjuring (rather than protesting) global fashion through textile and home economics revivals, e.g., knitting books and circles or taking Mila Jovovich scissors to render already petite t-shirts and bikinis, more revealing. I questioned whom the real agents of change or trends can be in a social sys- tem dominated by politics and, furthermore, politics shaped only by individuals age thirty-five and above. In Systems Theory, the “edge” of a trend can be neither individually grasped, nor created. Yet it can be signaled when

74 Citizen Culture T HE FENCE: READER RESPONSE

the predictable trajectory of an evolving system becomes over- Robbins’s new sci-fi film Code 46, where the characters speak saturated to such a point that deviation from the norm is neces- in a cosmopolitan English interspersed with Mandarin, Arabic, sary; in other words, when one sees that so many of one’s fel- Spanish and French idioms, Queens is new cultural bricolage, a lows are beginning to act predictably, some change is already fusion of innovations and increasingly polyvocal text clamoring afoot. The current political administration has added such to create new frontiers in America’s composition. The transcul- weight to the political pendulum that it has dragged all other tural generations inhabiting this outer limit of America have systems in America off their natural course. In this zero-sum been filtering influence and tastes into the urban and simulated game of cats-in-the-cradle, where the pull of the one system American landscape even as its residents flood daily onto the 7- limits the opportunity and movement of others, whichever gen- train to meet the treadmill of New York City. A jaunt through eration defines the political system is the generation at the the communities of Queens reveals its diversity and dynamic. edge, or Generation Edge. Those skirting political enfranchise- Andean music flows into the reeds of the soulful pan flute ment are, as a matter of course, Generation Next. And as little on Roosevelt Avenue in Corona amid hot South American concern is given to domestic social issues, the younger cousins arepa (corn patty filled with cheese) or Mexican tamales. In of Generation Next are having their destiny cast for them: to Jackson Heights, 39th Avenue mingles the brilliant rose, lime, enter their world as Generation Debt. But the trend wasn’t and violet of the South Asian women’s shalor kameez with always this way, and perhaps by the time the twenty-two-year- mango, pistachio, and coconut kulfi (Indian ice cream) stands. old graduates from a wine-making school at Cornell or in The corner of 69th and Woodside confronts five possible Irish France, he’ll inherit a bit brighter future. Pubs to obtain either a pint o’ Guinness or a Scotch-Whiskey. Jamaica Avenue flashes its bright yellow, green, red, and black colors signifying both land and struggle in the flags of West * Indian, Caribbean and African nationalities. Main Street flush- es with auspicious Hanzi characters declaring “yi kuai kuai” Two decades ago, amid the economic booms of the ’80s (one dollar) prices for consistently fresh and varied selection of and ’90s, everyone educated—from anthropologists to tourists Asian and tropical produce. Steinway Street in Astoria lures the to immigrants, to State department ex-pats, as well as entrepre- locals, along with the Manhattanite adventurous, to Middle neurial cosmopolitanauts—was the intrepid curious, engaged Eastern shisha (an Arabic style pipe) parlors where the in border crossings, both literal and metaphysical. The molasses-fermented tobacco smoke wafts luxuriantly from the momentum of such crossings fed the ravenous tastes of an mouths of customers as well as the hot coals firing the pipe. urban-cosmopolitan Americana as much as blue grass, country And Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill greets its residents from fairs, and cowboy boots remained the staple of Americana in French-Guyana and Surinam with Chutney-Soca music, a Kali the countryside. The manifestation of this travel left a trail of temple, or a taste of Trinidad at the savory roti shops. manifold diverse, faddish, and colorful forms that brightened Amidst all of this heterogeneity is the reproduction and American cities with an appearance rivaling carnivalesque. celebration of customs and the home, including Ramadan; the And the lure of new Lychee martinis, Capoeira schools, green works of national poets such as Bengali Rabindrath Tagore; tea frappucinos, hentai anime, Kabbalah bracelets, Malagasy cheeses from countries who didn’t support America in the War rain sticks, Hatha yoga, and the poetry of Pablo Neruda pulled on Terror; the offerings of incense and ginseng-rice wine to many Americans far from Puritan, blue-collar roots and into Korean ancestors; and various recipes of “mama’s kitchen.” the realms of the exotic, both vis-à-vis their own position to the The proliferation of culture in Queens is not just the layer- foreign and the foreigners to themselves. ing of second, third, fourth and fifth generations into a “Little The momentum of this postmodern embrace of “else- Bombay.” It descends from the American-born transcultural where” was part of the previous swing on the political pendu- who are increasingly intercoursing with America’s homegrown lum formed by Generation Next. Capturing the imagination of trends through their own cultural industries and attitudes. Generation Debt, Generation Next worked for the “special This is evident in the fact that American-based artists now have interest” political issues pertaining to people undocumented, easier access to resources enabling ethnic fusion: hear now the untitled, voiceless, or unconnected. From Mexican migrant beats of the Punjabi-Bangra music mixed in with the lyrical farm workers and maquilladora workers, to Burmese girls sold productions of New York heavies, Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, or, into prostitution, to the San Bushmen in Africa seeking to see the symbolic and material culture of the Jewish Kaballah reclaim their land, to a continuation of affirmative action poli- derived by Madonna to add profundity and status to her work cies, much of this political swing was caused by the subsequent and to retain her “edge.” At the same time, older generations of consciousness of sovereign nations, communities, and territo- musicians must war to defend their own “edge” and legacy as ries which had been affected by forced (and uninvited) imperi- creators of Americana. Hence, Metallica’s legal battles to gain alistic and traditional political systems of U.S. global expan- intellectual property rights over their music being distributed sionism. And what could be a more appropriate response to the through Internet-based music file-swapping programs. Such wealth and cultural riches accumulating in the U.S. due to glob- battles over both profit and cultural status in America augur to alization than a reciprocal penetration of the U.S. by outsiders, have a chilling effect on all artistic and cultural creation. Yet, a pattern now evident in the cultural fusion growing in an outer the threats posed by intellectual property rights regimes remain borough of America’s primary site of cosmopolitan capitalism, secondary to the current rigidity subtly imposed by the current New York City. political administration. Nestled in a borough outside of New York City’s Manhattan, “neighborhood New York” is the most ethnically diverse county in North America. Like a scene from Tim * C 75 CM T HE FENCE: READER RESPONSE

Generation Debt, our children, could inherit one field that Linux software provide the “hive” a primary advantage. Some is not yet dominated by any partisan group: information tech- techies agree even to the extent of saying, “if it’s not free, you’re nologies. Indeed, America’s increasing kinship with digitized, doing it wrong.” biosynthetic, and cellular technologies is a systemic trend with- While the Internet began as a government-funded military out a conscious trajectory other than pure evolution. project to access information, today it innervates every facet of Innovations to particular markets drive those markets’ “hive our lives. I had to just ask myself: if the World Wide Web was mentality,” yet “innovation” is still only deemed worthy of intel- once specialized military technology that became pedestrian, lectual property rights when it is proven to meet the criterion of what will happen if new technologies in biochemical warfare commercial applicability. Commercial applicability in turn and nuclear technologies become pedestrian? Of course, that is drives the huge marketing campaigns attached to new tech- assuming that some major corporate conglomerate does not get nologies that would “speak for themselves” if they were actual- their hands on it first, like a Boeing-Halliburton-Bristol Myers- ly valuable. But most technologies are not sold at their “true” Squibb, and sell its new product off piece by piece to us and the value, rather at a speculative value created by stock markets. non-industrial countries. We are even further into the “simulacrum hyper-reality” that Spun with righteous tone, corporate infiltration of our French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard first began writing value systems is not unlikely under the current administration: about in 1970s. Furthermore, Marshall McLuhan’s fear (“the consider a recent report in the International Herald Tribute, medium is the message”) approaches reality as our information which tells of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s coupling and communication technologies “massage” information to with the Pope’s moral authority in an attempt to gain accept- such oversaturation that the communications we receive are ance for U.S. genetically modified organisms in non-industrial barely decipherable anymore. Despite the efforts made by crit- countries. Europeans and Americans waged war against these ical media journals, such as Adbusters and Wired, to sift the same GMOs, which were unsuitable to enter the market unla- chaff from the quality technology and innovation, the “hottest” beled. One wonders: if the Pontiff and the USDA dare to media still drives the edge of consumption. According to Wired ground their endorsement of GMOs in a moral maxim to feed magazine editor Kevin Kelly, free-access computer programs the hungry, then does the destruction of a McDonald’s epito- like Google, Yahoo, Shareaza, Adobe Acrobat Reader, or even mize an “American definition” of terrorism?

by Malcolm Jarrett

76 Citizen Culture THE PREZ by Marc Prey and Bill Pope T HE FENCE: READER RESPONSE

he last weekend of this past September, the distrib- utor of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 added over 600 theaters to its list of those showing the film, a t highly unusual step for a film entering its fourth month of wide release. But theater owners knew: tickets were still selling, and audiences were still gathering. Some of the money was guaranteed to come from the crowds who would hear Moore speak during his Rock the Vote-esque tour of over sixty cities (many of them college towns), which kicked off that same weekend. But even minus the tour, buzz was still churning from the film’s June release. Lights… Why? What compelled moviegoers to spend ten dollars on a ticket when they could have learned the film’s facts and figures from a debate on the news or a quick surf on the Web? There is a tightening relationship between Hollywood and politics that’s influencing citizens, according to Paul Levinson, Ph.D., Chair of Camera… the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City. “The public pays attention to what celebrities do and say, because we feel like we know them, and even aspire to be like them.” Levinson says. Politicians tap into the phenomenon by palling around with celebrities who in ELECTION! turn score a free minute in the spotlight at election time. Democracy is commercial. That is, citizens play the dual roles of voter and consumer. We only vote once every few years, though, while we consume constantly—food, material goods, ~by Krissy Gasbarre information, and most of all, entertainment. Americans scarf down media as gladly as they do McDonald’s, and the media know New York, NY it, so they keep feeding us more of what we’ buy. And so the media are the vehicle for a message. Anybody who wants a product seen, who wants to be heard, has to climb to the top buzz branch of the highest tree (i.e., to buy some advertising space or get publicity placement in a popular publication or production) to get people talking. It’s the nature of the beast: the loudest voice persuades the largest number of peo- ple to perform—hopefully as desired. The loudest voice in turn comes from the fellow with the most money to spend on his yell. And who’s got the most money of all? Who works hardest to con- vey an image to persuade large audiences to think, feel, and act a certain way? Politicians and celebrities.

