12 Years A Slave

 

 

 

 

I set aside the day to see “12 Years A Slave”. The story is based on the autobiography of a man who was a free negro living in Sarasota, New York with his family twenty years before the Civil War broke out. He found himself cajoled to work in DC and was kidnapped and sold into slavery and spent twelve grueling years dealing the harsh reality of the deep south.

First of all – take the ENTIRE box of tissue with you to this movie. The theatre is going to be so quiet, all you're gonna hear is other people crying. There were about fifty of us at this screening and we all sat together. I've read “Gone With the Wind” and “Roots” and seen the movies many times each and let me tell you – those were the Disney versions of slavery. This strips away the fallacies and brings up the bright lights on the inhumanity that slavery came to represent. You will leave the movie a changed person.

While it is true that there is a beating, or a lynching in just about every single solitary scene in this movie, there are a couple of scenes that give you hope. By the way, what version of the Bible were they reading? Is there a Slave Owners abomination of the King James that I've never heard of – don't you have to wonder how people became Christians if that's what they heard day in and day out? The main character does something at one point that leaves the biggest and longest cliff hanger of all time – if you ever said “How is he going to get out of this?” in your life, you're going to say it and mean it down to your socks at one point while watching this movie. It's in the middle of the movie and you realize there is much more to tell, but you can't see how this episode will resolve.

The heart of the movie is really about the freeman sold into slavery, the female slave he meets, and the slave master. It's also about money, property, and production quotas. The female slave on the plantation regularly picks 500 pounds of cotton a day. Maybe we needed a wider wide shot, because it's hard to believe that there is 500 pounds of cotton on the plantation at all, much less enough to pick that much and more by yourself everyday. By comparison everyone else is coming up short. The line for whippings gets longer everyday because she is literally a cotton picking machine. She garners the master's favor in many ways because she can do something the others can't. He even tells his wife not to try and come between the two of them, because it's no contest.

The main character starts off in the deep south at a plantation that seems brutal enough, where he deals with wood. His master, however, seems to be relatively kind. Unfortunately, he winds up crossing a line he can't afford to cross and we all get to see how completely alone you are as a slave. There are no options available for you and maybe only one person on the whole plantation is going to help you. After his brief encounter there, he is sold to a cotton plantation down river, where you don't see anything other than brutality, beatings and lynching in every scene. At one point, he is rented out to a sugar plantation, and while sugar is the worse field to work, he does find some solace there.

The brutality and manipulation and deep seated cruelty is what will make it hard to take. You haven't seen a movie with this much brutality since “The Passion of the Christ”, and if you didn't see that, you may not be ready for this. I suggest a long leisurely dinner with friends afterwards as I had, to unwind and decompress. Don't go back into the streets right after watching this – take some time to relax and remind yourself that its a movie.

After many fits and starts, the slave is finally returned to his life. He finds that his children are grown and his wife has been patiently waiting for him all of this time. He lived out the rest of his life helping the abolitionist movement. In fact, that's why the book was written. It was an unimpeachable account of his life in the deep south. After watching that movie, looking at what has been accomplished and what remains left to be done, I think I would have left the country for Canada, but I applaud his decision to remain.

I also watched the TV One Special about the movie and the debate on how old you need ot be to see it. I think it depends on how old you were when you learned about slavery and what you learned about it. I really started learning about it in fourth grade. There were so many specials about that and the civil rights movement and the 10^th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination and the 4^th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination and the RF Kennedy assassination that we covered a lot of material. I recall that even then some people downplayed the role of slavery in building this country and its importance in an economic sense. We went to the State capital in 4^th grade and saw Abraham Lincoln's papers and recreations of the Gettysburg Address and the 2nd Inauguration speech. I think people in my class could have handled it. I'm not sure what children are being taught now about slavery and I don't see those same specials and books.

It's clear that no amount of money or time, or education can every really make up for all that our families have lost. I think that free therapy for the children of the slaves and even the children of the slave owners would be a good start. I also think that it is imperative that ALL organizations that benefited from the slave trade be rooted out and exposed. I realize that most of those organizations went out of business, but I will bet they morphed into something, because slavery was big money, and it had to go in someone's pockets. It's time we all learned the truth because the issue isn't going anywhere.



