Month: February 2008 Page 1 of 2

Mel Brooks has a new play at the Hilton Theatre (formerly named the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, but renamed in 2005) on Broadway, based on his 1974 hit movie “Young Frankenstein.” The critics have not been as kind to the play as they were to the 1968 film, but, during a recent trip to New York City, the concierge suggested that the less-than-stellar reviews were unfair. She glowed on about the lighting (credit goes to Peter Kaczorowski, Lighting Designer), the songs, the humor, so I shelled out the money to watch Roger Bart (the scheming…now deceased…druggist on “Desperate Housewives”) portray Dr. Frederick Frankenstein.

It was well worth the time and my money.

Others in the cast with whom you might be familiar included Andrea Martin (SCTV) reprising the Cloris Leachman film role as Frau Blucher and Megan Mullally (“Elizabeth), who played the long-running role of Karen Walker on “Will & Grace” on television.

Most of us are familiar with Mary Shelley’s original masterpiece about man creating a monster, but when Mel Brooks brought it to the screen as a comedy parody in 1974, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” took on a whole new meaning. The late Peter Boyle (“Everybody Loves Ramon”) camped it up in the song-and-dance number in the seventies film, and, in the play adaptation Shuler Hensley plays “the monster” and gets to wear the top hat and tails. Most of the running bits from the movie (“PUT THE CANDLE BACK!”) are intact, as well.

Aside from Roger Bart, who is brilliant as Dr. Frankenstein (and is constantly correcting the pronunciation of his last name), Christopher Fitzgerald, who plays Igor, the hunchback, a role made famous by the late Marty Feldman, should be singled out for special praise.

All of the principal performers have great resumes, but Igor, he of the moving “hump,” is a stand-out. As Christopher Fitzgerald told James Sims, Senior Editor for “Broadway World” in Los Angeles (July, 2007) during a six-week Seattle out-of-town run, “Igor is certainly very clown-like. Kind of comments on the action, and has a lot of very bizarre non sequiturs, with a kind of higher status than anyone else in the show.”

In a different interview, Fitzgerald told an amusing story about getting the call to play Igor, while he was shooting a commercial dressed as a Cabbage Patch Kid and talking on his cell phone, with only the head removed. At first, there was talk of Fitzgerald playing Dr. Frankenstein and Roger Bart playing Igor, but it ended up this way, and it couldn’t be better. Fitzgerald has been working in this field for a long time and has a gift for physical comedy, much like Jim Carrey. “All of that stuff: that was my background growing up. A lot of vaudeville stuff traveling around New England doing those types of shows,” Fitzgerald told Sims in their July 2007, interview.

Fitzgerald is married to a working actress (Jessica Stone) and they have an infant born in July, just as the show was beginning its out-of-town runs (San Francisco, Seattle). Fitzgerald has also appeared in shows like “Twins” on the WB and the play “Wicked” (on Broadway), but this is definitely a move up in his career.

The lighting by Peter Kaczorowski is spectacular in the film, especially during the scene(s) where the Monster is created, and the huge set is awesome. [Even Fitzgerald commented on the massive set built for the production.] Dance numbers aplenty add to the merriment, and the play is as funny as the movie.

All of this hilarity springs from the fertile comedic brain of Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky, June 28, 1926) who is one of the few people, according to the International Movie Data Base, to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony. Brooks took his working name from his mother’s maiden name (Brookman) and, interestingly enough, in WWII was an infantryman in charge of defusing landmines in advance of the approaching army.

Brooks has had 12 wins and 17 nominations, including an Oscar for his 1968 screenplay of “The Producers.” “The Producers” went full circle: movie (1968) to play (2001) to movie, again (2005). The play morphed into a second (less successful) film with Broadway stars Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman in 2005.

Brooks has often been hailed as a comic genius. He has so much comic material to mine that it’s hard to know what he might do next. “Blazing Saddles” (1974) was mentioned by name by the cast at the end of the play, as they took their bows, as the next property that will become a play, but Brooks is famous for promising sequels and not always delivering— a sort of “crowd teaser.”

“Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” (1974, for each), “High Anxiety” (1977), “The Producers (1968)…these are but a few of the potential properties that could become successful plays for Mel Brooks, or already have.

The tickets for the play were not cheap, but the $400 that was being touted in Seattle runs was high, and only for those orchestra seats right down front. A ticket can be had for under $150. Still steep, but much better than the first figure mentioned.

Mel Brooks won three Emmys (1997 to 1999) playing “Uncle Phil” on the television series “Mad About You” and has won 3 Tonys and 3 Grammys (one for a spoken version of “The History of the World: Party II.”)

If the lavish production numbers, the low (but hilarious) humor and the fine acting of this production remain the standard, Brooks’ plays should do well on Broadway for a long, long time.

80th Academy Awards Held Sunday, February 24th

By Connie Wilson

On February 25, 2008

In Movies

“No Country for Old Man” picked up the Oscar for Best Picture at the 80^th Academy Awards ceremony, held at the Kodak Center in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday, February 24^th. In addition to Best Picture, the story of psychopathic killer Anton Chagar (Javier Bardem), with able assists from Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, garnered a Best Supporting Actor statuette for Javier Bardem, the first Spaniard to be nominated for Best Actor. The Best Director Ocar went to Coen Brothers Joel and Ethan (“Fargo,” “The Big Lebowsky”) for “No Country for Old Men” and the film also picked up the best adapted screenplay Oscar, to lead with 4 wins as the night’s biggest winner.

