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Mad Hot Ballroom. Sixth grade kids in NY learning ballroom dancing and competition. A wonderfully, well done documentary that doesn't seem like a documentary at all; maybe a docu-drama featuring poor kids mostly and immigrant kids. An example once again; that, if given a chance, kids will excel; i.e., poor youngsters given a shot at what seems unattainable, can achieve it.
This is one of those irresistible movies where one can follow the pride and enthusiasm of kids doing what seemingly is impossible in the beginning. And, for the audience, besides being delightful, are unbelievably touched with even more emotion. It is one of those movies that puts a smile on your face and you can't get it off the entire movie. The one slight difference in the groups of kids from maybe a half dozen schools, is the passion of this one teacher about the kids under her tutelage. And, isn't that always the case?
What made Mad Hot Ballroom a little more meaningful to me, I think, had to do with my familiarity of the school situation among New York's underclass. I lived in New York for a year or so and my daughter actually went to PS 104 in Brooklyn. I was in graduate school at Long Island University and did a paper on the public school system mostly in the Bedford Sty section of Brooklyn, which is probably the poorest area of New York. The kids who go to those schools are behind before they begin; their home situations would tear your heart out and so to see them score one for the Underclass made me want to jump up and shout: HooAhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Good, good movie. Kids were great and the filming worked terrifically. I loved to know the story behind the movie. There has to be one, i. e., How did the film makers get the funding? Who came up with the idea? etc.
Take your kids and when they come out of the movie their first question will be: "When can I start ballroom dancing?
________Dan Foster
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Photo by Handout/Reuters
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I met this really fascinating guy the other morning, a retired attorney, Korean war veteran and very much opposed to Iraq. I was sharing with him that one of my big dilemmas was the fact that I did indeed support the troops as they are merely doing their jobs. But, I was troubled by the idea that on a wholesale basis, without fail, they are totally in support of their mission. And, that I understand: soldiers have to support what they are doing.
The Korean War Vet's comments took me aback-he said something like "I don't disagree with you but when something is based on a "lie" then everything associated with it is tainted." What he was referring too, of course, was the non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Think about Vietnam and what we now know about the Bay of Tonkin incident which propelled us into a wholesale involvement in that sorry war.
| Bay of Tonkin |
Washington Post Headline Aug 5. 1964: "President Johnson has ordered retaliatory action against gunboats and 'certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam' after renewed attacks against American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin."
The United States Military was actually working in conjunction with the South Vietnamese navy and the Laotian Airforce. The United States was gathering the intelligence. The South Vietnamese army and the Laotian airforce were making attacks on the North Vietnamese.
But on August 7 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution(which propelled the Vietnam War):Congress passed the resolution authorizing the president "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."
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Also, my new acquaintance went on to say that he believes we have a civil war in Iraq. And, I will have to admit that there surely appears to be truth here.Think about it: almost daily, Iraqis killed by Sunni Muslims it appears. One day sixty-eight were killed. A few days ago we have thirty-one police commandos killed by three separate bombs. Yesterday, Thursday June 2, fifty people were killed: three suicide car bombs, two motorcycles exploded in Northern Iraq, and gunmen opened fire in a crowded market place in Baghdad. The "insurgents" are operating with impunity.
One of my good friends said this: " I am a veteran of two wars - Korea and VN. I am a patriot. I believe in serving our country when needed, but those guys dying in Iraq are not serving our country nor Iraq. They are dying because of very poor decisions. "
I hate the circumstances surrounding this war, but my motto has been and forever will be Always For the Troops. KT
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| Ain't Life Grand... |
This ex-ranger; 450 jumps and then a terrorism expert for the Pentagon applied for a terrorism researcher job at the Library of Congress.
He was the top candidate until his interviewer took him out to lunch and the guy proceeded to let his interviewer know; that ,if he got the job, he would be reporting to work as a woman as he was in the middle of this sex change operation.
He/she wasn’t offered the job and is suing.
Can you believe this? The person is not even from San Francisco.
What a great country we live in!!! God bless America
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American Casualty Report in Iraq
Thanks to Keyvan Minoukadeh
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