I had a hunch as soon as I sat down by Scott on the flight to Anchorage that he was on his way to the funeral of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. He was in a suit with a Lockheed Martin pin and was busily cranking away on his Blackberry. Once we were airborne we started to talk and he regaled me with stories of his … Continue reading Remembering Uncle Ted
I received a call this afternoon from a young man named Thomas Kramer from Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. I could tell that he was very young. In a most tentative voice he said “Is this Ms. Collins?” I answered yes in the skeptical voice I use for phone solicitors. Then he told me the most amazing story. Turns out he is just 14 and was in Uganda … Continue reading Fallout from a Bombing
I finally got to the Gulf coast to work on a story about the oil spill for the PBS Newshour. I didn’t see any oil but what I saw was a a boat load of fear. Correspondent Tom Bearden and I visited Bayou La Batre, Alabama to attend a town hall meeting with Ken Feinberg, the Massachusetts lawyer who must decide how to allocate BP’s … Continue reading Oil Spill: The Ripple Effect
I had hardly stopped fist pumping in the air over Spain’s victory in the World Cup when I heard the news about the simultaneous bombings in Kampala, Uganda. What caught my eye immediately, besides the death toll in the senseless attack, was that one of the locations of carnage was the Ethiopian Village restaurant in Kabalagala. When we were in Uganda in June we stayed … Continue reading Kampala World Cup Massacre
Ndagire Sarah walked the red dirt carpet in her perky hairdo and a beautiful blue and white gown. She carried herself like a rich lady in a gomesi, the formal dress of women in Uganda. When I saw her I was overcome with tears of joy. I had met Sarah in 2006 when she was so sick with HIV/AIDS that she could hardly breathe. She … Continue reading Deed for Life
Sad to see the United States go down to Ghana in the 2010 FIFA World Cup but also glad to see Africa still in the game. The energy in the streets of Kampala was amazing while we were there. People would crowd outside of bars and stare through the windows of stores to watch the tiny televisions tuned in to the games. I’m sure they’re … Continue reading We are the World (Cup)
Can animals commit suicide? Richard O’Barry, who starred in the Oscar award winning documentary “The Cove,” says they can and a dolphin named Cathy that he captured and trained for the TV show “Flipper” did just that. Outrageous? Jennifer London traveled with him to Key West, Florida to look into this controversial subject for HDNet’s World Report. She also spoke to animal behaviorists, Dr. Ann … Continue reading Animal Suicide: The Video
Just returned from a three week trip to Uganda where we did more video production for BeadforLife (http://beadforlife.org.) The highlight was seeing women who were dying of poverty just three years ago celebrate paying off homes they saved for and built themselves. In a joyous ceremony BeadforLife presented 22 women with the titles to the land they sit on. The women paraded from home to home dancing and ululating, … Continue reading Out of Africa
Richard O’Barry gets misty eyed when he talks about Cathy. His beautiful girl died in his arms. Suicide he says. Cathy was a bottlenose dolphin, one of five he trained for the 60’s television hit, “Flipper.” Her death in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium changed his world and set him on a course of activism. “I knew she was tired of suffering,” O’Barry says. “She … Continue reading Animal Suicide
Several of my friends and even my family think social networking is a waste of time. They won’t Facebook, Twitter or read blogs and can’t really understand what I get from it. I’ve found the most vehement opposition from my tango dancing mother and my friends who are cyclists. These are not ladies who exercise casually, but rather women who compete on the dance floor, do … Continue reading Favorite Friends I’ve Never Met
Vicky Collins Online 