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New Orleans is often abbreviated “N.O.”. This month,
those letters also stand for….Nostalgia and Outrage.
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
And miss it each night and day
I know I’m not wrong... this feeling’s gettin’ stronger
The longer, I stay away
Miss them moss covered vines...the tall sugar pines
Where mockin’
birds used to sing
And I’d like to see that lazy
Mississippi...hurryin’ into spring
The moonlight on the bayou.......a creole tune.... that
fills the air
I dream... about magnolias in bloom......and I’m wishin’ I was
there
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
When that’s where you left
your heart
And there’s one thing more...I
miss the one I care for
More than I miss New
Orleans
(instrumental break)
The moonlight on the bayou.......a creole tune.... that fills the air
I dream... about magnolias in bloom......and I’m
wishin’ I was there
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
When that’s
where you left your heart
And there’s one thing more...I miss the one I care for
More.....more than I miss.......New Orleans*
(*AmbulanceAngel
photo graciously sent by Stephen Hay, filmmaker, Leeds, UK. It was taken in March 2003. The photos
post-Katrina--and I think they stand out pretty obviously-- were taken
between Sept. 1-21,
2005 by Bruce Rheins, producer, CBS News)
THE BLOG FOR THIS MONTH IS A BULLETIN
BOARD, SO FAR…OF MEMORIES OF A GREAT CITY, THE CRADLE OF SOMETHING UNIQUELY
AMERICAN: JAZZ.
HOWEVER, IN ITS DEMISE, NEW ORLEANS MUST MAKE US FINALLY FACE THE GREAT
INEQUITIES IN THIS COUNTRY…AND THE FACT THAT WE HAVEN’T REALLY
CHANGED MUCH SINCE
1803, THE YEAR OF THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE. HOW ASHAMED THOMAS JEFFERSON WOULD BE.
HIS PURCHASE WAS TO ENSURE A PEACEFUL, POWERFUL FUTURE FOR
THE U.S.A.
WHY DON’T OUR LEADERS REMEMBER THE SAME HISTORY LESSONS I DO? (HERE’S A REFRESHER.)
Mom’s “Letter to the Editor”,
published in the Daily Herald, (Suburban Chicago newspaper), September 9, 2005
Dear Editor:
"We're going to
make it right." (Pres. Bush, Daily Herald
headline, Sept. 3)
You can't make it right...it was wrong. Cutting the
funds for levees in 2002
was wrong. Pulling out the National Guard from
their home states was
wrong...they were trained for national disasters,
not for fighting in Iraq. It was wrong not
to evacuate those people in
New Orleans who did not have the
means to leave their homes and
hospitals before Katrina
struck. It was wrong to ignore the warnings of
scientists and engineers
in the years preceding this tragedy. It was
wrong to treat FEMA as
an unwanted stepchild in the overall home
security
system...leaving it totally ineffective in meeting the current
challenge. Now
that we are in this mess, it would be wrong not to
accept the offers of
help from many nations. It would be wrong to allow
energy companies to
gouge the American public. And it continues to be
wrong not to admit the
wrongs. Of all the wrongs apparent in the
stories of this debacle,
none is more striking than the inequities in
our society...age,
economics, race, health, education, housing...
Sincerely,
Helen G. Westlake
My e-mail to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), September 8, 2005 inre a beautiful letter from a festival
director in Italy:
Dear Senator Durbin:
I just received this incredible letter from the director
of the Concorto Fest in Pontenure, Italy where THE PAWN just won Best
Cinematography...I'm asking her permission to post on my site. I have
translated between paragraphs in uppercase bold...I think it's EXTREMELY
important to heed this warning from someone from the former Roman Empire...They also
weathered a terrible "storm" with an ignorant, incompetent
leader: Mussolini. Now, they make nice pasta and shoes. They have beautiful
ruins to remind them of their past glories. What will become of us if we
continue to let ONE PARTY dominate our Exec./Congressional/and JUDICIAL
branches!? Keep fighting for balance, truth, and intelligence...please!
Feel free to forward my letter and the letter from Claudia Praolini below
to your friends in the Senate.
Dawn Westlake
Cara Dawn,
DEAR DAWN,
Ti voglio dire che le immagini che
la tv ci rimanda sono davvero terribili. E' come se all'interno
dell'America ricca, potente ed opulenta ce ne fosse un'altra povera e
vulnerabile, due facce della stessa realtà.
I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT WE THINK
THE IMAGES WE ARE SEEING ON TV ARE TRULY TERRIBLE. IT'S LIKE IN THE
INTERIOR OF THIS RICH, POWERFUL AND OPULENT COUNTRY OF AMERICA THERE IS
ANOTHER WHOLE COUNTRY THAT IS POOR AND VERY VULNERABLE...TWO FACES OF ONE
REALITY.