For quite some time early in the evening, Matt Damon’s film “The Bourne Ultimatum” was the leader of the pack, with 3 Oscars in more minor categories (Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing), but it was ultimately (pun intended) eclipsed by “No Country’s” brutal tale of murder and money in the desert.

Two awards apiece were given to “There Will Be Blood,” one of them the big one of Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis (“My Left Foot). The intense actor has been nominated four times and has won twice. “There Will Be Blood,” a tale of oil drilling, greed and violence, also won for Best Cinematography, for Robert Elswit.

Another film that garnered two Oscars was “La Vie en Rose,” which won the Best Actress award for Marion Cotillard, portraying French chanteuse Edith Piaf. “La Vie en Rose” also won the Oscar for Best Make-up. Cotillard’s win was an upset over the favorite, Julie Christie for “Away from Her.” Cotillard seemed overcome with emotion as she thanked the audience, saying, “There is angels in this city” (Los Angeles).

Best Supporting Actress was Tilda Swinton, who won for her role in “Michael Clayton,” which was largely shut out after earning among the most nominations (along with “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood”).

Other winners were:

Documentary Feature “Taxi to the Dark Side,” about the war-time death of a cab driver.

Documentary Short “Freeheld,” which dealt with a gay couple’s rights to inherit when one dies.

Animated Feature winner was the crowd favorite “Ratatouille.”

Best Foreign Language Film was “The Counterfeiters” from Austria.

Best Original Screenplay winner was Diablo Cody for “Juno,” her first script.

Best Visual Effects winner went to “The Golden Compass.”

Best Animated Short Film went to “Peter & the Wolf.”

Best Live Action Short Film went to “Le Mozart des Pickpockets” (“The Mozart of Pickpockets”).

Best Art Direction award went to “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” another film that was largely shut out after securing multiple nominations.

Best Costume Design went to “Elizabeth: the Golden Age,” which was one of the areas where “Sweeney Todd,” along with “Atonement” had been favored. “Atonement” did, however, win in the area of Best Original Score for Dario Marianelli.

Best Original Song went to “Once” from “Falling Slowly,” but the entire music category had been criticized prior to the night’s ceremony for failing to represent contemporary music when both Eddie Vedder (“Pearl Jam”) for “Into the Wild” and Radiohead’s lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (the score for “There Will Be Blood”) were not recognized for their work, nor was the music from “Juno,” which has been among the best-selling CD’s nationwide since the film’s release.

Host Jon Stewart performed host ceremonies with some occasional zingers, after announcing, “This is it, this is it, this is the big one,” as the ceremony kicked off at 7:30 p.m. CDT.

Commenting on the violent subject matter of “There Will Be Blood,” “Atonement,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Stewart said, “Thank God for teen pregnancy,” a reference to the final nominated film, “Juno.” Stewart also got in a good zinger when, in commenting on the make-up nomination for “Norbit,” he said, “Too often the Academy ignores movies that weren’t any good.” He compared Javier Bardem’s hairstyle in “No Country for Old Men” to a combination of the horribleness of Hannibel Lecter with Dorothy Hamill’s wedge haircut.

Fashion notes: the gorgeous gowns were back, with most of the crowd (especially the nominees) looking very “Hollywood.” I had problems with the outfit that Rebecca Miller (Daniel Day Lewis’ partner and Arthur Miller’s daughter) selected, a black dress with red bows on the shoulders and large big fake medallions, a truly hideous combination. However, to give equal time to her escort’s strange attire, wearing two gold loop earrings was probably an equivalent fashion “faux pas.” The opinion expressed here is strictly my own and does not reflect Mr. Blackwell’s Worst Dressed List…although it eventually may.

On the gorgeous side, Cameron Diaz shone in a pale pink number and Penelope Cruz looked equally lovely in a black dress. The female interviewer on the red carpet, herself, had on one of the most satisfactory gowns of the evening, with a fetching shoulder strap treatment

Democrats Debate for 19th Time in Austin, Texas, Prior to Texas Vote (2/20/08)

By Connie Wilson

On February 22, 2008

In Politics

True to my usual practice of listening for either applause or boos, during Thursday night’s Democratic debate on CNN televised from Austin, Texas, from on campus at the University of Texas, the only “boo-ing” was directed Hillary Clinton’s way, as she took after Barack Obama for (purportedly) plagiarizing a speech by Deval Patrick, the National Co-Chairman of his campaign (and Governor of Massachusetts). Hillary’s sharp retort that using Patrick’s words is “Not change we can believe in; change we can Xerox” did not go over well with the crowd. This was the only instance of “boo-ing” in the extremely civilized 19th debate the two leading candidates have had.

First, from a woman’s perspective, what was up with Hillary’s outfit? The neckline of the black outfit reminded me of a costume from an old Star Trek set. It had a high collar that was edged in gold, which then looked as though it connected physically to her gold omega chain. It was not an unattractive look; it just looked like an early sketch of something Michael Jackson would design, with epaulets still to be attached. To be fair, it was fairly slimming and fetching from the waist up— until Hillary stood up. The hemline of the jacket then ballooned unfetchingly, making her look larger through the hips than she actually is (surely not the desired effect?).

