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September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001 The magnitude of the atrocities that we watched in sheer horror on our television sets on the morning of September 11, 2001, is still growing in the grotesque count of casualties. The human tragedies are unimaginable. The pain in our hearts is unbearable.

Out of the wreckage, though, emerged uncommon courage and humanity. Firefighters, police officers, and volunteers worked under harrowing conditions to try to save the victims of the devastation. Their valor, their extraordinary sacrifices stirred our spirits. The casualties among these brave heroes compound the horror and grief.

Our revulsion, heartache, and sheer shock at the enormity of the tragedy must now turn to resolve. Those cowardly fanatics who planned, aided, and executed these acts of terror must be brought to justice. Theirs was an assault, not only on the United States and all that we stand for, but against the very values of civilized society throughout this world.

The focus of the terrorists was on the fundamental ideals of the United States. The free enterprise that was symbolized by the World Trade Center, the might of the U.S. that was symbolized by the Pentagon and the freedom and democracy that was symbolized by the Statue of Liberty clearly visible in New York harbor, were threats to those deranged but cunning fanatics. They do not know how potent a force a roused and united America can be. In a crisis, we will act -- and act with commanding vigor.

That power will be exercised with our American values intact. Attorney General John Ashcroft forcefully stated that the target is the terrorist criminals and their associates -- not Muslims, not Arabs, not Middle Easterners. Congress passed a resolution on Friday night to protect the rights of Muslims, Arab Americans and South Asian Americans. Unlike the racial hysteria that followed the Pearl Harbor bombing by Japan, when Americans of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in American concentration camps solely because of their ethnicity, the Attorney General was very clear that race, religion and background will not be the focus of this campaign. It will be the evidence of criminality. The lesson of history has been instructive this time around.

Deplorably, we still have dangerously ignorant hysterics among us in America. There have been shots fired into mosques, Arab American businesses painted with the word "Die!" and reports of a Sikh person shot and killed in Arizona. These domestic fanatics are no better than the terrorists. Their acts shame America and besmirch the glory of our Stars and Stripes. They, too, must be tried and punished -- unlike the victims of their ignorant racism.

Last night, I went to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl as I had planned some time ago. I refuse to let terrorism affect me. I will not let them win by forcing me to change my plans. The concert was glorious. At the end of the evening, the soloists, Marni Nixon, Nell Carter and Lauren Frost took their bows, then led us in singing "America the Beautiful." Fifteen thousand rose up in full voice. The hills of Hollywood resounded strong, united, and magnificent. Neither terrorism nor ignorance will stand in this America today.

A Global Banquet Table

May, 2001


May, 2001, LOS ANGELES - On the first day of April, I boarded American Airlines Flight 140, nonstop from Los Angeles to Paris, France. April in Paris! My spirits soared with the plane as it rose up into the clouds. Where else but Paris, the quintessential city of light and life, to celebrate the beginning of spring.

I landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport in golden sunshine to be told by my Paris friend, Olivier Jalabert, that the sun was a rare and welcome phenomenon. Paris had been inundated by relentless rain throughout the previous month. I revealed to him that this was my southern Californian gift that I brought to Paris in my luggage. He thanked me effusively for my sunny generosity. This was going to be a glorious week.

Seven days in Paris flies by like the sparkle of a transporter. As I write this now, a month away from that dream-like week, the memories seem wrapped in golden haze. I'm still savoring Sunday brunch under a Tiepolo ceiling in the grand dining salon of the Musee Jacquemart Andre. This was the great town mansion that served as Louis Jordan's Paris estate in the classic film, "Gigi." Glowing memories of dining on Duck a'la Orange at the fabled Tour d'Argent with a glorious view of Notre Dame below. Ambling down the Champs Elysee on a Sunday afternoon together with aluminum wrapped Paris marathoners who had just finished the grueling run at the Arc de Triomphe. Strolling across the classic beaux arts bridge, Pont Alexandre, at night when -- precisely at 10 p.m. -- the Eiffel Tower begins to explode in an effervescence of sparkling lights. Glowing, luminous memories.