La speranza è che questa tragedia
possa insegnare qualcosa ha chi detiene il potere:
THE HOPE HERE IS THAT THIS
TRAGEDY CAN SHOW YOU WHAT WILL PUT AN END TO YOUR POWER, IF YOU DON'T
CORRECT THINGS SOON:
che la natura va rispettata e temuta
(vedi Accordi di Kioto),
che la priorità di una nazione è
offrire un'opportunità di benessere a TUTTI i suoi cittadini e non
dilapitare miliardi per fare guerre in favore dei grandi gruppi economici;
che se all'interno di un ricco e
grande paese come l'America esistono sacche di povertà come quelle che si
intravedono oggi dalle immagini di New Orleans, qualcosa non va, qualcosa
non è stato fatto, e crolla il mito di un America che possa insegnare al
mondo la strada verso la democrazia.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT NATURE
IS TO BE RESPECTED AND FEARED (TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE KYOTO TREATY);
YOU MUST SEE THAT THE PRIORITY
OF A NATION IS TO OFFER GOODNESS AND WELL-BEING TO ALL CITIZENS, NOT TO USE
YOUR MEANS TO MAKE A WAR WHICH BENEFITS ONLY THE RICH. IF INSIDE A COUNTRY
AS RICH AND AS LARGE AS AMERICA THERE ARE ACTUALLY SO MANY PEOPLE WHO
SUFFER ON A DAILY BASIS, THAT DOESN'T WORK. YOU DON'T WORK. IT SHOWS THAT
AMERICA IS A MYTH. "THE STREET" WILL BE AGAINST THIS IDEA OF DEMOCRACY.
Scusa per questo mio sfogo! ma è perchè
non ho perso la speranza che il Tuo Paese possa capire la grande
RESPONSABILITA' che ha non solo nei confronti dei suoi cittadini ma anche
nei confronti di tutte le altre nazioni e possa un giorno scegliere di
essere davvero GRANDE, usando la sua potenza per aiutare i più deboli e non
per rafforzare i più forti.
PLEASE EXCUSE MY RANT! IT'S JUST
THAT I HAVE NOT LOST HOPE THAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN UNDERSTAND THE HUGE
RESPONSIBILITY IT OWES TO ITS CITIZENS TO CONFRONT THEIR PROBLEMS SO THAT
YOU CAN REALLY SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO BE
SINCERELY GREAT, USING YOUR POWER TO HELP THE WEAK, AND NOT TO REINFORCE
THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY TOO STRONG.
Auguri a Bruce che possa svolgere il
suo lavoro al meglio possibile, senza pericolo e un grande abbraccio a te
I SEND ALL BEST WISHES TO BRUCE
THAT HE CAN DO THE BEST JOB POSSIBLE, WITHOUT RUNNING INTO DANGER. I ALSO
SEND A HUGE HUG TO YOU.
Claudia Praolini.
(Note from DW:
Senator Durbin responded to me personally within hours! Now, there’s a
GREAT public official! And, I’m not even a constituent anymore!)
Dad’s “Letter to the Editor”
of the Daily Herald, still awaiting publication, inre Barbara
Bush’s “Marie Antoinette” moment.
Dear
Editor:
Barbara Bush's stunning
reaction to the plight of New Orleans evacuees now
located in the Astrodome
should have appeared on the front page instead
of being buried on page
8 (Barbara Bush sees sunny side, Sept. 6).
On National Public
Radio, the former first lady said, "...so many of the
people in the arena
here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so
this, this is working
very well for them."
Is this what is meant by
"compassionate conservatism?" Her statement showed
not one scintilla of
understanding for fellow human beings who have lost
family members, homes,
jobs, and all their possesions. The entire
nation should be
outraged.
Sincerely,
Donald G. Westlake
BARBARA
BUSH HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE CHEERY. SHE PROBABLY JUST COULDN’T CONTAIN
HER ‘INNER MONOLOGUE’ (AS WE ACTORS LIKE TO CALL IT). SHE COULD TURN THE FROWN ABOUT THE
HURRICANE UPSIDE DOWN THINKING ABOUT ALL THE CONTRACTS THAT WOULD SOON BE
AWARDED TO ALL HER SON’S BUDDIES.
AS BRUCE AND I SHOPPED FOR CAMPING GEAR IN THE SCANT HOURS WE HAD TOGETHER BEFORE HE HAD
TO LEAVE FOR KATRINA (HE’D ALREADY BEEN FOR ON THE ROAD A WEEK
IN NEVADA AND WYOMING—
BEFORE
KATRINA—DOING A STORY ON GAS PRICES), I DARKLY JOKED THAT NEW ORLEANS
WOULD BE BACK, NEW AND IMPROVED: “WELCOME TO NEW NEW ORLEANS, BROUGHT TO YOU BY HALLIBURTON!” IT ONLY
TOOK A FEW DAYS FOR MY DARK JOKE TO COME
TRUE.