Fashion aside, here were some of the “zingers” heard during the largely friendly debate, listed in chronological order:

Obama: “What’s lacking now are not good ideas. Washington is a place where ideas go to die.”

Obama: “What the American people want is an America as good as its promise.”

Obama: (on talking to Cuba’s new leadership): “I do think it’s important (for a nation) not just to talk to its friends, but also to talk to its enemies.” (The gizmo people liked this one.)

Clinton: “The Bush Administration has alienated our friends and emboldened our enemies.” I want to send a very strong message that the era of arrogance, pre-emption and unilateralism—those days are over.” (I wondered how this pronouncement would dampen the budding friendship between Bill Clinton and his newfound friend George Herbert Walker Bush.)

Obama: “I this the President today needs to take a more active role than 30 or 40 years ago. That’s the extra step.” (on talking to other nations)

Clinton: (“The wealthy and the well-connected have had a President for the last 7 years and I’d like the middle class to have a President now.” Clinton followed that up with the phrase, “innovation nation,” a nice rhyming phrase. She should have trotted that one out earlier in this campaign.

Clinton: (Talking about how young Latino children might come home to find their parents deported and no one there to take care of them) “That is not the America that I know. That is a stark admission of failure.” Pressed further on the immigration issue, Hillary, when asked if she would reconsider the border fence or commit to finishing it, said, “There is a smart and a dumb way to enforce immigration. I would say, ‘Wait a minute. We need to review this.’ As with so many things, the Bush Administration has gone off the deep end. I would listen to the people who live along the border.”

Clinton: “My opponent gives speeches; I offer actions…Actions speak louder than words.” (It was right about here that the offending Xerox comment crept in, surely the biggest faux pas of the night from either candidate).

Obama: (responding to Hillary’s plagiarism charge), retorted that her objections were “silly” and that it had become “silly season.” He added, “We shouldn’t be spending time tearing the country down; we should be building the nation up.”

Obama (on whether he is ready to be President “on Day One,” which, lets’ face it, Sports Fans, is becoming a really annoying phrase to hear over and over and over): “I wouldn’t be running (for President) if I didn’t think I was ready (to be Commander-in-Chief).”

Obama: (on the surge in Iraq) “The fact is that the purpose if it has not been fulfilled. We need to send a clear message that the Iraqis no longer have a blank check, like they had under President Bush….It is up to the Iraqis to determine what kind of future they will have.” Obama, after praising the efforts of the 1^st Cavalry stationed out of Fort Hood, said that the decision to invade Iraq was “a tactical maneuver based on a huge strategic blunder.” He proceeded to decry how poorly our returning veterans are being treated and how veterans in Southwest Texas have to drive 250 miles to access health care. Spending $12 million a month in Iraq has kept the nation from attending to building up relations with Latin American nations (among others), and we are only spending about what is spent in one week in Iraq. He added, “Iran is the single biggest beneficiary of our invasion of Iraq.”

When asked about “earmarks”, the audience learned that there were $91 million in total “earmarks” from Obama, to secure funds for his home state of Illinois, and $342 million in earmarks from Hillary Clinton, for her home state of New York.

Obama: “The people want to know that they have a government that is listening to them again. They want their government back (echoes of Howard Dean here) and that is what I’m going to provide them with.”

The final question each was asked was, “Describe the moment when you were tested the most?” (Oh, oh. I thought. Is there really going to be an instant replay of the “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski” days? Democrats can rest assured there will be if Hillary is the nominee.)

Obama gave a bland answer that dealt with his work on the streets as an organizer, early in his career, a task which he committed to out of idealism rather than accepting a high-paying job with a prestigious law firm.

Hillary paused and made a comment about how everyone in the audience knew of some of her difficult moments. After the debate was officially over, some of the analysts considered this final answer—which went waaaaay off on a tangent about returning disfigured Iraq veterans and how hard they have it, compared to anything she ever had to put up with—as a “humanizing” moment for the Robo-candidate. I just found it manipulative and staged. It didn’t look or sound “real” to me, at all. I was surprised that all these smart people, these paid analysts, had been “snookered” into letting a candidate twist the “real” question around and answer whatever-the-heck she felt like. I suppose we can give her points for agility and thinking on her feet ((“Boy! I sure don’t want to talk about Bill’s infidelity. Where can I go with this?”), but I don’t think we can give her too many points for candor in her “stagy” answer. To me, it was as bad as when I job applicant says that his chief failing is that he “cares too much for others.” Contrived. Manipulative. Deceitful. Not honest. Not real. Not human. Said for effect.

In the CNN Newsroom, post-debate, some of the prevailing wisdom included this prescient line from Gloria Borger (CNN Political Analyst), “We’ve heard all the themes we are going to hear. It is what it is.” (Bring in Bill to parse the meaning of the word “is,” please. I know he can do it. He’s done it before.)

Jeffrey Toobin (CNN analyst) said, “Maybe she’s going to lose with dignity.” (My reaction: not bloody likely).

David Gergen, political analyst, decrying Hillary’s inability to “connect” with the voters emotionally said, “If she can’t establish that, I think she is going to lose.” (Gergen seems to be coming to this realization rather late in the game, but whatever.)