Some of my best Parisian experiences were serendipitous -- accidental discoveries or chance happenings. On a previous visit, we just happened to be at the basilica of Sacre Coeur, one of the highest points in Paris, on Bastille Day to learn that fireworks would be set off that evening. We laid down on the hillside grass and waited until the darkened sky turned into a Miro painting of exploding, swirling cascades of colored lights. Singularly Parisian serendipity.

On this trip, we saw the River Seine as we had never seen it before. As Olivier had told us, it had been raining heavily in Paris and the Seine had turned into a torrential force of nature. Those charming pedestrian footpaths alongside the river, where old men snooze with their fishing poles and lovers meet under the willow trees, were completely flooded over. The willow trees looked like long-haired maidens in distress clinging on for dear life bobbing against the oncoming assault of the flood. The tourist boats that cruise up and down the Seine had to be temporarily cancelled.

Our last evening in Paris was a convivial dinner hosted by Olivier, who is manager of Album, an intriguing collectibles store on Boulevard Saint Germain. The dinner was in a rustic restaurant called Les Bouchons. Among his guests was Alain Carraze, a witty television talk show host. I visited on his show and had a wonderful time chatting with him about my Star Trek experiences. Alas, it had to be in English. I speak only tourist French, but, fortunately for me, he spoke delightful English. The evening was congenial with good conversation and great food. I think it's impossible not to eat well in Paris. And at Les Bouchons we ate well surrounded by history. The heavy timbered restaurant was in a centuries old, pre-revolutionary structure on a narrow, cobbled street called Rue d' Hotel Colbert right off the Seine.

In exchange for my gift of California sunshine, I came home laden with another collection of glowing memories. Au revoir, Paris and merci boucoup, Olivier.

Almost immediately after returning from Paris -- before I could even shake off my jetlag -- I was on a Japan Air Lines 747 to Osaka, Japan. My mission was the opening of the Japanese American National Museum's traveling exhibit "From Bento to Mixed Plate" at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka. This was the second venue for the exhibit after its first opening in Japan last November in Okinawa.

I landed at the beautiful Kansai Airport built on a man-made island on Osaka Bay. Kansai is the most well-planned airport that I've had the pleasure of passing through. There is excellent traffic flow, smooth passport control, good signage, efficient taxi, train and other transportation connections, a fine hotel, restaurants galore and all the services a traveler would need. The only problem is that the island is sinking. Apparently, the engineers' calculations were a bit off. The airport is slowly descending back into the waters of the bay. But until that time, Kansai will be my favorite airport.

Japan's National Museum of Ethnology is on the grounds of the 1970 World Expo that was held in Osaka. When I arrived at the old Expo grounds, I immediately recognized the giant theme sculpture and some of the exposition buildings from my visit back in 1970. But there had been many new structures built since the exposition, among them the National Museum of Ethnology. The surrounding areas also had become quite urbanized. I thought of the plans the city of Hannover, Germany, has for the grounds of their World Expo just concluded last year.

The opening ceremony for our traveling exhibit was a big success. We were honored to have the Chancellor of Seijo University, Dr. Nagayo Homma, and a colleague of mine on the Japan-United States Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange, travel down from Tokyo to join us. The reception that followed was convivial and celebratory. Sake toasts followed one after another. The press was great. The exhibit is well launched in Osaka. Its next stop in Japan is Hiroshima.

April was the perfect time to be in Japan. It is the very peak of cherry blossom season. And right outside my hotel, the Imperial, along the beautiful Ogawa River, is the best place for cherry blossom viewing. Sachie Kubo, of the Japan Excelsior campaign, who lives in Osaka, had called and kindly offered to personally escort me on my cherry blossom viewing. She and other fans had given me a wonderful time in Osaka last November when I was passing through on my way back from Okinawa.

I had imagined Japanese cherry blossom viewing to be a tranquil, contemplative, almost poetic, experience. How wrong I was! Cherry blossom viewing in Osaka was the most raucous, congested, massive aesthetic experience I had ever encountered. It seemed as if the whole nation of Japan had turned out to view the cherry blossoms outside the Imperial Hotel. Once we were swept up in the solid, shoving, mass of humanity, free will was gone. One had to go with the flow. There were policemen with bullhorns urging the crowd to keep moving on. But the cherry blossoms were simply breathtaking. I had never seen such variety, the shades of pale pinks and whites. I had never witnessed blossoms in such abundant density. At times, we seemed to be flowing through a heavenly tunnel of pink white clouds. It was gorgeous, almost surreal and absolutely unforgettable. Sachie-san, domo arigato.