78 Citizen Culture T HE FENCE: READER RESPONSE

Imagine their impact when they build when they team up to communicate the same message; imagine what happens when they’re carbon-copied. * Celebrities of all kinds endorse the Presidential candidates: Jon Bon Jovi, Ben Affleck, and Robert DeNiro have Kerry’s back; Dennis Miller and Kelsey Grammer support Bush. Such alle- giance grabs non-voters’ attention through sensationalism. Perhaps the most profound case of a pop culture-politics link comes when a certain celebrity’s fans vote as they do because of an endorsement, especially if the fan was previously indifferent to the politics in-play. If a celebrity bashes a candidate’s policy or reputation, chances are good that he or she will engage, and per- haps persuade, an audience by virtue of the aura of celebrity. At the heart of every newscast, late night joke, and headline in black-and-white is the salable conflict that is inherent to politics. Every media “update”—how Kerry really felt about Vietnam, what Bush really had to say about homosexual marriage—is a quick sentence about war and peace that has the potential to turn the head of every human being. There’s an issue on the table that affects each of us, be it war, employment, health care for seniors, women’s rights, education. But without any direct effect it remains little more than a story fraught with controversy and alleged contradictions. Communication and media scholars have termed this the “hypodermic syringe” model of communication to the public. The theory is that the media “inject” their audiences with stories, statistics, and other types of information that are passively received and believed until such time as they become personally relevant I may sit in front of the TV and watch a story on the news about the latest John Kerry (or Britney Spears) rumor, without evaluating the story critically until I have a reason to do so. Inject Americans with an idea, proponents of this theory say, and watch them buy it. Levinson holds that everyone can be susceptible to this: Our entire population can be victimized by propaganda. Young and old [people] are equally influenced by different parts of the popular culture.”

C 79 CM P RISM

memories of a dear, microprocessing friend ~by Sasha Haines-Stiles New York, NY

he air is cold, even indoors, but there’s no fire- When I moved to another country last year, I reincarnated place in my New York apartment. Instead of my friends and family back home as e-mail addresses and reaching my arms out to a ginger blaze, as I did screen names. To be honest, I didn’t mind having to be sparing t when I was younger, I lay my palms on the grey of with long-distance phone calls. I’ve always found writing more my laptop. It’s as though this is what the fleshy comfortable than speaking face-to-face, and I liked the forced region under my thumbs has evolved to do. The machine lag and ambiguousness of instant messaging. vibrates like a living creature. Warmth rises from the keyboard Even better was the casual e-mail traded back and forth like body heat. between two continents: bantering with spell-check and the My connection to this machine is so natural and intimate opportunity to revise was a simple luxury. Like foie gras or that I can’t remember not having it in my life. There seems to 800-count bed sheets, it was addictive. be something counterintuitively primal, even biological, about What with emoticons and e-mail lingo, I was tapping out a this package of plastic and wires. Its interface must be the way new and different language. It’s been well-evidenced since the my mind works now, in window after window; whatever I pull advent of Internet dating that facelessness makes it easier to to the front hovers tenuously. say difficult things. I discovered the tongue my interface gave Sometimes I regard it as a confidant: like a therapist the me. screen blinks back, its cursor a pursed lip, a raised eyebrow. Used to rerunning live conversations in my head, I culti- Indeed, it seems human, somehow: folded in on itself, the thing vated the compulsive habit of rereading typed talks. I analyzed is inscrutable, but by pressing a single button I can bring it to dialogue, right down to word choice and mis-punctuation. I life, eliciting a rainbow of color, a symphony of sounds. I have began to feel a bit obsessive and sighed with relief whenever never understood its insides, those unseeable, unknowable friends sent portions of their correspondence for me to scruti- guts. I prefer to contemplate the screen and not the twisted nize. I was no less neurotic when it came to outgoing mail, unsightly cords trailing out its rear. which I scanned for typos and revised lovingly. It has its weather, its blue moods. A hum crescendos to a Then there was the ability to control a conversation, to roar and the rising heat begins to burn my fingertips. The cur- steer it wherever I wanted it to go. Does the sin of omission sor freezes up and suddenly the screen is plastic, dead. The exist in cyberspace? I found avoiding the issue to be as simple Internet is suddenly divorced from me, my wireless card’s as neglecting to be comprehensive in one’s reply. On screen green light gone dark, like a closed eye. there are no sullen silences or pregnant pauses; there is, how- Even when my heart skids against my breath for a ever, a multitude of infallible, invisible excuses. moment, I know which keys to strike in tandem, how long to E-mail and instant messaging have long towed the line press and with what pressure. I have learned as much over the between entertainment and practical medium, and pragmatism course of our relationship. For better or worse, I am in the has its diversionary aspect. I realized, of course, that my fond- habit of making repair operations by myself, without the aid of ness for Internet banter across an ocean had less to do with a manual or an outsourced, disembodied voice. I feel my way staying in touch cheaply than with being able to manipulate my through, alternately coaxing and cursing. I tend to my comput- image at will via my computer. It wasn’t just that it was easier er the way I tend to family members or friends, with cavalier to type than speak from one country to another; it was also a faith in resiliency—yet also carefully and with fear of irre- way of positioning myself flatteringly on the horizon, foreign versible damage. and finer in the distance. Somewhere between touch-typing and music downloads, Coming home, then, has been a strange but welcome the computer has grown from equipment to extension of our- return to physical presence. E-mails have faces again, and fonts selves. Of course, our communion with technological objects is have voices and full-throated laughs. This is the way things are evident everywhere, from cell phones pressed to cheeks to ear- beyond the browser, bodied and unscripted and in real time. phones molded against skulls. But when it comes to comput- Technology, I now remember, is not a requisite interlocutor. ers, unity isn’t just aesthetic or ergonomic or even practical. My laptop is still my coconspirator and medium, but like a Rather, it is often the result of sliding down the rabbit hole and fire I dampen it down every now and then. There are, after all, landing on the other side of the screen. other ways to get warm.

80 Citizen Culture

far beyond film Hedy Lamarr: Vamp, Actor, Unlikely Inventor ~by Christopher Mari Astoria, NY

edy Lamarr was gorgeous in a way too few Czech movies, the most famous of which was the 1933 film Hollywood starlets are today—sophisticated, Extase. alluring, sensual, mysterious, and best of all—for- Extase—the story of a young woman who falls in love with eign. Louis B. Mayer dubbed her “the most a soldier while married to a much older man—was well received h beautiful woman in the world.”. European men in Europe, particularly with men who crowded theaters to see flocked to see her in Extase, in which she Kiesler in its notorious skinny-dipping and lovemaking scenes. appeared nude, and Columbia University undergraduates once It was denounced by Pope Pius XI and banned in the United voted her their Desert Island Dream Girl. Lamarr couldn’t States, but Mussolini issued a permit so it could be seen at the care less about all the fuss over her sleepy-eyed, come-hither Venice Film Festival. As the film grew in popularity, Kiesler looks. “Any girl can be glamorous,” she once remarked. “All married the first of her six husbands, the Austrian munitions you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” builder and Nazi sympathizer Fritz Mandl, who became so But Hedy Lamarr was far from stupid, which only added to obsessed with the film that he tried to buy up all the prints. It her über-hotness. If you’re reading this on a wireless device or wasn’t so much that his wife appeared nude that iked him, but you’ve just finished a call on your cell phone, you have Lamarr the expression on her face during the lovemaking scenes. to thank for it. (Legend has it that the look was achieved by the director stick- ing pins into her backside.) Despite the fortune Mandl spent trying to get every copy of the film, he failed: even Mussolini * refused to sell his copy. She was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, Mandl’s obsession with his wife was all consuming: he 1913 in Vienna, Austria. As the daughter of a wealthy banker, almost never allowed her out of their house alone and made she was educated by private tutors and studied in exclusive sure that the servants kept an eye on her. “I was sort of his schools in Vienna. As a teenager she became fascinated with slave,” Kiesler once claimed. Because she was always by her film and decided to quit school to pursue a career as an actress. husband’s side, Kiesler had to endure endless business dinners At 16 she began studying with Max Reinhardt who, while watch- with Mandl’s fascist clients, which proved fortunately to be a ing her read her lines one day in 1931, proclaimed her to be “the powerful educational experience. Anyone knowledgeable most beautiful girl in Europe.” (Mayer might not have origi- about weapons design in 1930s Europe called upon Mandl, and nated the catchphrase but he knew how to build on a good as a result Kiesler received the equivalent of a degree in military thing.) That same year she began appearing in German and technology. She hated her husband’s fascist clients (she called