Donna Brasile, who ran Al Gore’s campaign and is a Super Delegate to the convention, said, “She (Hillary) needs a message firewall” and declared “Barack Obama tonight was exceptional.”

Donna Brasile, in all previous appearances and debates, had seemed to support Hillary Clinton, so this newfound enthusiasm for Obama may be indicative of the erosion of support from among the Super Delegates previously pledged to Clinton or previously listed as leaning towards Clinton.

A couple of other good moments for Obama came when he said, “On the single most important decision of our generation (the decision to invade Iraq), I have shown the judgment to lead.” He also skewered likely Republican opponent John McCain, saying, “John McCain says he doesn’t know much about the economy and he has proven that by embracing the failed policies of George W. Bush.”

One CNN analyst said, “It sounded as though Hillary was just reciting her resume.”

This was the tamest and most civilized Democratic debate since the last seated debate, when Edwards was still in the race. I found it telling that Hillary Clinton invoked John Edwards’ name not once, but twice, in praising various positions he had articulated while still a candidate. It made me wonder if she was, as they say, “sucking up” to Edwards to try to get him to endorse her and/or to try to woo and influence his committed delegates to come over to her side (the Dark Side?). Both Clinton and Obama are known to have been in contact with the North Carolina ex-Senator at his home in Chapel Hill, but no endorsements have been forthcoming so far.

It’s now do-or-die for Hillary Clinton. Most analysts expect that she will not be able to pull Texas out of the fire (it’s neck-and-neck), but that, if she does, it will be largely on the backs of the Hispanic voters in the state. Even if she does win in Texas, Hillary also has to take Ohio to be viable, according to her husband, the ex-President, and James Carville, who advised Bill Clinton and is advising Hillary.

I don’t see wins for Hillary in both Ohio and Texas happening. I’ve thought since Iowa (January 3^rd) that Obama has the charisma and the rock-star aura that Hillary, on her best day, cannot summon. Nor could Bill lend Hillary his charisma. If anything, Bill has managed to tarnish his elder statesman image while bringing home few wins for his ambitious wife. Crowds, yes; wins, no.

Part of Obama’s appeal is gender-based. Part of his appeal rests on his mad oratorical skills. Much of his appeal is generational. Most of it is the “gut instinct” that each and every voter in our democracy is allowed to follow through on privately in the voting booth. (What a great country!)

It almost seems that, like Giuliani and Thompson, Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign all made huge mistakes (of different sorts) in planning their campaigns. In Hillary Clinton’s case, she did not anticipate this upstart Senator from Illinois being the tenacious performer he has proven himself to be. He was well-organized beyond the Clinton campaign’s wildest dreams…or nightmares. The carefully scripted plastic appearances in Iowa, prior to the first January caucus, didn’t do much to endear Hillary to voters there, and that’s where Obamamania began. Keeping Chelsea under wraps and away from the press only reinforced the image that Hillary is remote, in an ivory tower, not “one of the people.”

The biggest sticking point of the evening, the biggest debate point (which the candidates almost would not let go) was over health care, with Hillary accusing Obama’s plan (as she has on the stump) of leaving 15 million uninsured. Obama fired back that Hillary’s plan mandated that everyone have health care, which would prove a hardship. He made the very valid point that people who don’t have health care don’t have it because they can’t afford it, and garnishing their wages and making them have it, through a mandate, is not the way to go. (Obama’s plan does, however, mandate health care for children.)

Obama, while saluting Senator Clinton for her previous attempts to head up a health reform bill when Bill was President, pointed out that it was all done in secrecy, behind closed doors, and that he values transparency and would be better suited to bring people together to work to undo the damage of the Bush years. Nowhere has that been clearer than on the campaign trail.

No Man Is An Island

By Connie Wilson

On February 22, 2008

In Politics

(With Apologies to John Donne….)

by Connie Corcoran Wilson, M.S.

No country is an island, entire of itself; every country is a piece of the continent, a part of the planet. If a country be totally destroyed by smart bombs, that continent is the less, as well as if a World Trade Center were hit, as well as if a dwelling of thy friends or of thine own were struck; the futile deaths of our servicemen diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and their deaths were unnecessary in light of the true country of origin of the WTC attacks.

Therefore, world, never send to know on whom the smart bombs fall; Bush willing, they may next fall on thee…..

Copyright 2004 by Connie Corcoran Wilson. You may reproduce this poem, as long as no part of it is changed and proper attribution is made. Check out Connie’s book of poetry and humor at www.ConnieCorcoranWilson.com. Thank you.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House (or) From “Fredhead” to “Deadhead”

By Connie Wilson

On February 21, 2008

In Politics

When Fred Thompson announced on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show on June 12, 2007, that he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President, ending months of speculation, his prospects looked rosy. A March 29^th Gallup-USA Today survey showed Thompson running third, just behind John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, among Republicans in the race. Thompson’s poll numbers in September were in the high 20s and low 30s. By the end of the year, his poll numbers had sunk to single digits.Fred possessed a commanding stage presence, that familiar air of gravitas, and built-in national recognition from his movie and television roles. He also had been Minority Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, better known as the Watergate Committee, in 1973-74. Thompson was a lawyer and a former Senator from Tennessee, elected on November 8, 1994, to fill the unexpired portion of the term left vacant by Al Gore’s resignation. He was sworn in for his first term on 12/2/94.

