Tonight may be the true full moon, but it was gloriously beautiful last night, clear and bright, seeming somehow magnified by the cold air. It woke me before dawn this morning, shining in my window, feeling just as I felt when I fell asleep, deeply moved by the end of last night's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which left me crying like a baby, and waking with the haunting strains of "O, Holy Night" wafting through my head as my morning's sound track (hat tip to JayWard for the term). The show ended with that amazing song, artfully woven into the story, being magnificently performed by a group of New Orleans jazz musicians: Troy Andrews on Trumpet, Kirk Joseph on Sousaphone, Roderick Paulin on Saxophone, Frederick Shepard on Saxophone, Stephen Walker on Trombone, Mervin "Kid Merv" Campbell on Trumpet and Bob French on Drums. It was unflippinbelievable, perhaps the most beautiful rendition of this, my favorite Christmas song, that I have ever heard (with the possible exception of the vivid memory of Daddy's eggnog-fueled Christmas Eve version). I would love to find it available for download, but haven't. You can watch the episode at the show's website and they provide a link to the Tipitina's Foundation, from which the featured musicians benefit.
For those of you who might have inadvertently missed a day of checking in over at Adrastos' blog (a daily must-read for me, the followers of which will hereinafter be known as Adrastosians), you mustn't miss this post. In the season of looking for ways to somehow give something back, this is a situation in which it becomes possible for us to, with even modest donation, make a real difference. Heck, I can't say it any better than he said it, so (for those of you who might be link challenged, if even for just a moment):
As the holiday season approaches, a wonderful opportunity has been given to us to help students in New Orleans recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Pharmacology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans is organizing a fundraiser for Laurel Elementary School, a local neighborhood school that was severely impacted by the hurricane. The school was heavily damaged and was looted. Most of the students, who were already living well under the poverty level before their hurricane, lost their homes and meager possessions. As their families are struggling to find affordable housing post-Katrina, what little money they do have is used for food and rent. Most of these children will not receive gifts for Christmas.
Here's how you can help. Each child (526) will receive an age-appropriate gift. For PK-3 we'll get dolls, games, trucks/cars and balls. For Grades 4-8, the students will receive a $15 gift certificate. The school office is in need of a typewriter and a dorm size refrigerator. To achieve this ambitious goal, we will need to collect about $8000.
The teachers need copy paper, pens, pencils, paper towels and other school supplies. They need reading books and dictionaries for the classroom. All TV/DVDs used for classroom instruction were stolen and need to be replaced.
Gift and monetary donations must be received by December 18th. Cash can be given. Checks towards the purchase of gift cards or gifts should be made out to "Pamela Lucchesi" with "Laurel Elementary School" on the memo line. If you wish to donate money for school supplies, the check can be made out to "Laurel Elementary School" with LSUHSC on the memo line.
Dr Lucchesi also has a paypal account set-up. Go to paypal.com. Choose send money and type in her e mail address (plucche@excite.com)
Dr Lucchesi is keeping a record of all donations, expenditures and receipts
Gifts can be sent to the address below and will be delivered on December 20th.
Pamela Lucchesi, PhD
Department of Pharmacology
LSU Health Sciences
1901 Perdido St. MEB-701
New Orleans, LA 70112
Finally, while we're not hearing much about it on the national news (yet), there was another tragic police shooting of a suspect last Friday evening. This time it happened in Wilmington, North Carolina, when an unarmed eighteen-year-old Cape Fear Community College student, the only son of a Raleigh attorney, and his German Shepard, Blaze, were gunned down at his college home in Wilmington, North Carolina. His roommate, a UNCW student who was also named in the warrant the UNCW police had brought the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department Emergency Response Team in to serve, was not harmed, beyond watching his friend being shot in the head and chest. I first saw the story yesterday at CNN.com but have since been following it in the Wilmington Star. Now, I'm not saying these boys were perfect innocents. The officials had good reason to believe they had committed a violent crime on the UNCW campus, but young people make mistakes and we have a constitution and a judicial system in place through which those who commit crimes experience the consequences thereof, and then they get the chance to choose a different, better, path. It happens all the time, and my father and my husband fought on foreign soil to protect that constitution and that system, with all the rights it implies, so that our children could live in a country where the police don't burst into houses shooting and killing unarmed people and their pets. This is terrible, and my heart goes out to every one involved, including the family and friends of all the suspects and the officers, and, perhaps especially, the original victim, who now has lost forever his chance to get a fair due process resolution to his ordeal, and is instead doomed to a media circus and a whole new layer of complex conflicting emotions. It's hard for parents to send their children off to college, let them go and launch them to live away from our watchful eyes in a new community. It is our nature to want to protect our young people, knowing full well that sometimes that means we need to protect them from themselves. These events took place on the campus and in the town to which I sent The Oldest, a school and a city that we dearly love. Everyone loses, not just the individuals, but the university and the City of Wilmington. It just all seems so senseless and so very, very sad.
Fall on your knees, O, hear the Angels' voices...
Peace, out, ya'll.
UPDATE/EDIT: There is more updated information in the comments section of this post, but according to the pathologist's report, "some of the bullets went through intervening targets, probably the door." (Star-News) Why isn't this a big national story?
And John-Ward Leighton completely rocks! He has packed and is shipping a box of Izzy Dolls to Dr. Lucchesi for the LSU Health Sciences effort!
No comments:
Post a Comment