Avenue G

courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
What can you say about superstar Madonna, that hasn't been said already? The Material Girl has been a fixture in our musical world for nearly 3 decades now. She's gone thru so many stages, it's hard to keep track:

• Early Madonna -- Like a Virgin temptress
• Material Girl -- Making material demands, showing mastery over men
• Who's that Girl Madonna -- Blonde and independent, asking Papa not to preach
• Like A Prayer Madonna -- Cavorting with a priest, breaking more taboos
• Vogue Madonna -- Justifying her love, playing the sexpot in Dick Tracy
• Evita Madonna -- Don't cry for Madonna here, probably her best movie role ever
• Kabbalah Madonna -- Speaking with a British accent, married to Guy Richie

Madonna is now in her late 40's -- her youthful temptress days are over, but she's still a pop culture force of nature. Other divas have recently, previously passed the same age milestones -- Barbra Streisand, Cher and Dianna Ross to name a few. Interesting how perception of age has evolved. In Sunset Boulevard, Nora Desmond was washed up at age 52. In All About Eve, Margo Channing was an old gray mare at 40. Nowadays, a woman can qualify for babehood all the way to 60, if she embraces the right attitude and has a good plastic surgeon. Age is no longer a crime, just a number.

Madonna’s list of hit records is a mile long, and her influences on pop culture are, if anything, more impressive. When she came along in the early 80’s, the women’s movement and taken large strides in the work world, but there was still a rigid double standard with regards to sexual freedom. Men could act out freely; any woman doing so was a ‘slut’. Madonna helped bring about the concept of an empowered woman who could do as she pleased. Today, a woman can be both provocative and seductive (and smart) without also being designated a prostitute. Actually men (and in particular gay/bisexual men) have benefited from the same evolution of attitude. If the legacy of our lady Madonna were simplified to a single phrase it would be:

“Let people be who they are”.

Thank you, Madonna. You might not have done it single-handedly, but you helped make the world a better place.

© 2006 blogSpotter.

Labels: Music

Sheehan (left), Anti-war demonstration (right)

by blogSpotter
Cindy Sheehan is the grieving mother of Casey Sheehan, a young man who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. The 48 year old woman has gained a following (or notoriety depending on viewpoint) for her stand against the Iraq War and for putting President Bush in an awkward spot -- insisting on a personal visit outside his Crawford Texas ranch. For people given to logic, but not emotion there are two very simple things to point out:

• Casey joined the U.S. Army of his on free will, in 2000. A parent of a Viet Nam draft casualty might have a stronger argument than Sheehan -- that a peace-loving son was taken at the hands of a war-mongering state. Also, Cindy had voiced quiet doubts about the Iraq War prior to her son's death, but didn't become a strident activist until afterward. One might conjecture inconsistency due entirely to her own personal experience.

• Bush did meet with Sheehan and other deceased soldiers' parents in June 2004, at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. She expressed some reticence then about how the war was handled -- but she thought Bush was sincere in his motives and that he had given her a reason "to be happy". A month later, a certain remorsefulness and anger had set in -- she criticized the meeting with Bush and described him as "detached". Again, observers following a path of pure logic excluding all emotion might find an inconsistency here.

Sheehan took America by storm following these events. Most notably, she staged a sit-in in Crawford Texas seeking a meeting with the President. In what was a regrettable public relations move for Bush, he ignored her. I can only imagine how Clinton would have turned such a lemon situation into lemonade -- grand-standing before the cameras and showing bitter grief. (I’ve always felt that politics is three parts acting and one part policy -- Reagan and Clinton knew all too well). Bush ignored her, and her public juggernaut gained momentum. In months since, Sheehan has met with BBC, the President of Venezuela, and a multitude of celebrities. Her last, recent publicized event was a hunger strike with a woman's antiwar group called CodePink.

In spite of my ‘criticisms’ above, I actually empathize greatly with Sheehan. I supported the Iraq War at the outset, and now regret that stance. Cannot, did not imagine the incompetence that would prevail on the part of senior officials executing the war. I think that losing a son would be like losing an internal organ with no anesthesia. It would bring to bear all my thoughts about how wrong the war is -- instead of whispering my doubts, I would shout my agony. Cindy Sheehan is every Mother with a heart. There is a hawkish twist to my dovish sentiments. I think we invaded Iraq with far too few troops. If Iraq had been properly occupied, there would be law, order and way fewer casualties of Iraqis or Americans. We are in the despicable middle -- too few troops to stanch the anarchic violence and too many to avoid roadside bombings.

But I digress. To the grieving Peace Mom, I give my hope and support. Her son Casey will live every day in her heart, and his death will haunt anyone who knew and loved him. There are no "good" wars -- one or both sides are always in the wrong. But does your son need to die for Rumsfeld's experimentation in 'light manpower'? Does your son need to die for an ill-conceived colonial war? Cindy Sheehan's grieving opens the door to that much needed discussion.

© 2006 blogSpotter.

Labels: Politics