Thompson was re-elected the Republican Senator from Tennessee in 1996. Responding to charges of “laziness” leveled against him throughout his career Thompson retorted in an article entitled “The Fred Express” in NewsMax magazine (September 2007 interview with John Fund, columnist for the Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal.com and The American Spectator): “That’s what they said about me before I ran for Senate the first time, and that’s what they said about me two years later, when I ran for re-election. I won the first time by 21 points, and by 25 points the second time. That was in a state that Bill Clinton carried twice. If you can do that while being lazy, I recommend it to everyone.”

What, exactly, happened, then, to the political Second Coming of Fred Thompson? Why didn’t his run for the roses, his political comeback, have a fairy tale ending?

There are several theories that help explain why, in Columbia, South Carolina on election night, Fred Thompson stood before his supporters for the final time, saying, “We will always be bound by a close bond because we have traveled a very special road, bound together for a very special purpose. We’ll always stand strong together, we’ll always stand strong together, and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

And, as the cartoon finale goes, “Th-th-th-that’s, all, Folks.”

Shortly thereafter, Thompson announced he was dropping his bid for the Presidency and, soon after that, he endorsed his old Senate colleague John McCain for the Republican nomination for the Presidency.

What went wrong?
(To be Continued)

NIU Victims Are Buried; Wounded Recover

By Connie Wilson

On February 19, 2008

In News

As you approach the makeshift Memorial on campus in DeKalb, Illinois at Northern Illinois University on this bitterly-cold evening, you are struck by the steady stream of students coming and going to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting that took place on Valentine’s Day on campus.

Students trudge up a slight hill crusted with frozen snow and ice to the crosses. They lay fresh flowers at the base of the Memorial. Some linger a moment, silently feeling the immense weight of the sadness. One boy blessed himself as he left, making the traditional Catholic Sign of the Cross.

As you leave your floral or written tribute, as I did, —-hundreds of pounds of fresh roses and other fragrant flowers, dying quickly in the frigid air, despite efforts to cover and protect them with a plastic tarpaulin— you feel like crying on this hushed frigid night. The emotional impact is overwhelming. You think of the students, themselves, almost as fragile flowers. The plastic tarp that won’t protect against the cold that kills is much like our parental concern, that can’t protect against a gunman gone mad.

When I asked how I might walk to Cole Hall, the UNI student I spoke with said, “Oh, the cops won’t let you get within a block of Cole Hall.” Cole Hall will not be used for classes for the rest of this school year. It is cordoned off.

Tomorrow, here in Milan, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities that I call home, one of the shooting victims, 20-year-old Daniel L. Parmenter of Taylor Ridge, Illinois, will be laid to rest in Milan at Chapel Grove Cemetery. Daniel’s first funeral was held at 2 p.m. today (Tuesday, February 19) at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois. His second funeral will be held Wednesday at Taylor Ridge Methodist Church with burial at Chapel Grove Cemetery immediately afterwards.

Daniel’s older sister, Kristen, graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, another of the Quad Cities. The funeral home director at Hursen Funeral Home in Hillside, Illinois, handling Daniel’s funeral arrangements, Anthony Rainiero said, “We’ve had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people in line since 2:30 this afternoon (at the funeral home).” He described the profound sadness in the eyes of the hundreds of people who attended Daniel’s visitation as “amazing”, something unparalleled for him in his more than 20 years in the funeral business.

Meanwhile, Lauren DeBrauwere, Daniel’s girlfriend, who was sitting right next to him in one of the front rows in Cole Hall the day of the shooting, struggles to recover from both her physical and psychological wounds. She remembers everything.

Although groggy from stomach surgery, with a tube still lodged in her throat, Lauren remembers how gunman Steven Kazmierczak walked onto the stage literally minutes before the geology class was to end. Lauren assumed the black-clad person was there to make an announcement. Then, he tried to shoot the instructor, who ducked behind his podium. (The instructor was shot in the arm, but is expected to fully recover.)

Next, Kazmierczak pointed the shotgun at the students in front of him in the large lecture hall and pulled the trigger. Lauren was near the front of the class and saw the gunman use a handgun to shoot and kill her boyfriend, Dan Parmenter, before he shot her in the abdomen and hip. Steve Kazmierczak proceeded to shoot the girl sitting next to Lauren, as well. Mark Debrauwere, Lauren’s father said, “It was almost like he went down a line.”

Lauren didn’t know the shooter and she never had a chance to run. She lay crumpled on the ground, talking to the fatally wounded Parmenter before losing consciousness. When rushed to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, doctors discovered that one bullet had exited her buttocks; the other bullet had traveled up her body and lodged above her left breast, narrowly missing her heart.

Lauren was conscious when she was transferred to the hospital. She kept saying, “My stomach hurts. Please make it stop.” Then she would ask about Daniel. Doctors and family lied to her about Daniel, for a while. “She knew what had happened. She kept asking us about Dan, and we lied to her for a while, but she knew (he’d been killed). She saw it. She definitely had seen what happened,” said Lauren’s father Dan.

Lauren was airlifted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. In time, she is expected to make a full physical recovery. The psychological effects will be harder to assess. She won’t be able to be present at Dan Parmenter’s funeral today, to see the Pi Kappa Alpha floral tribute near his coffin, with a tag reading, “We will all remember your son Dan as a wonderful person.” The photos of Parmenter as a child, Boy Scout and young man, skiing and playing volleyball, sit near his coffin, but Lauren won’t be able to be there to view them for herself, to seek closure on the tragedy of her near-death experience and the loss of the boy she cared for deeply.