82 Citizen Culture far beyond film

Hitler “posturing” and Mussolini “pompous”) and thought four xylophones, four bass drums, two airplane propellers and Mandl fairly dull himself, so one night she decided to make her a siren; in order to keep the player pianos in time, he used escape by drugging her maid’s coffee, crawling out her bath- identical strips of punched tape to synchronize them. He real- room window and high-tailing it to London. ized that such an approach might work to synchronize the radio There Kiesler found some stage acting work—it was there controller and the receiver in the torpedo. He discussed the that the second M in MGM, Louis B. Mayer, discovered her. idea with Lamarr and the pair developed a system that used two The prudish Mayer had seen her in Extase as well, and thought roles of paper with identical patterns of random holes, one roll she could be a success in “more wholesome” American movies, being placed inside the radio transmitter, the other in the tor- so he offered her a $500 dollar a week contract with his studio pedo. They used 88 frequencies, matching the number of keys and brought her back to the United States as the proclaimed on the piano. To their thinking, this was the key to winning successor to Greta Garbo. In addition to the contract and the the war: radio controllers making split second hops in their tor- press buildup, Mayer suggested a name change to Lamarr, in pedoes’ frequencies, confounding all Axis jamming efforts. tribute to the late silent film star Barbara La Marr, whom he Lamarr and Antheil received their patent for a “Secret admired. Communications System” in August 1942 and immediately sent Kiesler , now Lamarr, immigrated to America on the ocean their idea to the National Inventors Council, a wartime liner Normandie in 1937 where she was met by eager members Commerce Department division established to draw ideas from of the press who knew of her through Extase, which had arrived the public. They offered their invention to the U.S. military three years earlier. Her debut in American cinema came the free of charge but government officials had no interest in it— next year, alongside Charles Boyer in Algiers. Though her they had misread the paperwork for the patent! In their patent command of the English language was sketchy at best, she application, Lamarr and Antheil described how the rolls of became wildly popular as a femme fatale—men wanted to be paper were similar to ones found in a player piano. Antheil with her and women wanted to be like her, even copying her later recalled: “The brass hats in Washington who examined parted-down-the-middle hairstyle. our invention could only focus on two words: player piano. I Lamarr never became as respected as Garbo, who was heard them all say: ‘My God, how are we going to fit a player lauded for her looks as well as acting ability; still thespian and piano in a torpedo?’” sex appeal landed her roles with some of the most famous male Lamarr was told that she could better serve her adopted stars of the period, including Robert Taylor in Lady of the country by selling war bonds. She agreed and sold seven mil- Tropics, Spencer Tracy in I Take This Woman and Tortilla Flat, lion dollars’ worth in a day by giving out kisses at $50,000 a Clark Gable in Comrade X, and James Stewart in The Ziegfield smooch. The invention collected dust in government vaults Girl and Come Live with Me. Critics of the era found her act- for years but was independently developed by engineers at ing ability limited at best, but none ever doubted her ability to Sylvania in the late 1950s. Their method, using electronic con- light up a scene. In a 1939 review of Lady of the Tropics, trols instead of rolls of punched paper, became the cornerstone Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times, “Now that she of secure American military communications. During the has inadvisedly been given an opportunity to act, it is necessary Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the United States used this idea, to report that she is essentially one of those museum pieces, like today known as frequency hopping, to protect communications the Mona Lisa, who were more beautiful in repose.” from potential Soviet eavesdroppers. As satellite communica- tions expanded in subsequent decades, frequency hopping moved into the commercial arena, giving users of cellular * phones, pagers and other wireless devices the ability to share a One wonders what those critics might have thought about single radio frequency in ever –more-limited airspace. Lamarr if they had been invited to a Hollywood dinner party in As for Lamarr, she continued to make films through the 1940, where she met avant garde composer George Antheil. 1940s and ’50s, two of her most notable coming in the postwar The war in Europe had just started and the conversation period, The Strange Woman—which many critics considered between Lamarr and Antheil naturally gravitated towards how her best performance—and Samson and Delilah, a Cecil B. difficult it would be for the Allies to stop Hitler’s war machine. DeMille classic in which she gave Victor Mature the most From her memorable dinners at castle Mandl, Lamarr knew famous haircut in history. After retiring from acting in 1957, enough about Nazi weapons to be concerned, particularly about Lamarr was mainly in the news for brushes with the law. She their attempts at jamming radio controlled torpedoes by find- was arrested on shoplifting charges in 1965, published a reveal- ing the right frequency to either knock them off course or deto- ing autobiography called Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a nate them prematurely. She suggested to Antheil that the Woman, and then sued her ghostwriters for misrepresentation. Allies might need a countermeasure device which would pre- She later hauled Mel Brooks into court for his portrayal of vent jamming by broadcasting the torpedo’s control signal over Harvey Korman as “Hedley Lamarr” in his film Blazing a series of fast changing frequencies. The signal could then be Saddles. In 1997 she and Antheil (who died decades earlier) picked up by a receiver inside the torpedo, which would auto- were finally acknowledged for their contributions to modern matically match the transmitter’s frequency and thereby pre- telecommunications by the Electric Frontier Foundation, an vent jamming. influential lobby. Lamarr’s only public comment on the Antheil, intrigued by the idea, suggested a collaboration. award: “It’s about time.” Lamarr agreed by scrawling her phone number in lipstick Hedy Lamarr died in South Florida in January 2000 at the across his car’s windshield. Though a composer, Antheil had age of 86, where she was living off a Screen Actors Guild pen- the technical know-how that Lamarr lacked to build such a sion. She left behind a wealth of classic films and a world which device: he had once scored a composition for 16 player pianos, still hasn’t quite worked out the kinks of cell phone etiquette.

C 83 CM the entrepreneurial way

ne by one, inventors have started to take their seats: the monthly meeting of the Inventor’s Association of New England is called to order. One mutters to another, o “I’ve got a prototype, you know.” Another tightly clutches his four-year labor of love—a decidedly unfinished-look- ing scooter. For your knees. As newcomers stand to introduce themselves and their inventions, the gentleman sitting next to me apologizes to the assembled, “This is a little more publicity than I’m used to, so I must beg off.” But beg off he must not if he wants to get anywhere in the world of invention. At least, that’s what four inventors in Lexington, Massachusetts, would say. To the anxious man with the scooter they would advise a looser grip and a business plan to accompany his premature prototype. They would say all this and more, but they don’t have the time. They’re busy inventing. Together, Richard Pavelle, Sol Aisenberg, Ze’ev Hed, and George Freedman form the six-year-old innovation powerhouse called Invent Resources. Long ago they left behind their frustra- tions as basement inventors and relinquished dreams of perfect- ing the invention of a lifetime. Today, their ideas are in constant Tough demand. Their secret is simple: divorce yourself from your inven- tion and start advertising. It’s half past ten, and I’m late to my first I.R. meeting. My hands are full, and my brain is floundering from lack of caffeine. (It’s the wrong morning to pass on the latte.) I’ve just walked into Love a room teeming with the energy of four rapidly firing minds. The four inventors are seated around a large oval table, and at present, each faces me. When I sit down I situate myself in a place least likely to dis- Four Inventors in Lexington, rupt the creative balance. The partner with his elbows propped on Massachusetts Identify the the table, hands clasped together, speaks first. Physicist Sol Aisenberg, the check that keeps the balance of power in place, is Secret to Inventing: Cut all the skeptic of the group. During the meeting, his pose seldom changes. To date, he holds eighteen patents and, on the side, cri- Emotional Ties, and Move On tiques the works of novice inventors. “My approach is to look at the applications from the point of view of potential attack, and help make the patent bulletproof,” ~by Jennifer Chu Aisenberg says about the forays of invention. After greeting me, he inquires about my college major. For Somerville, MA most people, I have to say it twice—once for hearing, a second time for comprehension. “Brain and cognitive sciences,” I reply. An exclamation erupts from the opposite end of the table. The bearded inventor with a hawk’s nose leans forward. He is Ze’ev Hed, the firecracker of the group. To be sure, his motto is ironic: “I am too stupid to know it cannot be done.” Among his thirty-six patents is a catheter originally designed for the heart, which will soon be fashioned into a cooling system for freshly- opened bottles of wine. After hearing my answer—once—Hed launches into a spirited monologue about the latest work on the origin of nerve firings. His words come in dizzying bursts of guttural, German-accented English, and his colleagues interject questions whenever he paus- es to breathe. Then Aisenberg picks up the cognitive string, men- tioning some work that he’s involved in with dyslexia. “There are many types of dyslexia, but the type that is related to differential color sensitivity is what I’m working on,” said the physicist. Aisenberg is collaborating with other physicists and neuroscientists to determine whether different colors and wave- lengths may actually influence the way people read. “Do you know what portion of the dyslexic population is

84 Citizen Culture the entrepreneurial way

influenced?” asks George Freedman, leaning back in his chair, it’s knowing when to let go. A discussion among the three eld- bushy brows furrowed. Freedman, an MIT-trained engineer, is ers about avoiding such obstinate attachment goes something the paternal figure of the group. He is also the author of the like this: book In Pursuit of Innovation, and in his free time, advises other inventors on how to sell their products. Hed: Often you find that an inventor, he has a beautiful inven- “Everyone thinks it’s a wonderful thing to be an expert,” tion, it’s his only invention, and he’s dedicated his own life to said Freedman. “Actually, to be an expert in some ways is a bad get this invention to market. thing, because that means you narrowly channel down your expertise.” Freedman: And he dies penniless. Aisenberg jumps in, followed closely by Hed. “If you go to a carpenter with a problem, he’ll use a hammer,” said Hed: And he dies penniless, because he was married to that one

