Esther Heller tells me she used to be a dancer. She says she won competitions in Paris and Athens and even Kamchatka (although she no longer is certain where that is.) She used to teach dancing in Denver. Waltzes and Polkas and Fox Trots. She did it for free so people could learn to move their feet. But now Esther’s feet have betrayed her. Until a couple weeks ago, 90 year old Esther lived in her own apartment, overlooking the college where she also taught French for many years. Over the past years she hardly went out but she led the life she chose. Then she fell and broke her arm.
Now Esther, who says she visited 200 countries and speaks 12 languages, lives in a assisted living world called Shalom Park. She lies in bed and politely refuses to eat. She likes Ginger Ale so she drinks a bit. Each day she grows weaker and each day dementia takes more of the memories that have sustained her for a lifetime. The memories of Poland and the family she lost in the Holocaust and how she didn’t go to school and how she was put to work at 13 and somehow out of sheer will she managed to go to college and eventually become a teacher at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School.
I come in to visit her but she doesn’t remember who I am anymore or that I am the one who brought her the orange tulips. She wants to know what day it is, what time it is, and why so many people keep coming into her room. I show her pictures of places she has seen in Israel, Rome, Istanbul and Prague. She looks at the Coliseum and the Western Wall in Jerusalem and says “I can’t place it.” Now and then memories flicker by and she smiles sadly. But she remembers she used to be a dancer and how she won competitions and taught people how to move. From where I sit, in the chair across from her bed, Esther seems to be choreographing her last dance. She has chosen not to follow. She will do it her way. She will lead as she dances out of the world.
NOTE: Esther Heller died peacefully in her sleep on December 3, 2009. I was blessed to know her and am grateful that I had the opportunity to hear her stories.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
Abigail Van Buren who wrote the syndicated Dear Abby column for many years introduced me to the Thanksgiving prayer we say at our table. I love its simplicity and reminder that we need to keep in mind those less fortunate than we are as we count our myriad of blessings. This year, in our troubled world, let’s also be grateful to those who are different from us in nationality, religion and preferences, and realize that there is strength in our diversity, value in each person whether rich or impoverished, and opportunity for peace and understanding. And let us all say, Amen.
Oh, heavenly Father,
We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
Many of you have come to this blog to watch the story about Juliette and read about her brutal acid attack in Kampala, Uganda (http://vimeo.com/5703299.) I had always considered the violence against Juliette and other women like her as personal. Jealous men destroy the lives of women who threaten them in some way. Nicholos Kristof of the New York Times writes widely on this subject as he moves about the developing world. In the following blog, Jim Verhulst of the St. Petersburg Times, argues that terrorism like this needs to be considered in the larger political framework, especially as President Obama ponders what to do in Afghanistan where attacks like this happen frequently. Can we realistically bring change to a country where it is entrenched that there is less value to a life that is poor and female. Nicholas, Jim and I are among those who are trying to give a voice to women who are victims of this kind of atrocity. So is Emilio Morenatti of the Associated Press. He took the photos you are about to see and these portraits of damage and despair are shocking. How can men do this to women and what can we as a compassionate world do? We must honor the beauty and spirit of these women, and women like Juliette, by stopping this carnage once and for all. The choices we make as we contemplate our missions abroad must also keep this in mind.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/photo/2009/11/terrorism-thats-personal.html
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
Daniel Suelo and his cave outside Moab, Utah
Daniel Suelo believes he has found the key to happiness. Live without possessions or money. His spartan life in Moab, Utah fills his soul and he doesn’t even think of returning to the life most of us lead. “We use all our energy to maintain our possessions and it becomes an ugly cycle,” he says. So he lives in a cave, gets his possessions from dumpsters and doesn’t look to money to bring him contentment. Could you do this?
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13843274
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
Wonderful story from CBS News about entrepreneurship along the Silk Road in China. Chinese policy towards America may not be changing much but its people embrace our capitalism and long to compete with us. The Silk Road is open for business!
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5701582n
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
I got a call from a lawyer the other day. “How are you?” I said. “Better than you will be,” she replied. Turns out she was calling on behalf of Ode Magazine to tell me they could not afford to pay their bills and I would not be getting compensated for my contribution to their magazine. They wanted to be up front with me and with everyone else who was beating down their doors to get paid for their work. I wrote an article on touring Brazil’s favelas for their spring travel issue. It was the first time I’d written an article for a magazine and I was very proud. They asked for 1500 words and said they’d pay fifty cents a word. The story ended up being 900 words but they’d pay me $750 anyway. They warned me it would take a long time to get paid. Eight months later I was starting to feel my story would not have a happy ending.
I’d like to say I’m angry or even disappointed by Ode’s failure to follow through but more than anything I’m sad. This was a really good publication and the editors had wonderful intentions to create a smart magazine for “intelligent optimists.” They were responsive and seemed to work very hard from their offices in the Bay Area and the Netherlands. But the economy is killing Ode Magazine just as it’s ushering in the demise of so many publications. Ode can’t even afford to file for Chapter 11 so it can reorganize. Short of a funding miracle, Ode Magazine will most likely die a quiet death. The magazine is trying to raise $50,000 in the next ten days to stay afloat.
By the end of the year we’ll have written the obituaries of Metropolitan Home, Fortune Small Business, and Conde Nast’s Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Other magazines bit the dust before them. They were victims of a declining advertising market where ad sales, according to one report, were down almost 12% since 2008, while the cost of printing continues to skyrocket. Newspapers are taking it on the chin even worse than magazines as we’ve seen with the deaths of the Rocky Mountain News, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, even the Christian Science Monitor.
More established publications have been able to downsize, outsource and cut costs but it seems Ode Magazine, even with its good intentions, might not be able to outrun the bad economy. There are many others besides myself who are not getting paid for their work. For me, it is the very first time in my career. The money would have been nice but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter that much. What matters is that a really good magazine is running out of time and another voice will be silenced.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
Dave Dahl sits in the living room playing guitar and singing songs about justice and the lack of it. He was in the slammer off and on for 15 years for dealing meth and assorted other felonies. Now he is working and relishing his second chance. Four years ago, Dave Dahl returned to the family bakery in Portland, Oregon and is the face and story behind Dave’s Killer Bread which is a huge hit in the Pacific Northwest.
In Chicago a group of ex-cons are getting a second chance at a fast food restaurant called Felony Franks. They are grateful that someone gave them jobs and don’t really understand why there is a ruckus over the name. Jim Andrews who owns the hot dog stand thinks people who are threatening to shut the place down just don’t want felons in the neighborhood. The homeowners say they think the name is disrespectful, racist, and reminds people of what the West Side used to be like.
Ex-cons are not a circle of people I am usually in contact with but I was impressed by their honesty, their ambition, their desire to contribute. They want to work and be integrated into society again. These are stories of redemption and rehabilitation and as HDNet’s World Report discovered some cons are using their pasts to cash in and create a much brighter future for themselves and their families.
Cons Cashing In from Vicky Collins on Vimeo.
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.
My friend, Kate Milliken, is one of the most dynamic young women I know. She is beautiful, talented, energetic and the picture of health. At least she was until 2006 when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It was a life altering blow but also an opportunity. Recognizing there was a story in her journey she created Kate’s Counterpane which is a series of short videos that chronicle the last few years as she battled her sickness and grew from the experience. It is compelling, moving, inspiring and an ode to the people who carry us along the way and fall by the wayside when everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Ultimately it is a story of great tenacity and triumph. To me this is one of the best reality shows I’ve seen. Gritty, honest, touching. Kate’s Counterpane is really a gift to those who see it and to those facing adversity.
http://katescounterpane.com
For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com
