Redemption

Eyes forever shut,

finally shut and still as

earth devours the ego.

Execution

Hand submits to brain.

Brain thinks of utter evil.

Evil has a price.

Perfection

The rainbow triumphs

over storm and over rain

coloring bleakness.

My fashionista friend

This girl

has a sense of self.

This girl has a taste for wine.

This girl knows Prada and Glamour

and sips green tea

from her Jimmy Choo's...

This girl likes Brazilians

and kicking and boxing.

This girl loves Seattle,

proclaims herself

a fashionista

and thinks

for some reason

that I'm cool...

This girl from the mist

is worth much more

than the sum

of her outfit

and outward projection.

This girl

with the Blahnik's

has a brain

and a heart.

Dragonslayer

Fearsome waters,

quiet lake

pregnant

with the mystery

and the faint promise

of antediluvian,

saurian enigmas

objects of curiosity,

greed and wonder.

Swanlike and billowy

the silhouette scurries

too quick a motion...

Unsolved waters.

Willful depths.

Unwilling tale

told once again.

The sycamore tree

Stabbed by lightning,

the evening bleeds of light

and voltaic arches

contorted in zip-zags

of progressive,

terrifying trajectory

that threatens

the passive land

and the livid sky above.

The final spark

ignites the darkness.

Sudden torching of heaven.

Sordid raping of the earth below.

Acrid smoke, embers and ashes...

The sycamore tree

is no more.

Kennedy family-influenced world events

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

Special Olympics, ongoing since 1968

First Moon Landing, 1969

Kennedy family pictures that have changed the world

Farewell to humanitarian extraordinaire Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver has always been a part of History.

Born to one of America's patrician families (some say America's only true "royal" family), she was sister to President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and current Senator for the state of Massachusetts Edward Moore (Teddy) Kennedy; daughter of powerful businessman, political figure and Ambassador to the United KIngdom Joseph Kennedy; mother to Maria Shriver Kennedy, prominent journalist and First Lady of California, and mother-in-law of California's currently serving Republican Governor Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger.

It was her love and devotion to her mentally challenged sister Rosemarie Kennedy the factor that compelled Eunice to found in 1968 the Special Olympics. This event forever changed the perception of the Nation and the world on those with physical and mental disabilities. It empowered and advanced the cause of this until then hidden and forgotten sector of the American population. It also indirectly and inevitably carved a place of her own for Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the History of great achievements for social justice and equality in the United States.

I leave to those who really knew her the task of eulogizing her and listing her many other personal qualities and intellectual and social passions. I just wanted to honor this remarkable woman with my modest tribute to her monumental accomplishment as a humanitarian and as a promoter of positive social change.

Los Angeles, August 11, 2009

FABLED HAVANA, STILL THE UNDISPUTED QUEEN OF THE CARIBBEAN

Even after hardship, neglect, the passing of time and mistreatment, Havana (La Habana) is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world

ROSITA FORNÉS Celebrating her 85th birthday with family, friends and fans at The Place, currently one of Miami's hotspots

ROSITA FORNÉS IN 2005

ROSITA FORNÉS IN THE 70'S (Characterized as El Pichi, from the Spanish musical review Las Leandras)

ROSITA FORNÉS IN ALL HER BEWITCHING GLORY (Photos from the 40's and 50's)