Mourners snaked around the side of the Hursen funeral home in Hillsen on Monday afternoon, dozens and dozens of sad people, waiting in near-zero temperatures, some clutching flowers and cards, all waiting to pay their respects. Family friend George Sefer of Elmhurst (IL) said, “Dan was a quiet young man. Very nice and very determined.”

Meanwhile, in Cicero, Catalina Garcia was mourned by a huge crowd at her funeral at Our Lady of the Mount Catholic Church as “a daughter of Cicero” by attending city officials, while her grieving family buried her. The youngest of four children in a family that migrated to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, Catalina was studying to become a teacher.

A mariachi band played hymns during the Spanish mass. Photographs around her coffin spelled out her nickname, “Cati.” The photos flanked Catalina’s body, dressed in a pink ballgown-style dress and wearing a jeweled tiara, lying inside a pale pink casket. Mourners wore pink ribbons and ties and hair bands in honor of Catarina. Pink was Cati’s favorite color.

Those shot but still hospitalized, like Lauren DeBrauwere, try to recover from the devastating psychological effect of routinely going off to the geology class lecture hall with 120 other students (160 were enrolled in the geology lecture class, but only 120 were present) on a normal class day, but emerging from that class on a stretcher, boyfriends and classmates killed in front of their eyes. One female member from the Quad Cities described her panic as she ran for her life, thinking, “I’m dead! I’m dead! I’m dead! Now, if I run, he’s going to shoot me. I’m dead! I’m dead!” To run or to play dead was not an option if you were wounded as quickly and as badly as Lauren DeBrauwere. And, too, she was concerned for her boyfriend, Dan, who lay next to her, fatally wounded.

In DeKalb, Samantha Dehner, a DeKalb native who was shot twice during the attack, was released from Kishwaukee Community Hospital. Dehner, 20, had a 2-hour surgery on Friday to repair a shattered bone in her arm. She was too overcome with emotion to speak at a Monday news conference with her doctors. Samantha began to cry, and was removed from the room. Doctors are unsure whether Dehner will ever regain the full use of her right arm and elbow. Samantha Dehner had been friends since fourth grade with Gayle Dubowski, who was also killed in the attack, and she was close friends with another of the wounded students.

Her father, Robert Dehner, said, “She’s a tough kid. She’ll make it. She said to me, ‘You know, Dad. I was shot. I think I deserve a car.'” Then he choked up, detailing what will happen next. In the fall, Dehner will return to campus and move into her sorority house, Sigma Kappa. Her father was visibly upset when he added, “We do consider ourselves lucky that we’re able to take our daughter home.”

More Bizarre Details Emerge on Northern Illinois Shooter

By Connie Wilson

On February 18, 2008

In News

More Bizarre Details Emerge Concerning Northern Illinois University Shooter

As time passes, following the modern-day St. Valentine’s Day massacre at Northern Illinois University, several bizarre bits of information have emerged regarding 27-year old assailant Steven Kazmierczak.

While the shooter’s 28-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Baty, gave CNN an exclusive look at Steven’s farewell note to her, she echoed his ex-nurse (Laura’s) comments that Steven was just a sweetheart of a guy. Ms. Baty recalled a midnight phone conversation the night before the shootings in which her boyfriend of 2 years said, “Don’t forget me. Goodbye, Jessica.” This did not strike Ms. Baty as unusual, apparently.

Kazmierczak then mailed to Ms. Baty, among other items, a package containing 2 textbooks, a new cell phone, and a gun holster with ammunition. [Right. Sounds very normal to me.]

So did Steven’s light reading: Friedrich Nietzche’s “The Anti-Christ” and “The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.” Ironically, Steven and his girlfriend were enrolled in law enforcement classes. Steven is further described as having had a fascination with prisons and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Jessica tells us that “Steven quit taking his medication 3 weeks ago because it made him feel like a zombie.”

Last, but not least, there is a MySpace photograph of the heavily-tattooed Kazmierczak, with a skull with a dagger on his left arm and, on his right arm and one of the characters from the gory movie, “Saw.” (The source said “The Saw”, but the movies were named “Saw,” “Saw I” and “Saw II.”)

The worst thing about Steven Kazmierczak’s mental state is that innocent students like 20-year-old Daniel Pamenter of Westchester were gunned down randomly, in cold blood, for no reason other than that Steven Kazmierczak didn’t like taking his medication. A new word stronger than “tragedy” needs to be created to thoroughly encompass events like this that represent a complete and total waste of valuable life, even though, in violent movies like the “Saw” series (and violent video games) the respect for life and the understanding that it is fragile and precious sometimes seem to be lost amidst senseless carnage.

“Sixty Minutes” Medical Whistle-blower: the Ralph Nader of Medicine

By Connie Wilson

On February 18, 2008

In Health/Medicine

In a particularly horrifying installment of the popular CBS program “Sixty Minutes” which aired on Sunday, February 17^th (directed by Solly Granatstein), the drug Trasylol 1.10, manufactured by Bayer, was exposed as a lethal cocktail for those undergoing heart surgery. The drug was prescribed for patients undergoing heart surgery, but the problem was that the drug also caused renal failure, often leading to the patient’s death.