I arrived back in Los Angeles to be greeted by a script for a new television series titled "Chronicle." The series is about a New York tabloid newspaper and its crew of journalists that cover paraphenomenal events. My guest starring role in the episode titled, "Here There Be Dragons," scheduled to air this summer on the Sci Fi Channel, was that of a Chinese immigrant father whose daughter, it is suspected, might be involved with a dragon inhabiting the sewers of Chinatown. The drama is played with straight-faced seriousness. I thought it might be fun. But I was baffled by the location. It was to be filmed in San Diego, California! A New York story on location in palmy, balmy San Diego? Now, that is paraphenomenal. I phoned my agent to find out why but he couldn't explain this mystery of Hollywood either. Oh well, I thought. After all the jetting about I'd been doing this month, a quick relaxing train ride down the coast to San Diego would be much preferable to another long cross country sit on a plane to New York.

Arriving in San Diego, I was picked up at the Santa Fe Train Depot and taken directly to what the driver called, "the studio" for my wardrobe fitting. There the mystery was cleared up. "Chronicle" is produced by Stu Segall, an entrepreneur who had indeed developed a studio complex in San Diego consisting of six soundstages with all the necessary support facilities. The series was keeping film activities humming at his facility. For exterior shots, sections of downtown San Diego, with clever camouflaging of palm trees, was passing for dense, gritty New York City. How fitting for a show dealing with paraphenomena.

The week in San Diego was the perfect antidote to a month of globe girding air flights - back in make-up and in front of the cameras. The regulars on "Chronicle," Chad Willett, Rena Sofer and Reno Wilson are bright, talented and personable young performers and it was a pleasure working with them.

The weekend there was pure tonic. I went to the award winning regional theater, the Globe Theater, and enjoyed a wonderful production of "Dinner with Friends." Taking the title to heart, I had dinner with friends - Sam and Lydia Irvine at their son Ken's fabulous restaurant, Chez Loma in a charming Victorian house on Coronado Island.

The month began in Paris dining on extraordinary French cuisine with friends and concluded with superb California cuisine with friends on Coronado Island. April was a magnificent global banquet table with friends.

Isn't It Ironic?! Facts So Ironic They Should Have Been In An Alanis Morissette Song

1. Gary Kremen, the founder of The Leading Online Dating Site for Singles & Personals : Match.com, lost his girlfriend to a man she met on The Leading Online Dating Site for Singles & Personals : Match.com

2. Otto Lilienthal, creator of the flying glider, died after a flight crash.

3. William Bullock, creator of the rotary printing press, died from injuries at the hands of his own machine.

4. Gunpowder was invented in the 9th century by the Chinese alchemists who were attempting to find an 'elixir of immortality.'

5. Union General John Sedgwick was shot and killed moments after standing from his trench and telling his men to stand because Confederate soldiers 'couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.'

6. Barry Manilows 1976 hit 'I Write The Songs,' was written by Bruce Johnson.

7. A man once drowned in a pool party that was celebrating a year with no drownings at a New Orleans Pool.

8. The fire hydrant is arguably one of the most important technologies in the realm of civil architecture, so whom should we thank for this saving grace? No one actually knows because the inventions patent was lost in a fire in 1836.

9. Lawyer Clement Vallandingham died in 1871 after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a pistol.

Vallandingham was defending a client on murder charges, by proving that the victim could have shot himself with his own pistol. In re-enacting the process, Vallandingham shot himself by mistake.

Vallandigham stated that he would demonstrate to the jury next day just how Tom Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing a pistol as he tried to arise from the floor. Pretending he was Myers, Vallandigham took a pistol from the bureau and put it in his right trouser pocket, not realizing that he had taken the loaded one by mistake. Then he slowly pulled it out, cocking it as he drew it forth. When the muzzle cleared the pocket, he tried to place it in the exact position which he believed Myerss weapon would have assumed at the moment when it was discharged. There, thats the way Myers held it, Vallandigham said, only he was getting up, not standing erect. At that moment he pressed the trigger. There was a flash and the half-suppressed sound of a shot. My God, Ive shot myself! Vallandigham exclaimed in shocked dismay as he reeled toward the wall and tried to hold himself up.


