Current Affairs

There was a big feature in today’s Los Angeles Times Calender section about Walter Mosley —  his Easy Rawlins mystery LITTLE SCARLET has been chosen as the first book in  LA’s ambitious "One Book, One City"  program.

For the entire month of April, Angelenos will be encouraged to read the "Little
Scarlet" book, stepping into Easy Rawlins’ shoes, which will take them back to
1965 Los Angeles to sort through the debris of the Watts riots.

All
manner of city-sponsored events are scheduled — from library discussions and
drop-in signings to a town meeting session and a bus tour of Easy Rawlins’ L.A.
The roster is so extensive (even Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton
wants to meet with him) that Mosley, who now makes his home in New York, will be
moving into an apartment in town for a sizable portion of the month so he can
participate.

Out of ALL the books written about LA by Los Angelenos, they chose a mystery novel (and a fine one at that) as a reflection of our city. You’d think this would send a strong message to Steve Wasserman, editor of the LA Times Book Review, about how important mystery novels are to LA readers and how, in many ways, they are an integral part of the our local literary  culture and heritage. 

You wouldn’t know from reading the LA Times Book Review, of course, where mysteries and thrillers are given scant attention at best…grudgingly.  A local newspaper is supposed to reflect the interests, culture, and issues of the community it serves…as well as inform, entertain, and provoke.  The numbingly dull Book Review is written for some mythical populace of transplanted East Coast snobs who believe the books on LA Times bestseller list (which is regularly dominated by mysteries and thrillers) reflect the reading tastes of illiterate  heathens who need to be educated.

I’m pleased that "One Book, One City" has inaugerated their program by not only choosing to honor a mystery writer… but the latest book in a long-running series. 

Every day there’s a new, sickening revelation in the Michael Jackson case…not about the singer, but about the repugnant parents and guardians of the boys he’s alleged to have sexually abused.  It’s not like the parentsy didn’t know what was going on… in fact, it appears from their testimony that they gladly traded their children for money, jewelry, trips and the opportunity to be near a celebrity. Take the testimony recounted in today’s LA Times story for example. Here are some excerpts:

The mother of a 13-year-old boy who accused Michael Jackson of molesting him in
1993 described how a sobbing and trembling Jackson talked her into allowing her
son to share his bed dozens of times, at home and on vacations to Monaco,
Florida, Las Vegas and New York.

The mother said she refused to let her son sleep with Jackson during earlier
visits to the singer’s Neverland ranch, but permitted him to stay in Jackson’s
room that night. The next day, Jackson took the family to a show and gave the
mother a Cartier bracelet, she said.

For the next several months, Jackson
and the boy were frequent companions, the mother said. The pop star traveled to
the family’s Santa Monica home and slept with the boy about 30 times, she said.
He would leave when the boy went to school and return after school, she said.
She also said she let him sleep with Jackson during unaccompanied visits to
Neverland in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Jackson also continued to shower the
mother with gifts, she said, including more jewelry and a $7,000 gift
certificate to the Fred Segal boutique. He also gave her his credit card to use
on shopping trips, she said.

On Monday, the mother testified that she initially didn’t think there was
anything wrong with her son sleeping with Jackson. She ended up losing custody
of the boy and has not spoken to him in 11 years, she said.

Santa Barbara
County Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon asked whether she regretted the decision she made
to let her son start sleeping with Jackson. The woman blinked several times,
appearing to fight back tears, before answering: "Very much so."

And she wonders why her son hasn’t talked to her in 11 years… gee, could it be because she pimped him out to an alleged child molester in return for a credit card? What does she miss more, her son or the trips to Monaco?

If Jackson is found guilty, the prosecutors should go after the greedy, disgusting parents of his victim’s…

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a new generation of hearing-impaired children are getting cochlear implants, which offers them the opportunity to hear and speak almost as naturally as people
without hearing problems. As a result, many schools for the deaf are adding seperate programs for children with the implants to teach them how to hear and speak English rather than teaching them  sign-language.

Supporters of the venerable culture built up by deaf people believe deaf chilren should get a strong grounding in American Sign Language so they can participate fully in the culture when they grow up…
…they don’t see themselves as handicapped and view implants as an attempt to fix something that isn’t broken. They especially oppose hearing parents deciding to get implants for their deaf children, believing
kids should make the decision themselves when they get older. Research shows, however, that implants work best when given to very young children, who develop language more quickly than adults.

According to the article, some in the deaf community don’t see themselves as disabled…but as an ethnic group with a unique culture and language that should be celebrated and preserved.  Cochler implants are a threat to their way of life.  The Lompoc Record reports:

Some deaf individuals
feel that technology such as cochlear implants reinforces the belief that
deafness is merely a pathology to be cured, rather than a rich culture to be
celebrated and embraced.

This just goes against common sense. Deafness is not a way of life. It’s a significant disability. Sign language is something that was created to work around the problem.
The outrage against cochler implants, and against schools  for the deaf creating separate classes geared to children who have them, strikes me as absolute insanity. I can’t believe they want to deny children the
opportunity to hear, to more easily function in the world, simply to preserve sign language…and the illusion that being deaf is like being African-America or Italian.
The deaf community should be pleased that there are finally medical advances that will allow deaf children to more easily function in the world…and that someday the technology could improve even more, someday making sign language (and the need for it) obsolete.

But some members of the deaf community aren’t the only ones with disabilities who are letting their justifiable need to promote a positive self-image cloud their common sense.
Pride is a positive thing…unless you let it blind you to reality. Some wheel-chair bound people (for lack of a better term) are outraged that "Ms Wheelchair America" was photographed standing up.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports:

Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has been stripped of her title because pageant
officials say she can stand – and point to a newspaper picture as proof. Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, was snapped by the
Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her high school math students.

"I’ve been made to feel as if I can’t represent the disabled citizens of
Wisconsin because I’m not disabled enough," Lee said.

ABC News further reported:

The announcement of the new winner Tuesday came amid a storm of protest over
pageant officials’ decision last week to take the crown away from Janeal Lee, a
high school teacher and muscular dystrophy sufferer who uses a scooter as her
main way to get around but says she can walk up to 50 feet on a good day and
stand while teaching.

During the furor, the runner-up refused to accept the crown out of protest.
Lee’s sister, who also has muscular dystrophy and was named Ms. Wheelchair
Minnesota, dropped out of the competition in that state. And the coordinator for
the organization’s Minnesota program stepped down from her job to "stand up for
Janeal Lee."

"I no longer feel comfortable supporting an organization that instead of
working towards creating a positive change, chooses to perpetuate stereotypes
and requests its participants to hide their abilities while in public," said the
sister, 26-year-old Sharon Spring of Rochester, Minn.

The organization said candidates for the crown have to "mostly be seen in the
public using their wheelchairs or scooters."

So every time she’s in public she must be in a wheelchair or scooter? She’s supposed to hide the fact she can occasionally stand? My God, what stupidity.

There’s no doubt this woman has muscular dystrophy… or that she needs to use a wheelchair.  She hasn’t perpetuated a fraud. She stood up. Instead of castigating her, they should be applauding.  They should be thrilled that she’s able to stand…but they undoubtably see it as an attack on their way of life, their ethnicity, if a wheelchair-bound woman takes a few steps. Would they also rail against a surgery that would allow more muscular dystrophy sufferers to stand and take steps as a threat to their way of life? 

To chastise a wheel-chair bound woman for using her full range-of-motion, or parents for giving their deaf children the ability to hear, is simply wrong.