Aisenberg. “If you go to a surgeon, he’ll use a knife. They use invention. And we finally cut the umbilical cord of loving our the tools they have. We have a multitude of tools.” inventions. And we say, if nobody wants you, we are not going “The one characteristic of the people in this group is that to love you either. Tough luck. we get bored easily,” said Hed. “And as a result, we never become an expert in a single field and know everything that is Aisenberg: Or we’ll wait until somebody loves you. possible on a single iota. You can characterize us as people who know an iota about almost everything. And that’s a big advan- Hed: Exactly, or we wait until somebody loves you. Because tage.” Consider these inventors jacks-of-all trades. otherwise, it’s a sure way to go broke. As the three volley off each other, the fourth member of the group sits back, feet crossed on the table, listening intently. Aisenberg: You go crazy. Richard Pavelle is founder and president of this motley crew; aside from a brief introduction, he has yet to contribute to the As it so happens, case studies prove them right. Charles deluge of ideas launching across the table. He is a mathemati- Miller, retired president of the Inventor’s Association of New cian and computer scientist, and is deemed the most “unflap- England, sees inventors emerge gingerly from their basements, pable” of the group. Impressively, he’s also the youngest. inventions clasped stubbornly to their chests, only to find out Among his most cherished patents are the credit card calculator that what they’ve worked on for two years is already on the and the concept for the expanded sweet spot of a golf club. shelf. But if the product is yet to be invented, it is very likely the Though these inventions warrant a certain degree of pride inventor will sink another ten thousand dollars to market their and joy, the philosophy of Invent Resources is to surrender any work. unhealthy, Pygmalion attachment to your product. If anything, “Working in a vacuum, you spend all this time and all this

C 85 CM the entrepreneurial way

money going down blind alleys because you don’t know not to their abilities so well that they are able to tailor their skills to a go down those blind alleys,” said Miller. customer’s needs. “We say we have these technologies,” said This was just what his colleague Robert Hausselein tried to Richard Pavelle. “If you don’t like what we have, give us your get across recently at a meeting of twenty-five independent wish list.” inventors assembled in an MIT classroom. Hausselein was Often, Invent Resources is able to invent on demand; at once a chemical engineer at Polaroid. “I too get enamored with this stage, I.R. is in the enviable position of being the pursued, what I’m working on,” he told the group. “It really is a disease.” rather than the pursuer. Companies come to them, either on Now retired, Hausselein is tinkering with a way to make cof- their own, or through I.R.’s marketing agents, who are hired to fee—without the coffeemaker. He’s also running a support campaign for the gang of four to line up prospective clients. group for ambitious up-and-comers, a group he’s named The (Some of the company’s current contracts include a toaster that Inventors Clinic. will do the job in thirty seconds, a ten-second hand dryer for the These hopefuls meet monthly at Hausselein’s home, where home, and a new type of sunscreen. The details about the latter every member, upon entry, is expected to sign a confidentiality invention, however, a commission for Victoria’s Secret, are agreement. The format goes like this: each inventor is given fif- carefully kept under wraps.) teen minutes to pitch their product. Afterwards, the others Conversely, when I.R. must play the pursuer, Invent jump in to offer advice, suggestions, caveats, and in some cases, Resources is not always successful. Not at first. Sometimes flat rejections. In the case of rejections, the hapless inventor manufacturers are so used to a product’s limitations that they would hopefully have just spent merely three weeks rather than cannot see any reason to stretch or improve them. Such was the three to four years working on a fruitless project. But Charles case with the first company they approached for the speedy Miller has seen too many long-term investments go south. Part toaster. In the face of rejection, the group took back their idea of the problem, he suggests, is the lack of secrecy among the and knocked on a different door, this time with success. coterie of innovators and marketers. “I’ve found the best prospect is the second company in the “Inventors face the same problems today as they did twen- industry,” said Sol Aisenberg.” It has more to gain. A leading ty, fifty years ago,” said Miller. “You have to keep things company doesn’t want to change things. They don’t want to secret.” Otherwise, without a patent, an inventor could watch rock the boat.” his life’s invention snatched up and marketed by a faster, savvi- Another piece of advice I.R. offers to would-be inventors: er entrepreneur.” invent for the market. One problem with many products is that “We are the most paranoid people in the world,” said their inventions are functional but not practical. “Sometimes Michael Garjian, an inventor who turned his plexiglass neon you are not even solving an existing problem,” said Hed. “From technology into first a fledgling, then a flourishing, and finally, a marketing point of view that’s not very good, that’s what we and perhaps expectedly, failing business. But for Garjian, expe- call, ‘Solutions looking for problems.’” rience bred wisdom. He is now in a successful partnership with But there may be a problem with aiming too much for the an international company and certainly not without some market. To Pavelle, the array of massagers, remote controls, degree of paranoia. Everywhere he goes, Garjian carries a care- bric-a-brac and other gadgets designed for stores like Sharper fully crafted black book—it’s a special Inventor’s Notebook. Image and Brookstone are less products of invention and more This allusive Notebook , according to Garjian, is a must- the result of “tweaking,” or making minor improvements to an have for all serious inventors; it will serve as insurance, a cru- existing product. cial piece of evidence in a court of law, if such an unfortunate But what’s the difference between “tweaking,” as Pavelle occasion should warrant. “There are those who say you should calls it, and true invention, and where does one draw the line? keep it in a safe deposit box,” said Garjian. The Notebook To varying degrees, most inventions today are just improve- would contain all past receipts, transactions, correspondences ments on past designs. And that may not be so bad, mentions and related material having to do with the invention. This is Freedman: “You can make a lot of money on tweaking, After true whether it is a letter to the vice president of marketing, or you do it, you say, ‘Why the hell didn’t they do that fifty years a receipt from the local hardware store for additional wiring. ago?’ It’s just your open mind that makes new combinations.” This way, if someone should steal your idea, you will have There is also what Hed terms “generic” inventions that are enough evidence, at the very least, to get a hefty settlement, and not so much combinations of existing technologies, but an at most, well-deserved royalties. entirely new technology, yielding multiple applications. Secrecy is both the rule and the roadblock for inventors; Among their favorites is the laser. Its applications in CDs, fiber they hesitate to share their ideas with others and are suspicious optics, and medical technology did not come about until thirty of anyone who expresses too great an interest in the product. years after its invention. At the time of its conception, remi- But their paranoia is understandable: according to the United nisces Hed, “it was a curiosity of physics.” And as we know, Inventors Association, only about two to three percent of all today, laser technology is bankable. inventions are ever marketed successfully. In the end, the success of any inventor may depend on just In terms of these numbers, explains Miller, “most inven- letting go, the lamentable coup de grace for basement inven- tors, particularly new inventors, are unwilling to try to examine tors. their ideas critically in this vacuum.” And they’re unwilling and “We are always reaching for the Holy Grail,” said Garjian. unable to defend themselves against severe criticism because “Sometimes it’s better to stop inventing, sell what you have, and they don’t know how to criticize their own brainchild. use that to finance your Holy Grail.” The veterans at Invent Resources, however, don’t have these problems. They not only brainstorm about what can work, but also about what can’t work. In fact, they’ve honed

86 Citizen Culture fast-rising fish

15minutes with ... Dwayne Perkins

A Brooklyn, New York native, the cool and contained Dwayne Perkins has experienced much more of the stand-up comedy circuit than the tri-state area has to offer. He began developing his act in Boston, Massachusetts, where, despite being from Yankee territory, he was able to build a substantial fan base. Dwayne has since relocated to Los Angeles to fill slots on the bills of some of today’s most prominent comedians. He also enjoyed a stint on primetime television in Arsenio Hall’s revival of Star Search, starred in his own thirty-minute special on Comedy Central Presents, performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival, and appeared in several national commercials. Dwayne recently released his first CD, She Ate My Haircut, and is touring the country with Rolling Stone’s hot comic Dane Cook. Dwayne took some time out of his dinner hour to chat with Evan Sanders about his approach, his performance goals, and the audiences of America’s major cities.

What’s your outlook on your you to do just one type of thing. My nat- Has anything happened to you career right now? ural self is way more animated than I that made you step back and think am on stage. Which I don’t mind. You of yourself as a celebrity? I don’t know where I should be! But I know, I’ll act out some things, but I know that I’m blessed to be at this level. think in my normal life, I burn more It hasn’t quite hit me yet. I’ve been A lot of comics would want to be in my calories than I do on stage. It’s impor- opening for Dane Cook, and it is cool shoes ... being out in LA, having my own tant not to look unnatural. I don’t want when people who are there to see him half-hour special on Comedy Central, to be over the top. For some jokes, I come up to me and say they’ve seen my doing the Montreal Comedy Festival. might do characters or voices, but once Comedy Central special and that they The comedy is falling into place, and you do too much of that at a time, peo- can’t believe that I’m just the opening I’m hoping to have the writing and the ple seem to lose track of you. I remem- act! And it’s still weird to me when acting follow. ber a bit that Richard Pryor did where other comics come up to me to say, “You he had about six characters, and the inspire me,” because I still consider Well, you might not know where you audience followed the whole thing. myself young in the game. “should” be, but how are you differ- That’s still a feat for me. ent now from when you started? What’s it like traveling with Dane? I didn’t expect you to say that your I’m drastically different. I think I’ve natural self is so much more ani- Oh, it’s great. It’s the typical comic always been the guy that I am now, but it mated, because your comedic lifestyle—not a lot of sleep. Not that takes a while to be able to convey the approach is with a kind of sincere we’re partying hard, but we do the message, you know? Even still, I’m not intelligence. Are you happy with shows, meet people afterwards, go out there yet. There are ideas in my head the way you come across, or do to eat, and by the time the night winds that I might have trouble bringing to the you want to show more of your down, it’s almost time to get up and do stage the way I envisioned bringing true side? it again. And Dane is pretty tireless. I them. But I’m leaps and bounds ahead thought I had a lot of energy, but Dane of where I was, both as a writer and a I do want to show my animated self, but has bounds and bounds. I definitely performer; I’m more comfortable and I have fans who tell me, “You’re great— want to take a page out of that book. command more attention. And I think don’t change a thing! Of course, I don’t more clearly. want to only listen to those fans, and I How important to you is your have learned how to show more of that online presence? What still stands in your way? side than I used to. But it’s more silli- ness than anything else. There are parts It’s as big as you make it, and it can be The types of rooms you play, mixed of my personality that I haven’t really tremendous. My web site has always with what works for you ... that can lead tapped into yet. been a place for people to reach me, a

C 87 CM YOU DESERVE A DISCOUNT Get the Card and access huge student discounts of up to 50% OFF!