10. Mothers like to tell children that playing too many video games will melt their brains. Actually, surgeons in the medical community who grew up playing video games make an average of 37% fewer mistakes than their video game illiterate colleagues.

11. The word school has always been synonymous for diligence, hard work, and the acquisition of knowledge… or has it? Actually, the word school comes from the ancient Greek word schol which means free or leisure time.

12. The most shoplifted book in America is The Bible.

13. The founder of Alcoholics Anonymous asked for whiskey on his deathbed. The nurse refused.

14. "Father of Traffic Safety" William Eno invented the stop sign, crosswalk, traffic circle, one-way street, and taxi stand— but never learned how to drive.

15. Polar bears are more likely to overheat than get too cold, and its not because of global warming.

The polar bear lives in one of the coldest climates ever, swims in some of the coldest water ever and so the polar bear has two different methods of protecting the heat that its body generates.

The first method is used for terrestrial life rather than its aquatic life, its fur is thick and hollow reflecting sunlight directed towards it, in fact its so thick that it protects almost all warmth from escaping its body.

While the polar bear swims, wet fur isnt exactly known for its insulation capabilities like cotton when it gets even slightly wet obliterates its insulation capabilities which is why its know to survivalists as the fabric of death, the polar bear instead uses is also thick blubber and fat layers which protect the polar bear from the outside ice cold water which could make a human unconscious in mere minutes.

The polar bears extremely effective insulation and heat deterioration from outside cold dont exactly make an excellent cooling system mixed with the fact that polar bears are slow moving creatures to preserve energy in the extreme climate that it survives in, so when it runs it gets hot , very quickly and can very soon overheat from chasing a seal before it reaches the hole in the ice in which it surfaced from when it comes up to sleep.

16. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the English language. What does it mean? The phobia of long words. 

17. Thomas Midgley, Jr. was an American engineer and chemist who was left severely disabled after contracting polio at age 51. He created a system of strings and pulleys to help others lift him from bed. He died of strangulation aged 55 when he became accidentally entangled in the ropes of his device.

18. In 1996, 315 entries in the Webster's English dictionary were misspelled. 

19. The only member of ZZ Top that doesn't have a beard is called Frank Beard. 

20. Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest and didn't even make the finals. 

21. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was Welsh. 

22. 1n 1975, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission had to recall 80,000 badges promoting toy safety. The badges had sharp edges, lead paint and had small clips that could be broken off and swallowed.

23. A University in Canada gave out condoms to promote safe sex to their students, with a message about safe sex stapled to their package. The staples pierced all the condoms, and none were usable. 

24. There were no ponies involved in the Pony Express only horses. 

25. Philip A. Contos, a motorcyclist who was riding in a protest against helmet laws, died after he flipped over his handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

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26. The lawyers who Donald Trump hired to defend him from the lawsuits by unpaid workers are suing him for unpaid bills.

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27. Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, was so paranoid of being poisoned that he took small doses of poison all his life to build immunity. When he was defeated by the Romans, he tried to kill himself with poison but couldnt because he was immune.

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28. The pine tree planted in 2004 in memory of George Harrison, the lead guitarist of The Beatles, has died after being infested by beetles.

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29. The makers of Piracy, its a crime advert used the music in it illegally. They did not have permission to use it in the DVDs.

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30. People get divorced for all sorts of reasons, but whats the silliest? That award probably goes to a Bosnian couple that officially split in 2007 after the couple discovered that the secret online affairs they were both having happened to be with each other.

31. China has banned the word "censorship". 

32. In the state of Alabama it is illegal to drive while wearing a blindfold.

33. Leo Fender, inventor of the telecaster and Stratocaster who also lead his moniker to the famous guitar brand, could not play the guitar.

34. Another musical irony! Vangelis is one of the most important composers in all of cinema, having pioneered the electronic scores that defined such movies like Blade Runner and The Bounty and having won an Oscar for the score for Chariots of Fire. And after all those years and all that music written, he still cant read a note of music.

35. The ten-gallon hat is just one name for the classic cowboy. Despite its name, the average ten-gallon can only hold about three-fourths of a gallon of liquid.