Why the Affordable Care Act is Important

When I was in college I worked for a company that offered insurance to all employees who worked 35 hours a week or more. This did not include me because I was only working 20 hours a week and I was on my parents insurance at the time. A few months later, the company decided to give the employees a stipend to buy their own single coverage health insurance and let the employees purchase dependent insurance on their own. They decided to only provide a stipend for the employee coverage because if they paid a larger stipend for employees who had dependents, this would #1 – cost more money, and #2- cause the single employees to revolt, and #3 – were concerned that it may be considered discriminatory In my opinion, it was a huge mistake – the majority of the employees didn't purchase insurance coverage at all – not even for themselves! They smoked the money up on stupid stuff. They took a chance that they could buy health insurance next month, or the month after that, or “when I really need it”. Well, this was back in the day before HMO plans, which allow pre-existing condition coverage. Most health plans were just major medical add/or medical visits and prescriptions. So, the day comes when they really need health insurance and either they have nothing in place at all or learn that their condition won't be covered at all by the plan, or they learn that the coverage they bought on their own has so much fine print and exclusions, it barely covers anything other than a hospital stay.

MEMO TO SELF – People have a hard time understanding the benefit of intangibles like health insurance unless they are in need of the coverage right then, and usually that is too late. Don't leave it up to people to buy their own insurance, it's not going to go well.

Now, you may say that those employees are grown and should be able to sink or swim on their own if that's what they decide to do. I would agree with you under normal circumstances, but unfortunately people don't act out of their best interest in some cases. Despite the copious training, the Q&A sessions, and insurance fairs that were held, only 20% of the people used that money to get coverage for themselves and/or their family members. People started leaving the company because they needed a job that offered health coverage for their family members. Employees who neglected to get coverage for themselves disengaged and checked out, literally or figuratively. They started to complain about the “skinflints” who ran the business. Why were they such tightwads that they couldn't afford to give health insurance. Employees started to see first hand why insurance was so important when they encountered health issues. If you took a Libertarian view, that's what freedom is all about. In my opinion, life is too precious to take a chance with.

Eventually, the owners sold the business to another company, and the new company resumed offering health insurance in the traditional manner. Order was restored. I see a wave of this happening in the coming months because a lot of companies do not realize how detrimental it will be to eliminate health insurance coverage or drop employee hours below a certain threshold to forestall compliance with the Affordable Care Act. I've been asked about this issue a few times, but I believe that companies that are committed to remaining in business will continue to offer full coverage insurance. While it's tempting to say I'll just pay the fine the government plans to impose ($2,000 per employee per year) if no coverage or substandard coverage are offered, or I'll just let my employees buy their own coverage. Realistically, there is more to it than just handing out some stipend checks and the phone number to the local Affordable Care Act info center or website. If you or a family member became ill without coverage, I'm pretty you'd want to do everything you could. Unfortunately, in a case where you've done nothing, there is nothing to be done.

For those people who found that their health insurance was cancelled as a result of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, let me illuminate a fact. The point of healthcare reform was to eliminate health care plans that were substandard. If you had a plan that only covered hospitalization, and didn't cover prescriptions, emergency room visits, or therapy – your insurance plan was not going to be saved anyway. The insurance company can't make money selling a product that is no longer allowed. You shouldn't have called that health insurance anymore than SR-22 auto insurance is quality auto coverage – it's barebones coverage that is lambasted in Allstate commercials. Insurance companies have to offer standard plans that include hospitalization, doctor's visits, therapy sessions, prescriptions, and emergency room visits now. Some people saw their insurance costs increase because the standards have been raised. I don't believe those plans should come back, its time to move on to something substantial.

If you live in a progressive state like Illinois, you have the option of selecting a plan from the State of Illinois offerings and you may even be eligible for a subsidy to pay for a portion or all of the coverage. Having seen the coverage offerings, I would suggest that you take the time to choose wisely for yourself and family. You don't have to make a decision today. As long as you enroll by the end of March, you can participate. If you aren't in a progressive state, there are sure to be some protest rallies to get your state legislature to offer insurance plans that partner with the Fed to help subsidize coverage. Please get out your comfortable shoes and attend a rally. Don't miss the chance to get health insurance coverage for yourself or your family during this historic period. As the Vice President, Joe Biden said “It's a big f___ deal!”