The Student Advantage® Discount Card is the nation's most widely accepted discount program for students. The Card provides students with exclusive discounts of up to 50% OFF at more than 15,000 locations around campus, online and at many national businesses. The Student Advantage Card also comes with a Coupon Book that includes more than $200 in additional savings. Get your Card at studentadvantage.com, use promo code CULTURE904 at checkout and get FREE shipping on your order!

SAVE AN ADDITIONAL 15% OFF UP TO 40%OFF 15% OFF WALK-UP FARES 5% ONLINE BOX OFFICE PRICES ONLINE AND ONLINE

®

SAVE OVER $300 15% OFF 15% OFF 15% OFF ON OFFICE 2003 PRO RAIL FARES AND ONLINE ONLINE HOTEL RATES

Get the Card at studentadvantage.com/ccm or call 1.877.2JOINSA and use promotional code: CULTURE904 to get FREE SHIPPING!

Student Advantage Card is a registered trademark and product of Student Advantage, Inc. Discounts based on current offers and are subject to change. One-year Student Advantage Card is $20. See studentadvantage.com for full offer details. fast-rising fish

point to “come back” to after the show. material will reflect that. But it might want to come to the table with ideas, I’m still playing around with it to use its not really be on a conscious level. New and be a triple-threat in this business. full potential. Dane, as with everything York shows are fast-paced, and in else, has taken his site to the max. Boston, they just want you to tell jokes. You do a bit about the girl who has They’re not as pretentious there. that one male friend whom she Do you have a method to keeping “likes a lot ... a whole lot ... but ‘not your material fresh? How do you So they’re not as critical? that way’ (finger quotes).” I sup- know that what you’re doing is pose you’ve been that male friend? actually funny, and that your No, they’re still critical—they want you older jokes stay funny? to be funny. But, you know, it’s a city, It does come from very personal experi- but it’s also a town, and there’s less ence. That’s why it resonates with peo- Well, you just keep writing. And as long angst. In New York and LA, there’s ple. I don’t know how much I can elabo- as it’s fun for you to do, it will be fun for angst. In some ways, it’s like Boston is rate, though ... (chuckles). That joke was an audience. As far as the old jokes go, repressed sexually or something, so my first “great” joke among “good” jokes. it just depends on whether it’s some- they just want to laugh. It doesn’t make Other comics come up to me and tell me, thing the fans want to hear again! Most them simple, at all—they do like smart “Wow, I wish I thought of that!” That’s jokes work on the element of surprise. comedy, don’t get me wrong. It’s just the greatest compliment. But when you’ve got a joke that people that they don’t fancy themselves to be are expecting to hear again, it tran- “hipper” than they are. It’s a great place Do those jokes set the bar for you? scends being a joke. You can make it to start. work in different layers. At first, they did. But now, I don’t look It sounds like you’re glad you start- at it that way, because it can cause you You’re from New York, you’ve lived ed there. What’s in store for you? to sort of edit yourself, prevent you in Boston, and now you’re in LA. from getting at something that may not Do you have to change your method I’m trying to do it all. I’m getting back seem brilliant but might have some- depending on where you are? into my acting studies, which I haven’t thing to it. So, I’ve taken a step back. I done in a while. I’ve also been writing, want to be a smart comic, but I don’t The scenes are different, but you have to which will hopefully lead to my own want people to focus on that. Richard get to a point where you don’t really movies. It’s not that I have a fallback Pryor is a genius, but people don’t think think about it. In LA, you’re probably plan, but in this business, people will of Richard Pryor as “smart.” They think playing more coffee shops, and your naturally look at you as a writer. So I of him as “funny.”

C 89 CM to build a HOHOUSEUSE

How four twenty- somethings went from a Project Greenlight entry to a film production LLC in one year

interview by joelle asaro berman

photos by gail rush fast-rising fish

Santiago Tapia went to film school to become what every film school student aspires to be: a feature filmmaker. Shortly before graduation, he placed as a runner-up in the 2002 Project Greenlight Sam Adams Commercial contest. His commercial premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and within a few months, Tapia stuck the dream of a two-hour fea- ture film on the back-burner while he and his partners, Shaun R. Daniels, Amy Kroeplin, and Ariel Martinez finessed their five-minute film skills. They soon formed Adam’s House Productions, named for Tapia’s college dorm where his first short film was taped. Adam’s House Productions is a creative group, ad agency, and production company all in one. Their forte is special effects.s Their mission is to produce the funniest commercials you have ever seen. But they are not stopping there. Today the members of Adam’s House Productions sit in a tiny basement room of Curve of the Earth studios, where they will toss around ideas for a new music video that they will be producing for one of the label’s artists. The video will most likely air on MTV, MTV2’s Headbangers’ Ball, and various websites. That’s a long way from filming on camcorders in college dorms. If Adam’s House Productions knows anything, it’s how to build a film production company from the ground up, and how to pull out all the stops along the way.

How did you meet and get your start?

Santiago: I graduated Harvard with a Biology degree, and decided to go to film school instead of medical school. When I got to film school, I was sitting at this desk talking to people who were helping to produce my film, and Ariel was eavesdropping. Once he knew that I was casting for this film, he was in my face, asking, “Oh, do you need this kind of guy?” And here’s Ariel, this huge, built guy, and I’m looking for this gay aerobics instructor. Once I tell him this, he does a quick impression. And that was the start of things.

Shaun: I originally went to school to be a radio DJ, but the idea of getting coffee for people for five years just to get a job really didn’t appeal to me. I had always had an interest in movies and commercials—I just had so many ideas. So at this party, I meet Santiago and he starts talking to me, and going off about all of these crazy ideas. It was synergy. I showed up to see him the first day of his next project and we just started shooting. It happened just like that. Santiago: Amy was there first; she helped me with one of my earlier films, and she was so great as an art director and a producer, that anytime I started doing a project, she would come help me.

Amy: While it was great having just two of us in the beginning, which made it easier to make decisions, it’s definitely better now with four voices. You can do more in terms of creativity.

How is it working with three guys?

Amy: I definitely feel like the babysitter of the group sometimes, but these guys are great. They’re hilarious. I tend to be the man- ager, making sure things get done.

Santiago: We are a team. We’re not only a production company—we’re also an ad agency. We do all of the creative aspects. We write the campaign, all the storyboarding, everything.

C 91 CM fast-rising fish

Tell me about the contest. Santiago: Let’s put it this way: it was a Santiago really enjoys it. It’s scary—he zany commercial. Sam Adams had never enjoys working 17-hour days and pacing Santiago: Well, it was the Project had commercials before, so Jim Koch, the around like a madman, and wearing the Greenlight Sam Adams commercial con- founder of Sam Adams, was giving young same clothes days in a row. This is a sign test. It was a chance to take young film- filmmakers a chance to make his com- of quality to him. makers and help them to become profes- mercials. We eventually made it to the Ariel: He’ll forget the very basic things sional TV commercial directors. There top three, and they flew us to the West that he has to get done in life. were over 7,600 entries. The winner Coast to meet with Jim Koch and the would get $100,000 to shoot a commer- famous film director Chris Moore to talk Shaun: If you could forget to breathe, then cial that would air nationally, and would everything out. They couldn’t decide on a Santiago would die. premiere on the Conan O’Brien show. winner who would show their film at Sundance, so they took all three finalists Did the contest seal your fate as So you wanted to direct commer- to Sundance where we had a big final commercial producers? cials? showdown of all the commercials. Santiago: I ended up talking to Jim Koch, No! The reason why I did the contest was Did you ever expect it to go that far? and he said that our commercial was bet- because my brother was so upset that I ter than any ad agency he had ever missed the first Project Greenlight contest Santiago: No! I just did it so that my worked with. And then we spoke with

Amy: I definitely feel like the babysitter of the group sometimes, but these guys are great. They’re hilarious. I tend to be the manager, making sure things get done.

a year before. He left me a message say- brother wouldn’t get pissed off at me. Chris Moore, and he said, “You guys real- ing, “Dude, if you don’t do this contest, I ly know how to direct.” So that’s really will disown you.” So at the last minute, I Ariel: Santiago can be real modest about how we got our start here. grabbed Amy, we went to some dive bar, things. But he is one of the most worka- and brainstormed about twenty ideas. holic directors on the planet. And you You guys are big on humor. The deadline was midnight, so I ran home can tell when he’s working. When he’s and just sent them all in. I actually had to got that Bigfoot beard going on, and he Santiago: Absolutely. do some research online about how to hasn’t bathed for about four days, and script commercials, because I had only you can smell him. You can just smell Ariel: But I don’t think it’s funny that I done short films. So we made it to the him. It’s nasty. But you know he’s doing broke my foot doing one of our spots. final rounds, and into the top twenty, and his business. (He’s referring to his role as an irate coach then we shot the commercial. It was all yelling during halftime for a spot with the last minute. Shaun: We had once been working for 17 NBA/NFL/NCAA pro mascot company hours straight, and he started getting Mascot Camp). It still hurts! I have this Ariel: What was most memorable for stomach pains. So I asked him and he big bunion like thing coming out the back about that shoot was working with ani- said, “I don’t think I ate today.” He didn’t of my foot. I have to wear orthotics now. mals. I’m not one that usually works with even realize it, because we were editing horses, but it was an experience. for hours at a time, and sleeping at the Santiago: I just like to do take after take office so that we could get this project after take to get it right. Can you elaborate? done. Sometimes with editing, you get into a groove and you just keep going and Ariel: But that wasn’t right. It was right Ariel: No way. (laughs) going. It’s a very long process but I think for the film, but it wasn’t right. Here he