This unfortunate side effect of the drug was noted by a Cologne doctor named Juergen Fischer, who notified Bayer, but says, onscreen, “I felt that Bayer wasn’t interested in exploring it.”

The drug was used for 14 years and was approved by the FDA in 1993 for use in cardiac transplant surgery, to stop bleeding. In 1998, Trasylol’s use was extended by the FDA to include approval for all heart surgery. However, in the CBS piece, it was revealed that FDA “approval” did not necessarily mean that the drug was safe, which, indeed, it was not. Bayer never paid to have any extensive testing of the drug done and the FDA “approval” meant only “It’s certifying that it doesn’t appear to be unsafe.”

How wrong Bayer was! The drug was used on 4 and ½ million patients over its 14 year run, one-third of those patients were Americans. Many of them died. What made their deaths even more difficult to understand and/or accept was that the FDA was warned, not once, but at least two times. Bayer and the FDA certainly dropped the ball on protecting the public, and they dropped it Big Time.

Dr. Daniel T. Mangano, who runs a non-profit agency to test drugs and make sure that they are, indeed, safe for public consumption, wrote an article that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1995 that had, as its base of study, 5,065 patients in 17 countries. The study showed that patients who were given Trasylol during surgery were at “an elevated risk of death and acute renal or kidney failure.” Independent physicians backed this up a second and a third study.

One of those physicians, who concurred with Dr. Mangano, was (Dr.) Nicholas Kukuchas, of Missouri Baptist Medical Center, who started a study in 1992 on 20 heart patients. Of the 20 patients in his small study, 65% or 13 of 20 had problems after being given Trasylol, so the study was discontinued “because the patients were dying.”

Enter Dr. Alexander Walker of Harvard, who conducted a study at Bayer’s request, which looked at the medical records of 70,000 patients given the drug and concurred that it was dangerous. It was especially irresponsible to use Trasylol 1.01 when 2 other less-expensive drugs, Cycklikapron and/or Aminocaproic acid could perform the same task (i.e., stop bleeding in cardiac surgery patients) at a cost of about $50 per shot, versus $1000 for the Trasylol 1.01, which might well cause a fatal failure of the patient’s kidneys as a side-effect to stopping the bleeding.

Witness the story of Joe Randoni, heartbreakingly portrayed onscreen. Joe was a healthy 52-year-old husband and father who went into the hospital to have a congenital heart murmur fixed by having heart valve surgery. Prior to undergoing the operation, his wife Josephine and daughter Marissa were told that the surgery had only a “5% post operative risk.” For four hours during his surgery, he was given the drug Trasylol 1.01 intravenously.

As a result of the operation, , Joe Randoni’s kidneys failed. He endured 19 operations in a period of 8 months. His gall bladder had to be removed. He was so bloated that his eyes had to be sewn shut to prevent cornea damage. Both legs had to be amputated due to poor circulation. Ten days after Joe Randoni’s surgery, the article about the dangers of Trasylol 1.01 written by Dr. Mangoni appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine entitled “The Risk Associated with Aprotinin in Cardiac Surgery.” But Dr. Mangano’s whistle-blowing article came too late to save the life of Joe Randoni.

Joe’s life was not as important as the $300 million in sales in 2005 that Bayer realized from Trasylol 1.01, nor the $750 million they projected they would make in 2006. Still, despite the deaths of trusting individuals like Joe Randoni, the company kept quiet about the perils of using Trasylol 1.01. 2006. In 2006, when high-ranking Bayer officials appeared before the FDA, they never mentioned the ongoing study with Dr. Alexander Walker of Harvard, which supported Dr. Mangano’s warnings.

Dr. Mangano wanted the FDA committee to review the data and take Trasylol off the market. For one thing, unbelievably, Bayer withheld the information that a second study (Dr. Walker’s) was backing up all of Dr. Mangano’s warnings. So another 2 years dragged by, 2 years in which approximately 1,000 lives a month were lost because doctors were using Trasylol 1.01 in their operating rooms, thinking it was ‘safe” when it wasn’t.

On September 13, 2006, Dr. Walker of Harvard told Bayer of his corroboration of Dr. Mangano’s studies, but the FDA chose to withhold that information from the FDA and, as a result, 431,000 additional patients were treated with the lethal drug during cardiac surgery and 1,000 a month died during this 2-year foot-dragging period. When Dr. William R. Hiatt, a high-ranking FDA review doctor was asked how that made him feel, he finally admitted that not telling the FDA was irresponsible and immoral. “I thought it was truly inappropriate,” he said, in the mildest terms possible.

Dr. Mangano kept blowing the whistle until, finally, Canada also conducted a study, which caused both Canada and Germany to ban the use of the drug. To me, Dr. Mangano emerges as the Ralph Nader of cardiac surgery medicine. Just as Ralph Nader warned us that a car was “unsafe at any speed,” Dr. Mangano warned physicians world-wide that use of Trasylol 1.01 was “unsafe for any cause.”

Here is Dr. Mandano’s parting comment: “Good medicine demands that you protect the patient. That’s at issue here. (You protect the patient), and not the drug, and not the profit margin.”

Thank you, Dr. Mangano.