The Jungle

I recall my high school freshman English teacher telling me about "The Jungle".  She made the story sound so fascinating that I went to the library and pulled it out that very day. It was, without a doubt, the most incredibly depressing story I had EVER read.  It was a soap opera without escape, and the hardest thing about the story was that the issues were very real and still relevant.  I think that I was the only one to take the bait and get the book in my class, and I wrote a scathing book report about it.  My English teacher laughed at me and said that she expected to see me  standing in the center of a political rally in twenty years.  I didn't wait anywhere nearly that long. 

Going to school in Hyde Park, the one thing we all knew about was the fact that the Swift family lived there and had a mansion in Kenwood that is still the envy of . They were the most well known meat packers in the United States - when you hear the name Armour Swift Eckrich, think about the fact that food comes from Chicago, that's one reason why it's so good!  We used to pass by the Swift mansion when we had a lesson about the wealthy families of Hyde Park.

The Jungle is actually a pretty quick read because there is so much tragedy in it that you are turning the pages to see when something decent is going to happen.  There are some stretches that make you want to toss the book on the ground.  There is, however, something that keeps this book close to my heart at all times - the Food and Drug Administration.  Let me toss a quick "We missed you" out to the food inspection team that was off during the government shut down.

In The Jungle, a man is getting married in Chicago and begins working in various difficult jobs for people who speak little English and have little to no education. One of the jobs was working in the meat packing industry.  The story was written at the beginning of the previous century, and was met with extreme indignation by the establishment.  Upton Sinclair was so widely denounced, he must have felt like Clinton during his time in the White House.  Eventually, Sinclair's tome of a decadent world of capitalistic degradation and oppression caused the passage of laws that would lead to a safer food supply and better working conditions.

I encourage everyone to set aside a weekend and break out the old classic.  Some of you will become vegetarians if you never read this book before, but let me caution you that one of the most dangerous outbreaks of food poisoning recently was related to cantaloupe. Maybe we just need to concentrate on making sure all of the food is fit to eat.  I'd hate to see a world where we couldn't trust anything we put in our mouths - would you?

Don't You Quit!

Reluctantly, I went to see " Gravity" on opening weekend. 

I knew the movie had spectacular special effects and was very well received, but to be honest, I don't like movies where people are abandoned - it's too depressing.  Besides, what's going to happen in a movie where there is only one person against the world - I didn't want to go - but my cousins wanted to see it - so I went with the flow.

I must say that I am glad that I listened to them - "Gravity" is a thoroughly delightful movie, and I actually am recommending that everyone see it.  The movie has an incredible message that everyone, especially in this economy and especially young people - need to hear - it's not over 'til it's over. Don't be surprised if this movie wins "Best Picture"  I liked it that much.

In "Gravity"  Sandra Bullock is an acclaimed scientist trying to carry out an experiment in space. She's one of the best and brightest, everyone else on the crew is there to support her efforts.  The only thing is  - like being on earth, you have to deal with the situation you are in, no matter how smart you are - there's something out there that trumps you.  When I was at the Palmer House, the saying was    "Everyone has a boss.." and that's true.  For us, it was the hotel guest.  For Sandra Bullock, it was space.

In the movie, Sandra Bullock is extoling the virtues of being in the peace and quiet of space, while George Clooney blathers on endlessly about past hook-ups. He was really good in the movie, but his character was everything his public persona makes him out to be - calm, in control, analytic to the point of distraction - someone who took life in space for granted.  He had his own reason for being there, and his leadership is invaluable to the scientist.

Sandra spends her odyssey trying to control her environment, and ultimately, the fight becomes too much of a struggle as she realizes that this peace and quiet that she prized isn't all it's cracked up to be.  She also realizes a bit too late that she was really focused on doing the easy stuff well.  She sees that she doesn't really know what she is doing as she tries to survive - she doesn't even know how to pray.

The great thing about this movie is that it reminds you - or in some cases shows you, that you don't need to do anything special to pray - there aren't really any secret formulas you have to utilize - a  quick "Help a sister out" has always been effective for me.  When you think of something that had never occurred to you before - something that makes you say - "oh - is that going to work, I hadn't thought of that before" - that is generally your answer.  But whatever you do - don't ever quit! Don't keep doing the same stupid thing over and over again - it didn't work the first hundred times, and doing the same thing and expecting a different result is usually a sign of insanity.  Your answer may be just around the corner if you just center yourself and ask for what you want...