92 Citizen Culture fast-rising fish

is, “Oh, do you mind doing that for me again? Sacrifice your Santiago is, “Okay that’s good. Now let’s do it one more time.” body, even break your body. And can you do it one more time?” And after the next take, it’s “One more time.” But in the end, you’re never going to end up with some half-assed, college-film- What exactly was he having you do? maker, sloppy thing. There’s a huge gap between the work of someone who is a perfectionist, and someone who isn’t. Ariel: I had to go ballistic. What happened after Project Greenlight? Santiago: He had to totally attack this chalkboard. Kick it, punch it—and he decided to kick it. Santiago: We ended up doing project for Pepsi. It didn’t air, but if you want to get a foot in the door, and you don’t have any- Ariel: And my shoe flew off before my foot hit. thing as far as previous projects, you try to create something just so they can see it. Ron Lawner, the Chairman and Chief Shaun: The only thing separating him from the concrete floor Creative Officer of Arnold Worldwide, saw that spot, and he was this tiny one-inch thick mat. But he loves doing that stuff. sent us to work on a project for a Chanel fashion show fundrais- er that I can’t believe we didn’t end up blowing. How do you operate as a company? What did you have to do for the project? Santiago: We are a team. We’re not only a production compa- ny—we’re also an ad agency. We do all of the creative aspects. Santiago: The project ended up being for the Esplanade We write the campaign, all the storyboarding, everything. Association, These two women had basically helped clean up Another thing about us is that we are really into the whole digi- the Esplanade Park here in Boston, and they were being given tal age. We do 3-D storyboards, and we give our clients some- awards at this fashion show. So we were doing a spot on them. thing that looks like it cost $500,000 dollars. We had to meet at the offices of Arnold worldwide. Ariel gets there first, and Shaun and I are stuck in a car. I don’t even know Ariel: We’re young, we’re hungry, and we have fun. If you were why we all just didn’t go together. trying to build a house, would you hire a bunch of contractors to come in to take care of each separate aspect, or would you just Ariel: Well, do the vice-president and president travel together? get one to come in and do everything? That’s exactly what we Hell no. We adopt that same level of security at Adam’s House. do—we build a house with one company. So I get this phone call from Santiago and Shaun, saying “Hey, uh, we’re not going to be there on time, so can you just talk?” That’s quite a switch from a Biology major en route to medical school. Shaun: It’s the opening day at Fenway Park, and it’s raining. We’re stuck on Commonwealth Avenue, because there are Ariel: You know, I really love Santiago, but the idea of him Boston University students trying to commit suicide by cross- being a doctor horrifies me. He would have been a perfection- ing the street to get to the T. So Santiago looks at me with this ist, but undoubtedly, he would have forgotten some stuff and dead serious look and says, “Just ditch your car.” We’re close to got sidetracked, and then he would have been sued and would thirty minutes late. And so I see something that looks like a probably be living out on the streets. parking spot, so we parked and didn’t even pay the meter. We end up in the conference room finally, and there’s Ariel and all Shaun: He’s a huge perfectionist, so I could just see the surgery of these people, laughing—business as usual. So we do our song being really precise. The most commonly heard phrase out of and dance and charm the hell out of them.

Ariel: We’re young, we’re hungry, and we have fun. If you were trying to build a house, would you hire a bunch of contractors to come in to take care of each separate aspect, or would you just get one to come in and do everything? That’s exactly what we do—we build a house with one company.

C 93 CM fast-rising fish

Ariel: The piece included a lot of special effects, and we’re spe- cial about special effects.

Santiago: The money that we were given was simply for the pro- duction—we weren’t getting paid for it. Shaun and I pitched this special effects extravaganza with people being in color against a black and white background, and fast motion and slow motion, and helicopter shots, and then we got this budget that was miniscule.

Ariel: They didn’t think we could do all the special effects that we described, but we did. We’re young, and we’re out of col- lege, but we know how to do this.

Name your best special effect.

Ariel: We use the actual process to create a light saber that George Lucas used in his film.

Santiago: Anything that a major special effects company can do, we can do as well. we’re just going to do commercials. We’re here in this studio to Shaun: You can either go to LA, or you can come to us. It’s a do a music video. Ariel knew a guy who worked here—and he very involved process; you have to know what you want, and always has a story about how he knows someone, whether it’s then you have to figure out how you are going to do it. But we because he saved their life, or that he got kicked out of their nailed every effect. store—he always has a story. So that’s how we ended up here, and this record label is a very diverse one. That brings us to the present. What are you currently working on? Ariel: The important thing for us is to encourage and remind people that they don’t have to spend a lot of money on advertis- Santiago: We’re doing commercials for United Way, Gold’s ing. A lot of people out there get burned when it comes to mar- Gym, and Euro Design. We’re also doing music videos for Most ket budgets. Precious Blood, as well as some other music videos that are just being solidified. What are your ultimate film fantasies?

Shaun: We don’t want to sell ourselves short by saying that Ariel: What I really want to do is create commercials for New Balance. I like them because they don’t make a big deal about being endorsed by athletes.

Amy: A full-length feature. But I also want to stay true to the little people, maybe some public service announcements. I have a public health background, so a lot of it comes from that.

Shaun: A video for the Pixies.

Santiago: Full-length feature film. Academy Awards.

The little boy’s dream.

Santiago: You bet.

Ariel: Originally, Santiago here, being the artist and filmmaker that he is, wanted to make films. So I told him that we’re going to make a company, and we’re going to make commercials. And he said, “No man, I make films!” But look what happened: we’re making commercials. They’re fun, exciting, and they give each of us an opportunity to practice our craft. We’re all artists. And yes, they are commercials, but to us, they are all mini- movies. We treat it as a mini-movie. It’s a 30-second film that we make for our clients. And when someone watches that fast-rising fish

Shaun: It’s gotten to the point where people only watch the Super Bowl to see the commercials. It’s odd, because it’s not even like you are selling a product anymore—you’re just having fun and mak- ing a movie about it, and getting people to laugh.

movie, I want them to think about that movie and that product even like you are selling a product anymore—you’re just having even when they aren’t in front of the television. That’s our goal. fun and making a movie about it, and getting people to laugh.

Shaun: It’s gotten to the point where people only watch the Santiago: We treat every commercial like it’s our chance to do a Super Bowl to see the commercials. It’s odd, because it’s not Super Bowl spot. And that’s what we do. inside looking out—theatre

The Current Question:

drian Noble was the first to suggest that Elizabeth Scott’s world famous art-deco theatre in Stratford- To upon-Avon be torn down and replaced with a glass, a post-modernist construct by the Dutch Architect Erick van Egeraat. He threw that particular monkey wrench of an idea into the works just before he resigned as Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) last year. Until very late in August, the question was still being asked, Demolish in Stratford-upon-Avon and among the London based theatrical cognoscenti, all of whom seem to want replace Scott’s building with a supermarket. And also by several national newspapers, especially the Daily Telegraph, who have voted for demolition, not only of the theatre, but also some of the tackier bits of the town too. Yet beyond this group there hasn’t really been a seri- or ous national debate on the subject, which is not surprising con- sidering that other important subjects—football (soccer), Tony Blair’s holidays, and the dreadful summer weather—get in the way. Which, I guess, goes to show just how important theatre is in the country of Shakespeare’s birth. Adrian Noble is a very quiet man, with enormous talent for Not to directing, but alas, little sense of timing or skill in man-manage- ment and public relations. He got it all very badly wrong when he took a long sabbatical from the RSC in 2003 to get the now huge- ly successful musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, up and running in the West End of London, for which he was soundly criticized. But even taking that into consideration—and the fact that Noble Demolish only handed in his resignation at the RSC when Chitty was a suc- cess—he could not (to quote Rupert Christiansen of the Daily Telegraph) “rate a niche in the pantheon of monster dictator- directors?” You might have thought differently if had been one of those RSC employees made redundant by him at virtually the same time as he outlined the need to raise a staggering £100m to fund the development of a new theatre. It was triple-bad timing inas- much as the RSC was also accumulating huge financial deficits month on month, and producing shows, some of which only ~by Steve Newman attracted 60% ticket sales. The cries of “ Bring back Sir Peter Hall!” could be clearly heard. Stratford-upon-Avon,? England It was a public relations nightmare that raised more than the odd eyebrow amongst many Stratford residents, who immediate- ly complained, yet again, about the high level of local taxation, the lack of good waste collection services, run down schools, an inadequate local hospital, too few policemen on the beat, and a road system permanently blocked by traffic that is quickly turn- ing Stratford into one of the most polluted towns in the UK. These residents argued—as all residents of small communities do —that such a huge sum of money would be better spent even