Northern Illinois Students Describe the Horror of Shootings on Campus

By Connie Wilson

On February 17, 2008

In News

NIU Northern Illinois Students Detail Horror of Shootings on Campus

I was online with my young friend Phil, the person helping me to learn the ins-and-outs of making a blog, when he instant messaged me that his friend from East Moline, Illinois (our mutual home town) had just bolted from a classroom in Cole Hall on campus at Northern Illinois University, running for his life.

DeKalb, Illinois, where Northern Illinois University is located, is about an hour and a half drive to the east on Interstate 80. Many students from the Quad Cities attend NIU. I have taken workshops at WIU and my husband graduated from Northern Illinois University, a campus of about 25,000 students, many of them commuters from the Chicago area or nearby towns.

The friend told Phil that his girlfriend was still inside the lecture hall at Cole Hall, in a geology class. She had been sitting right next to a student who was shot in the neck by the black-clad gunman, who entered Cole Hall at approximately 3 p.m. (CDT) in this DeKalb, Illinois college town. The gunman was armed with a shotgun and 2 pistols and, within 2 minutes or so, used that shotgun and those 2 pistols to shoot 22 students, five, including himself for a total of 6, fatally.

Said students Desiree Smith and Geoff Alberti, “I saw four people down on the ground. We were all crawling toward the exits in the back of the room on our stomachs.” Desiree added that she saw the gunman shoot their instructor onstage “in the arm.” (The instructor was expected to recover, as 6 remain hospitalized four days later.)

Jim Donohue, who sustained about 20 buckshot wounds to his shoulder and the back of his head in the attack, said, “The gunman came out of the emergency exit on the right-hand side of the stage. My girl and I ran outside together. I consider myself fortunate. I feel horrible for others who weren’t so fortunate. My dad and I had actually talked about what to do if something like this happened, after there were threats I December (2007), and my dad said, “Don’t think. Just run.”

Another eyewitness in the room, George Gaynor, who said he was 30 rows back, taking notes in the geology class when the gunman opened fire on the front rows, said that the gunman was very thin, white and was wearing blue jeans, a gray sweatshirt and a white knit cap, which differed from the versions of most others, who described the gunman as “black clad.” Gaynor added, “There was a lot of screaming and confusion. The gunman didn’t say a word. He just pointed his gun and opened fire. He seemed very intent. As we ran, we were all saying, “Is this for real?’ It was surreal. He looked like a typical college student. He could have been anybody.”

Northern Illinois University President John Peters announced later in the day that six people were dead, 4 females and 2 males, including the gunman, who killed himself at the scene. Hospitals treating the wounded announced on the 6:00 p.m. news (CDT) that another 6 students were in critical condition, many with head wounds. One female student had a bullet lodged near her heart. It was reported that the gunman had been a Sociology graduate student at NIU in the spring of last year, but was not currently enrolled, and had no history of being in trouble at the university. Don Grady, the DeKalb Police Chief, reported that the entire shooting was over in minutes.

Local residents Brett Nowack of East Moline and a Moline girl named Armenid described a scrawled message found on a restroom wall in December, threatening an attack like that at Virginia Tech would take place at NIU. After that threatening message was reported to authorities in December of 2007, some adjustments in security were made on campus. Still, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to stop a psychotic gunman from carrying out a lethal attack of this sort, as we know all too well after Virginia Tech.

Phil’s friend on the scene said that the gunman was not wearing a mask, although the student had heard reports saying that he was.

Later follow-ups on the gunman’s identity report that the shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, stayed at a Travelodge near campus in Room 105 for three days prior to the rampage, and numerous empty drinks, and consumed bottles of cold medicine were discovered there. He had purchased all 4 guns legally, near Champaign where he was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, but, more tellingly, he had been an outpatient in a mental health facility in Chicago 8 years ago. He was discharged from the Army 9 years ago and was, in all likelihood (judging from symptoms described by his former nurse) bi-polar, but not taking his medication. The woman, “Louise,” who worked at the outpatient resident treatment facility when Steven was a patient there said that Steven had a history of cutting himself. ‘There were only problems when he didn’t take his medication. He didn’t want to be classified as someone with a mental health issue, so he would sometimes not take his medication.”

As of Sunday, February 17, six NIU victims remain hospitalized. Maria Ruiz Santana remained in serious condition at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Sherman Yau, 20, was listed in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the chest at the same hospital. Two other victims were listed in serious condition at hospitals in Rockford and Chicago: a 20-year-old woman who underwent surgery on her armn Friday at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, remained in fair condition on Sunday, February 17^th. A 19-year-old woman was in fair condition at the University of Illinois-Chicago Medical Center after being transferred from Good Samaritan on Saturday morning.

Hordes of angry parents, including John Roszkowski and Jennifer Bishop were featured on the Channel 2 news in Chicago sayingm, “This is craziness. We, as parents, have to take action.” They were pushing for more stringent amendments to and enforcement of what is known as the Brady Bill, an anti-gun bill that came into effect after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. Also, an e-mail threat of similar violence against the University of Chicago campus, made by a 24-year-old, had that campus worried and anxious in the wake of the tragedy in DeKalb, Illinois. Said freshman student Drew Stephenson at the University of Chicago, “I did feel a bit apprehensive, coming on the heels of the Northern Illinois University shooting.”