When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit-

Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a fellow turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow -

You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man;

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup;

And he learned too late when the night came down,

How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out -

The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It might be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Courtesy of "Don't You Quit", an inspirational poem

Football, baby, Football!!!

When this time of year comes along, my girlfriends are usually pouting and complaining about their men and their addiction to football. This is not an issue that I have, because I've been into football since Joe Namath said the Jets were going to win the Superbowl and he was literally the ONLY thing I saw on TV for the next week. When his prediction came true, he became the football icon of the decade. I don't understand why my friends don't learn more about football – I was bombarded with it, I wanted to see what all the excitement was. My father watches football all the time – most of my friends have at least one brother, a male cousin, a father, something – how do you miss learning about sports???

It's great for your dating life – most guys expect you to grouse and act bored while watching a football game with them. Want to blow their mind? Name the players, tell them what the play should be, and call the ref's call before he does! I've thrown a few brothers into apoplexy pulling that move. First question - “You know what it means to be “off sides” ?” Yeah, I do. Second question “Who taught you about football?” My father wasn't born a principal, you know. Being the girl who enjoys a good game places you on a whole new level.

In fact, my very first boyfiend played football from Pop Warner to the Canadian League to the Seattle Seahawks. We remained good friends forever. I was once watching him play with the Seahawks and they called his name on national TV. My family was so excited, we all called one another. The guy I was with was completely dumbfounded by this – “ You're still friends with this guy???” It was a long time ago, stop tripping.

When Sullivan High School was on its way to the Chicago Public League Championship back in the day, I went to the games if Kenwood wasn't playing. Sometimes, members of Kenwood's football team went to the games too. They went to see a good game, which I can understand. So, I walk into one game with my father, and one of the players asked me “You brought your father to the game?” Actually, my father was the principal of Sullivan at the time. We came to cheer on the troops. It was incredible when they played at Soldier's field, where the Chicago Bears play. Sullivan lost to St. Laurence, but at least they went! Kenwood, well, the less said about that, the better....

I wish Loyola had a football team. As it was, we had to go up to Northwestern when we wanted to see a game, and Northwestern never won a single game when we went out there, standing in the freezing cold at Dyche, which was a stone's throw from Lake Michigan, even closer than Soldier Field. Today, I'll watch Northwestern or U of I to get my college fix. It's mostly about the pros now, so it's all about the Bears, even when it doesn't go well.

I also went to two Superbowls, and I finally had a chance to meet Joe Namath in person and tell him how he brought the game to my attention. He was very nice, took a picture with me, hugged me, the whole bit. I also met Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach. It is, without a doubt, the WILDEST WEEKEND on earth. Everyone should go, at least once. But pace yourself, and don't plan on hitting the ground running as soon as you return. A little down time is a requirement.

Anyway, I encourage everyone to learn about football and stop fighing it. It's a great game, even if it is admittedly disgustingly brutal, frighteningly mean spirited, and can leave players with life long disabilities. The NFL is the most profitable sports league on earth, dwarfing basketball, and baseball. It's not going anywhere, so enjoy it.

Football Should Be Played on Real Grass

Robert Griffin III just injured his knee so seriously that he may not be able to return for the 2013/2014 season – that's tragic – it 's criminal in my mind. The man just started playing football – and now he has a major injury that may end his career prematurely. He might have to wait until the 2014/2015 season to return to work. Why? Because the television studios want to get a bright green background on their football fields rather than photograph the beauty of real grass????

Paint the grass green if need be – toss the uniforms and replace them after every game, don't sacrifice the player's limbs in the name of having a beautiful set. Does that make any sense? You can spray paint the lines, use vegetable dye on the field, and stencil a new logo on a grass field. Why would you play on anything else?

Professional athletes are asked to throw themselves on playing surfaces that are about as accommodating as a cement floor. If it were you, your child, your nephew, your friend – how would you feel about it? Isn't the point of OSHA to make sure everyone is working in a safe environment? When are they going to contact the NFL and ask them to straighten up! How painful it must be to have ten guys piled on top of you and your back is against an asphalt ground in a fiberglass helmet.