HERE AT
HOME, THERE WAS A POWER OUTAGE, AN ALARM SYSTEM FAILURE, A DANGEROUS GAS
LEAK, OUR FURNACE (WHICH WAS ONLY 65 YEARS OLD…HA!) BROKE, AND THEN,
THERE WAS AN ALARM SYSTEM FIRE (A BAD MOTHERBOARD WAS SENDING TOO MUCH
CURRENT TO THE TRANSFORMER), BUT THERE WERE SOME BRIGHT SPOTS, TOO:
THE
PAWN played in the LA
International Shorts Film Fest at the very groovy Arclight Theatres to
a sold-out crowd on Sept. 11th. It
was great to have the whole gang
together again.
Despite the ‘downer’ quality of the film, we remembered how much fun we had making
it.
THE
PAWN was also just accepted into Sedicicorto in Forli, Italy for late this
month and early October, and the plaque for
its BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY win in Pontenure, Italy arrived. It stands by
itself in a very nice blue velvet case. Very
sexy. Very Italian. ;-) I Fratelli Moser ed io vi diciamo, “Grazie
mille, bella giuria di Concorto!”
THE PAWN also got word of acceptance into the
22nd Annual Long Island Film Fest in Glen Cove, NY for October 1st.
In
other film news, A LIFE OF DEATH was accepted into the Golden Lion Film
Festival in Manzini, Swaziland (Africa!). This means that it’s now
gotten into 80 fests/screenings on ALL the continents of the world, except
for Antarctica. (I’m going to see if Bruce can send it to some
scientists he knows down there. If just three people watch it projected
onto a tent flap, I’m calling that a festival and claiming ALL
continents! HA!) A LIFE OF DEATH was also shown at the Six Degrees Film
Fest in downtown L.A. on September 17th, and was accepted into
the Kish Island Documentary Film Fest on Kish Island in Iran for
February-March of 2006! DOTTIE was
hugely honored with a request from the Houston school system to include her
in a special series of presentations to the Gulf Coast evacuees who are now
living there. Besides entertainment,
I hope the kids will get DOTTIE’s message and speak up against the
Bush, Brown, Rumsfeld,
Cheney-types (et.al.) who they encounter in the future. (I just hope
there’s something left of Houston, after Rita. ;-( …)
I was
also able to attend a very cool party honoring Greta Garbo’s legacy
thrown by my friend Tomas Rosander, the Swedish Consul to LA, and his
wonderful wife, Christina,
and their very poised, intelligent and interesting son, Adam. The venue was the Max Factor Museum on
Hollywood Blvd. It’s just an awesome place…kind of like pawing
around your grandma’s attic…If your grandma was Lucille Ball,
Greta Garbo, or Bob Hope. Honorary
Mayor of Hollywood Johnny
Grant was there, and I snagged the last picture of the night with him. He was going home
to rest to be fresh for the next morning when he’d be photographed
with Johnny Depp (swoon!) who was getting his hands/feet cemented in front
of Graumann’s Chinese Theatre.
Always a character, Johnny Grant told me he had Jack Benny’s
underwear on (from his personal collection of ‘Clothes of the
Stars’), and it was killing him!
As per usual, the food was EXCELLENT at the Garbo party, thanks to
the Rosanders’ adorable Swedish Chef. Unlike Garbo, I don’t vant to be alone, so absent-Bruce, Jason Luckett
accompanied me to the party. Thanks, Jason!
In
closing, I want to give a HUGE shout out to the friends near and far who
have cheered me up and checked on me while Bruce was away running the disaster coverage and doing pieces from New Orleans. This was one of* the hardest assignments
of his 24-year career, by far. There was a nine-day stretch when he
couldn’t even shower. (Here are the before and
after shots.
“Never underestimate the power of the shower!” is his latest
“quotable quote”.) He even had to get tetanus and Hepatitis A
vaccinations! He had it so tough physically, emotionally, and
mentally that my empathy/worry meter has gone way past the “red
zone” on many days. So, thanks
so much to: J. Randy
Taraborrelli, Jason Luckett,
Kevin Comeaux, Olivier Coste Renoult,
Carlos Stelmach, Gregory Johnson, Diana Giorgiutti, Montse Vilarroig,
Davide del Degan, Mara Menini, Nuno Monteiro, Miguel Costa, Manuela
Palmucci, Christine Lund, Kristen Westlake, Keith Johns, Jeff Goldman (who had a fab bday
party in Sweden which we had to miss this month), Eleanore Vega…AND
MY PARENTS! (Oh! And, René González,
the repair tech from Brinks, who was the first to discover the gas leak in
my house!) I am soooo happy to have
him home! In celebration, we put up a hammock! ;-) And, we were able to spend our 16th
anniversary together (what a
novel concept!) at the end of the month at a marvelous dinner at J. Randy
Taraborrelli’s with his friend Andy
Steinlein. (Thinking he might be away, Bruce had already ordered a
fabulous bouquet of 12 red “Talking Roses” with “For my lovely wife” stenciled on
in gold…Even the packaging
was fancy! Awwwww…You da’ man, Bruce!)
*This New Orleans story is tied
with difficulty in emotional toll
with the Columbine murders, and in physical
challenge/hardship with the Rodeo-Chedesky fire, says Bruce…;-)
FADE TO OCTOBER……
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