96 Citizen Culture inside looking out—theatre

though the money was coming from the National Lottery and like me, as a paying theatre-goer, take no delight in the wholly private investors, and not from local taxation—on improving inadequate front of house facilities that require you to jostle— those poor services, while the RSC took care of itself, which of quite violently at times—with hundreds of others to order a course is precisely what they were doing, although it didn’t glass of wine for the interval, only to know that you’ll have to sound like, at least not to the non theatregoing “commoners” of jostle again in the interval to find it. Then, having discovered Stratford, who make up a sizeable portion of the 30,000 who your wine you find that it’s undrinkable. It is at times like these live in the town. that I find myself leaning toward the arguments for demolition: What Noble hadn’t done was properly consult those “ordi- that theatre is more than preserving a building for its own sake, nary” people of Stratford—he may have thought he had by etc, etc. But I have to say that those thoughts soon disappear arranging a couple of meetings in the Civic Hall, but small town when I find myself, on a beautiful summers evening, drinking Britain, unlike small town America, no longer gathers together the undrinkable on the balcony of the world’s most famous the- in civic, and town halls, to discuss things anymore, and preferrs atre, with the Avon sparkling below, and Holy Trinity Church to be “consulted” these days by way of the media. Having been just visible through the trees. so consulted they stuck to their entrenched convictions and I’ll confess that I rather like the Scott building-in fact, con- complained even more bitterly. sidering that my grandfather helped build the place, I have Noble informed the elected good and great of Stratford, something of a propriatorial attitude toward it—and I feel to who were evenly split over his plans, with many wishing to sim- knock it down would be like suggesting that the Empire State ply retain what they had because it brought some 3.5 million Building—finished the same year as Scott’s theatre—should visitors into Stratford each year—and Scott’s building has also be demolished because the air-conditioning system was become an icon of its period and of Stratford. The rest of the less than perfect. country’s elected officials backed Noble’s plans because they What we should be concentrating on in Stratford is the saw it bringing in even more visitors, and even more money. quality of the work being created at the two theatres, and not This second group, the majority, won the day, and were then the future of the building. But sadly the question of the build- backed-up by a vociferous minority of young RSC actors—most ing is now more important than the work being done there. In of whom have now returned to the world of TV soaps from fact there is some very bad work being done there under the whence they came—and a few older, and better known actors new artistic directorship of Michael Boyd, a man who, unlike (with the notable exception of Dame Judy Dench, who was Peter Hall for instance, will always go unrecognised in the nar- strongly against the proposed demolition) all of whom criti- row, traffic congested streets of Stratford. The future of the cized the old building as being outdated, unsafe, and no longer building has also become something of a smoke screen for conducive to good creative work, forgetting of course the Boyd: the man is now quite invisible. decades of good creative work carried out there since 1932, and Then, in late August this year, the aforementioned Danish for nearly fifty years before that in the old Memorial Theatre. architect—who had spent five years working on, one assumes, Having acted there myself, I can confirm that things back- designs for a new theatre—suddenly resigned from the project, stage are cramped, with dressing-rooms that are totally inade- saying he needed to move aside and make room for a younger quate, too few, and too far away from the stage. Wardrobe facil- architect to take over the project which, in his words required ities spill onto every corridor, and landing, which are also “unrestricted rethinking”, which means he still wants to knock crammed with actors going through their lines, practicing it down. This decision has of course given Boyd, and his asso- sword fights, or their singing and dancing—which has become ciates, a handy exit from a dilemma they should have had the something of an RSC trademark these days—all mixed in with courage to face earlier, even if that did mean demolition. They the noise of the intercom system relaying the action from both can now back peddle on Noble’s original plans, and try and stages, plus urgent pleas, and messages from panicking stage please everyone. Can’t hear the violins anymore. managers. With big productions the chaos back stage is often As of early September this year demolition of the Scott such that the actors have to be chaperoned to ensure they don’t building now seems to be off the agenda—at least for the time mistake the stage of The Swan for that of the main house. But being—with the RSC’s new executive director, Vikki Heywood, that has been the stuff of theatre for centuries, and is something stating in a recent interview with the very loyal local newspa- that helps get the adrenalin flowing. per, the Stratford Herald, that “…there would be extensive The audiences see and hear nothing of this of course, and redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which will

C 97 CM inside looking out—theatre

involve major structural alterations to the auditorium, achiev- Night, starring a very young Geraldine McEwan. In 1959 the ing the best possible building within the framework of the wunderkind of British theatre was back yet again, this time building we have.” She then went on to say that a new architect directing, Sir Laurance Olivier as Coriolanus, Charles Laughton would be appointed in 2005, but couldn’t possibly make any as King Lear, and Bottom, and a member of Frank Benson’s comment when asked if that new architect might be Sir Jeremy original company from 1913, Dame Edith Evans, as Volumnia. Dixon, the man behind the refurbishment of the Royal Opera That 1959 season also included Paul Robeson’s mighty House in Covent Garden, which went drastically over budget, Othello, with Sam Wannamaker as Iago, and Mary Ure as and took twice as long as the estimate to finish. If he is appoint- Desdemona. By the following year Hall had taken over from ed there could still be fun ahead beside the River Avon, and you Glen Byam Shaw as Artistic Director, and had gathered a can bet your house on it that it will cost more than £100m! nucleus of new actors about him—all destined to become In comparison, the theatre originally cost a total of stars—that included Ian Holm, Vanessa Redgrave, Albert £192,000 to build. Unfortunately,even before its official open- Finney, Mary Ure, Roy Dotrice, Julian Glover, Patrick Wymark, ing by The Prince of Wales on April 23rd 1932, it had already Diana Rigg, Edward Woodward, Peter O’Toole, and Paul lost out to it’s new rival, the cinema. As a consequence, the new Scofield. Memorial Theatre, and its productions of that dark decade In many ways Peter Hall helped create the image we have became increasingly academic and inward looking. of the 1960s: that of the rebellious young man and woman— Only during the Second World War, and with the influx of most notably in the 1960 Stratford production of The Taming thousands of American and Canadian service men and women, of the Shrew where Peter O’Toole played a very cocky, gum- did Scott’s building, and the productions inside, come alive. chewing Petruchio, who made you feel he’d probably just left Between 1942 and 1945 Stratford was surrounded by his motorcycle parked outside. It was an image that would later American and Canadian Army and Air Force bases. Naturally transfer itself to the cinema screen in such films as Billy Liar, the Memorial Theatre became a centre of attraction. Those Lawrence of Arabia (O’Toole again) and Georgie Girl. And by young Americans and Canadians descended on the theatre in focusing his—and our—attention on that rebelliousness Hall droves—the takings between 1942 and 1944 rose by almost was able—with such associates as Peter Brook and John Barton 200%—and they were not the quiet, reserved, middle-class —to force new life and energy back into Shakespeare, and the British audiences the place had been used to either. These were Memorial Theatre. In fact cinema and theatre at last began to well-educated young men and women about to put their lives at feed off each other, and to the benefit of both. risk, and they were both loudly critical or volubly praising, but Peter Hall took control of the entire theatre—and with the never silent. Their presence made the building hum and gave a unswerving support of Sir Fordham (Fordie) Flower—Hall was charge to even the most cynical of old actors and directors. By able to create his dream of a national Shakespearean Company, breaking down the elitist barriers, those young men and women the RSC, and what later became The Royal Shakespeare changed the place forever. Theatre. It would take a perceptive leader to pick up on those war But sadly, when Hall left the RSC in 1968, he left a void that time vibrations and make Scott’s theatre wholly inclusive, and neither Terry Hands, or Adrian Noble, could ever hope to fill— the dramatic work created there was some of the best, and most even with the creation of The Other Place (now sadly closed), important ever achieved, anywhere. and The Swan Theatre. That leader was Peter Frederick Hall, the son of Grace and Peter Hall’s departure from Stratford also coincided with Reginald Hall, who was born on the 22nd November 1930, at the demise of Flower’s Brewery, and of Sir Fordham Flower— Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. When I was lucky enough to be a who died in the summer of 1966—another man who made part of Sir Peter Hall’s RSC production of Julius Caesar a few Stratford’s great theatre possible. years ago, his passion—and sometimes his anger—were still Michael Boyd is no Peter Hall. His creative talents do not very evident. And there were still people backstage—and one or match those of either Terry Hands or Adrian Noble, and the two on stage—who’d worked for him in back the 1960s, who productions currently running in no way match the brilliance of still referred to him affectionately as “The Boss!” their posters. The RSC at Stratford must find another Hall, as Hall’s first visit to the Memorial Theatre was in 1946, difficult as that might be. Kenneth Branagh would be an ideal when, aged 16, he cycled from his Suffolk home to Stratford, to choice for instance. Or they could just recruit Kevin Spacey—an see Peter Brook’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. Twelve American!—who is now performing splendidly job at The Old years later, in 1958, the first British director of Beckett’s Vic theatre in London. Waiting for Godot was back in Stratford directing Twelfth

98 Citizen Culture peanut gallery critics—music Pete Belasco: A Deeper Look

~by Evan Sanders Boston, MA

Pete Belasco may not reflect the typical “soulstar” image, but his music certainly does. His recently released second album, Deeper (Compendia Records), displays a unique mix of R&B, soul, and smooth jazz, which, according to JAZZIZ maga- zine, promises to “seduce you into a bed not made since Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.” His soft tenor range follows the groundwork set by Marvin, Prince, and the Isley Brothers—all unlikely comparisons for a white guy. The title track effectively assimilates his influences and abilities, supported by a hip-hop drum beat, R&B vocal har- monies and rhythms, and seamless tenor sax performance. On Too Close, a Sade-like groove provides further integration of his jazz background. This jazz momentum flows into Crazy, a sax- ophone feature sans vocals. His vocal and sax styles and artic- ulations are strikingly similar, which is a testament to his con- sistency throughout the album. And, of course, no soul album would be complete without at least one song about a love of his own. Rather than singing to his wife, though, he instead dedi- cates one song to each of his two daughters, Nia and Zoe. Deeper lacks an upbeat, pop-inspired tune to guarantee the spot on the charts that it deserves, but it undoubtedly con- tains the makings of a true musician. Belasco’s trained ear is evident, and the album is a bold move in the right direction. peanut gallery critics—video Garden State:

The Little Film That Could

~by Amanda J. Feuerman Los Angeles, CA

ery few people will remember David Schwimmer in Garden State reaches everyone who has ever asked, the dreadful romantic comedy The Pallbearer. Even “Where am I going?” or “What the hell am I doing with my fewer that will recall Matt LeBlanc cracking jokes life?” We meet Large flat on his back in his barely furnished v alongside a chimpanzee in Ed or Matthew Perry apartment, in a Lithium-induced haze. We bond with him over cracking jokes alongside Chris Farley in Almost Heroes. But all his mind-numbing server job at a Vietnamese restaurant. And is not lost for those alumni of Must-See TV trying relentlessly to then we travel with him on his quest to the Garden State. break into the movie biz. Samantha is certifiable. She lies, has a hamster graveyard Zach Braff, of Scrubs fame, wrote, directed, and starred in in her backyard, carries a helmet in her backpack at all times Garden State, the breakout summer hit of 2004, as Andrew (because she is epileptic, a fact she fibbingly denied), and “Large” Largeman, who has at long last shrugged off a decade- Largeman is infatuated with her. The complex role is a new long Lithium induced coma. He returns home, after a pro- realm for Portman; it’s refreshing to see her in such a grown-up longed estrangement from his family, for the funeral of his dimension after seeing her in juvenile or emotionally blank paraplegic mother. roles, as in The Professional and Star Wars. Miraculously and fortunately, Large encounters Samantha Peter Sarsgaard finds in Mark the opportunity to portray a (Natalie Portman), and the two become inseparable for the man of questionable morals and ethics as a grave robbing week he is home. He rekindles his friendship with former high gravedigger. Sarsgaard imbues his character with intelligent school buddy Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a local gravedigger and comic relief and somehow manages to inspire Large with hope, druggie with the high hope of scoring big someday by selling his either by way of a drug trip or a journey across New Jersey. Gulf War trading card collection. Then there is rigid, seeming- Mark redeems himself time and time again, despite obvious ly unfeeling Gideon Largeman, played perfectly by Ian Holm. sflaws, through loyalty, humor, philosophy, and sheer persist-

100 Citizen Culture peanut gallery critics—video

ence. The audience constantly cheers for him, as he is Braff’s friends. most genuine and steadfast character. Andrew Largeman is Everyman on a bad, bad day; Samantha At first Ian Holm is difficult to fathom as old Gideon is Everywoman at her best. Mark just doesn’t feel like it. Largeman, considering his recent and famous run as Bilbo Garden State moves its audience without being cheesy. Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. But Largeman is an excellent Despite a tolerably contrived ending, the film burst of epipha- iceman, empty of empathy for his son, eager to keep him doped nies; it would be tragic to end such a film on a low note, and up on Lithium, as he has since reached puberty. Still, through- Braff does not. The audience that sits waiting for a stolidly dra- out the film the elder Largeman makes a handful of feeble matic film will be pleasantly surprised by its intelligent humor. attempts to talk with his son—enough so that by the film’s end, Which is appropriate, because in a way this film is all about he commands the empathy due to one who really is trying to do pleasant surprises mixed in with the mundane. The script is what he believes is best for his son, even if he is mistaken. In a nothing short of brilliant, a successful first attempt for Braff, sly twist using a cold character, the audience finds itself rooting the film student, turned waiter, turned critically acclaimed for a compassionate father-son moment. Instead of the expect- actor-writer-director. ed blowout, viewers are treated to happy resolution. If rocking back and forth across the fine line between desperation and optimism doesn’t suit your character- development tastes, rest assured that Samantha is Large’s polar opposite. Vibrant and eccentric, she dives head- first into life and awakens him to the possibilities that await him outside his physically barren Los Angeles apart- ment, his emotionally barren family situation, and his failing acting career. Mark, in turn, bridges the gap between their two personalities. Laid back, with goals he knows he’ll accomplish even- tually, he’s got a con here and con there to help fund the interim. He seems to have his own supporting cast, includ- ing the fabulous but underutilized Jean Smart, who plays Mark’s mother; a drug supplier hysterically portrayed by Method Man; and a motley crew of

C 101 CM

comingNEXT MONTH THE FICTION ISSUE

FEATURING ORIGINAL WORKS BY YOU!

View our editorial calendar and submit your Fence response at WWW.CITIZENCULTURE.COM

photo & art credits P.6: COURTESY OF IKEA; P.9: JESSICA MAZURKIEWICZ; PP.12-16; LYN HUGHES; PP.18-23: COURTESY OF MICHAEL KRESS; P.24: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; P.28: COLIN GRIMM; PP.35-36: JESSICA MAZURKIEWICZ; P.38: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; PP.50-51: TIMOTHY PATRICK/CCM; P.55: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; P.65: ANTHONY BRENNAN; P.67: DAVID BLANK, COURTESY OF SOLTERS & DIGNEY PR; P.79: COURTESY OF LIONS GATE FILMS; P.81: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; P.85: BRENNAN ADAMS; PP.87-89: COURTESY OF DWAYNE PERKINS; P.99: COURTESY OF COMPENDIA MUSIC; PP.100-101: COUR- TESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX; P.104: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM. corrections from issue 2 ON PAGES 20-22, PHOTOS SHOULD BE CREDITED TO THE SAN DIEGO DRAG KINGS CLUB. ON THE TABLE OF CONTENTS AS WELL AS ON PAGE 8, THE AUTHOR’S NAME WAS MISSPELLED. THE CORRECT SPELLING IS “LORI A. BASIEWICZ.” ON PAGES 78-85, THE PHOTOS SHOULD BE CREDITED AS FOLLOWS: PP.79-80, 83, 85: DANIELLE GRIEPP; PP.81-82, MAX BORENSTEIN. on a lighter note “Must-Miss” TV (just in time for sweeps)

The networks have now launched their new lineups. Just a few ~by David Gianatasio didn’t quite make the cut. Brookline, MA

WHO WANTS TO BURY A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE? Lord Marion: I want you, here and now! Contestants cover rich people up to their necks in sand and toss Marion Lord: But we’re in the middle of a fox hunt. rings at their heads. Possibly too upscale for Fox, but the WB, Lord Marion: You’re the fox I’ve hunted for so long. citing “the bikini factor,” is in talks to sign Angelina Jolie as Marion Lord: And you’re hung like a noble steed ... host. Lord Marion: Look out for that tree ... Yeee-ouch! Ah well ... there’s always Lady Chatterly. WORF’S PLACE Yet another Star Trek spinoff. Resigning from Starfleet in a fit of pique, that zany Klingon opens a neighborhood bar in I LOVE LUCY, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Queens, refusing to serve imported beer because it goes THE HONEYMOONERS, JACK BENNY, against his code of honor. BURNS & ALLEN The timeless originals, lov- WHEN WILD ingly colorized by Ted ANIMALS ATTACK Turner, with dubbed GenX WITH FIREARMS dialogue by the former The creatures’ inability to writing staff of Mystery properly operate handguns Science Theater 3000. with their paws, pads, and claws yields many humor- THE MEL GIBSON ous scenes of carnage. In SHOW the pilot, a depressed gib- Eschewing guests, side- bon threatens to take the kicks or even a studio camera crew hostage, but band, the actor discusses ends up shooting off its big his religious convictions, toe instead. looks, “talent,” box office appeal, social and political THE PIMPIN’ GUY concerns and general Socially conscious animat- superiority to the rest of ed entry set in a Watts us. Russell Crowe, whorehouse. Described by Richard Gere, Tom Hanks one Fox executive as “Just and the late Sir Lawrence like The Simpsons, if SURVIVE THIS! Olivier are signed to fill in Homer sold Marge for sex when Mel has conflicting in each episode.” Russell Ten ordinary people must watch television non-stop, commitments. Crowe provides the voice without breaking for food or sleep, until only one remains. of Bumpy. The grand prize: a free lobotomy and a lifetime job in WHO WANTS TO series development, keeping every American idle. HAVE SEX WITH A MILLIONAIRE FOR SOME OF HIS MONEY, RAZING THIS OLD HOUSE ON AIR, WHILE AMERICA WATCHES The Breakers blown to bits! Monticello demolished! Edison’s AND TAPES THE SHOW? laboratory lovingly reconstructed, then plowed under by bull- (ALT. TITLE: THE ALL-NEW COSBY SHOW) dozers! This is PBS at its best. May violate prostitution statutes if funds actually change hands, so likely headed for UPN or some struggling cable outfit MARION MANOR willing to take a risk. Bill Clinton has signed to host. Merchant Ivory targets the twenty-something crowd with a lavish historical spectacle set on a Victorian country estate. FOXY KLINGON BOXING Freddie Prinze, Jr. plays the randy Lord Marion. Sarah Has-been celebs duke it out in a mud pit. Worf devours both Michelle Gellar stars as the racy Marion Lord. winners and losers.

104 Citizen Culture

© 2004 British Airways Plc. © 2004 British Airways

London, tastefully delivered.

Experience London in a style that surpasses all your expectations. British Airways’ custom holidays combine the unrivaled standards of service of our two premium cabins, FIRST and Club World, with the elegance of London’s finest hotels. To book your luxury vacation and for special offers visit ba.com/londoninstyle.