Think of all of the athletes whose careers could be saved if the players had been working on a surface that was meant for the sport? Are soccer players asked to play on hardwood? Are basketball players asked to play on ice? Are baseball players asked to play on gravel? What have football players done to be treated so disrespectfully? I urge the Football Players Union to take the initiative and fight for their players – no one makes money when the players can't play the game – let them play on real grass and save their legs and ankles!

The Book of Darlene

 

 

It's funny how things work out. I planned on going to see this movie on Friday evening because I wanted to see it at night before heading into the weekend. I always like to start the weekend with a good song on my mind. I wound up seeing “Lee Daniels' The Butler” and the song I was singing was “I'll Close My Eyes” and “Family Reunion”.

This movie is completely different – it's a documentary that deals with the background singers who go unsung, but lend the deep groove you hear in almost every song ever made. This film looks at the careers of Merry Clayton, Judith Hill, Lisa Fischer, and the most heralded background singer of all time – Darlene Love.

Merry Clayton is the one you hear wailing in the back of “Gimme Shelter” with the Rolling Stones, she also sang background on 'Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “It's In His Kiss” and “Southern Man”. She has a sound that you can't recreate with the best music machine. It's very unique.

Judith Hill is the background singer that worked with Michael Jackson on the “This is It” tour that never was. It's generally acknowledged that Judith was about to blow up with that tour, but fate had other plans for her. She's the one Michael tells “I gotta save my voice” in the movie.

Lisa Fischer is one background singer I actually had a chance to meet when she was here in Chicago singing back-up for Luther Van Dross. This was one of my first experiences working with a ticket broker, and I got tickets in the first row of his concert with a girlfriend and two guys we were dating at the time. I was hooked, I haven't been in the back since that day. It was like Luther was singing directly to me. My seat was right in front of his mic stand. Later that night Frances and I were at “The Limelight”, the hot night club of the time – it's called something else now. Luther comes in with his friend and we tell him how much we enjoyed the concert. He was very gracious, but it's clear that he was a little more concerned about unwinding after a night of hard work. The next day I'm at the Walgreen's on Chicago Avenue and Lisa Fischer was there getting some mascara with another backup singer. We recognize one another right away. They ask me how I got the seat in the front, and I asked them about their make-up and those fabulous gowns they wear in the show. They told me something that in years to come, I will hear again and again –their clothes were locked up after the show, and they didn't

 

get to wear the gowns anyplace but on stage. It took a while to understand the rationale behind that, but I get it now. Lisa got to sing lead on her own song, and it won a Grammy and was very popular – we all expected Lisa to become a superstar – she has as great a voice as Whitney Houston.

Now we come to one of the most infamous stories of career domination I am aware of – the story of Darlene Love. Darlene Love sang background on “Johnny Angel” Shelley Fabares hit song, “The Tracks of My Tears”, and “Poor Side of Town”. Darlene sang with a group called The Blossoms and they did back-up for Elvis, Dionne Warwick, The Beach Boys, and Tom Jones. Darlene finally gives her side of the story regarding how Phil Spector used her voice on songs that made The Crystals more famous. The Crystals were a famous girl group who did “Da Doo Ron Ron”. While The Crystals were on the road singing to their fans, their Producer, Phil Spector, was at home making new songs for the girls - and using Darlene's voice and refused to give her proper credit. It was a humiliating turn in Darlene's life. Darlene is actually the voice on “He's a Rebel” with the Blossoms. Following that was “He's Sure the Boy I Love”. Darlene didn't get her title on a song until “Today I Met the Boy I'm Going to Marry”, and Spector offered her $3,000 for total rights to the song.

She took it, and the song went gold, so she wound up getting robbed again. I used to listen to “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, as a little kid at my grandmother's house because my aunt Elaine used to play it all the time. I've been a Darlene Love fan almost as long as I was a fan of the Supremes. It was sad to hear her talk about how she was taken advantage of. It was like reading that story about Florence Ballard in “Jet” magazine right before she died. No artist wants to see their work go unheralded, and you can feel her pain in this film.

Flash forward to the present day and Darlene Love is a regular guest on David Letterman, sings, acts, and is generally regarded as an icon. She's as big a star as any of the people she covered for in the sixties. She is still out there doing it, and the man who treated her with such disdain is in prison and will be for many years to come. I believe that with their talent that the other singers will get back what they lost, also.

“Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19