The National Geographic Channel's #1 rated show is a reality
show centering around Cesar Millan helping owners correct problem
behavior with their dogs. Okay, that doesn't sound terribly compelling, but the
show is actually well done and worth watching, particularly if you're a dog
lover.
Cesar Millan is probably the best know
dog trainer on the planet. So a lot of folks who watch his show might be
surprised that he crossed illegally from his native Mexico in 1990 and was an illegal
alien for several years. He's now a permanent resident and on his way to
citizenship.
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The story of
Mariane Pearl is well-known. She is the
widow of Wall Street Journalist reporter Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped and
tortured by al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. Mariane
Pearl's heroic story is documented in her book "A Mighty Heart" and
the movie of the same title. Newsweek described the story:
"A Mighty Heart," starring Angelina Jolie, is based on the best-selling book by Mariane Pearl about the murder of her husband, Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, by Al Qaeda members in Karachi, Pakistan,
in early 2002. The movie details Mariane's
struggle—with the help of Journal editors, Pakistan counterterrorism experts,
FBI agents and others—to unravel the terrorist network and find Danny.
Ms. Pearl now resides in New
York raising the young child of Daniel's who was born
after his father was murdered. Interestingly, Ms. Pearl's nationality is
French, by the way, but she is of Dutch-Jewish, Afro-Latino-Cuban and
Chinese-Cuban ancestry. That kind of mix should give you a unique perspective
on the world.
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When I was in junior high school, I started to pay a lot more
attention to the news of the world. The energy crisis, the US hostage standoff in Iran, the
shooting of President Reagan, the Falklands War, they were all major news. But
the one event that had the most emotional impact was surely the murder of John
Lennon in New York
in 1980. Though I am too young to remember the Beatles before they broke up,
but that didn't stop me and many of my friends from being avid fans. I owned
all the albums and knew all the songs. In fact, shortly before Lennon
died, I had just gone out and bought Double Fantasy, his new album that was out
for just three weeks before he died. The album, by the way, had the great songs
"Woman", "Beautiful Boy" and "Just Like
Starting Over."
There's a story relating to John Lennon that I knew little about
until recently. I knew Lennon was hounded by the FBI for his anti-war
activities and that he was almost deported. I've been lucky enough to become
friends over the last few years with Lennon's immigration lawyer Leon Wildes. Leon serves on the board of the Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society and we go to a dinner every year together at the annual meeting of
the American Immigration Lawyers Association (Leon, by the way, is a former
president of AILA).
This evening I finally was able to view the excellent
documentary
The
U.S. Versus John Lennon which tells the story of the
deportation case. Much of the story focuses on Yoko as well as John and their
long battle with an INS and a White House intent on getting the couple out of
the country and out of their hair. Much of the story focuses on Leon's
brilliant defense of the couple and he is interviewed at length in the film.
The story ends when Lennon is killed by Mark David Chapman near
the entrance to the Dakota Hotel on the upper West Side in Manhattan, Yoko and John's residence. Yoko
has spent nearly three decades since the murder keeping her husband's legacy
alive including founding a museum honoring John and establishing the Strawberry
Fields memorial in Central Park.
Oko's life has been extremely interesting. She's
certainly the most controversial figure in the Beatles story with many blaming
her for the break up of the band. But it's obvious that Lennon and Ono were
very much in love until John's premature demise.
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Despite being 81, British-born actress
Angela Lansbury is still one of the hardest
working actresses in the US.
She's had multiple Academy Award nominations as well as wins at the Emmys and Tonys. My kids know her as Mrs. Potts' voice from the
animated film Beauty and the Beast
and I remember her from Sweeney Todd,
one of the great Broadway productions of the last several decades. She's also a
familiar face to most Americans for her many years starring in the CBS
television hit Murder She Wrote.
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Elie Wiesel's life began peacefully, but
as with every Jew in Europe, it was torn apart
by the terror of the Nazi Holocaust. He was deported from his native Romania to the
Auschwitz Concentration Camp, the site of more than a million murders in the
half decade of its existence. His mother, father and one of his three sisters
were murdered. After the war, Elie and his two
surviving sisters were placed in a French orphanage. For ten years, he was
unwilling to speak or write about his experience, but he was persuaded by his
friend Francois Mauriac, a Nobel Literature Prize
winner, to write about the war as a form of therapy.
Wiesel immigrated to the US in 1955 and
became a citizen within a few years. In 1958, he wrote Night, the first of 40 books. He has also
been a well known activist around the world in matters relating to genocide and
spearheaded the creation of the Smithsonian's Holocaust
Museum in Washington. He has been recognized for his
work including being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 and being granted
honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 2006. He .
His profile in the US
recently rose again when Oprah Winfrey selected Night as her book club selection instantly bringing the half
century title to the top of the bestseller list, something it did not achieve
in its initial publication. His recent visit back to Auschwitz with Oprah
Winfrey brought awareness of genocide in the world to millions of Americans and
he was provided a platform for raising awareness of genocide in Darfur, a subject that has
recently been taking up much of his attention.
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