KBTV::Welcome to My World
Bbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzz. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz. My left butt cheek is vibrating.What is that? My eyes fly open. It’s still dark. I grab my magenta Razor Phone off the bed stand. It’s 4:30 a.m. I reach under the covers and grab the offending, buzzing object from inside the side pocket of my University of Pennsylvania sweatpants and pull out my Blackberry.
Zzzzzzzzzz. I hit the track wheel and fall back into the pillow.
I fell asleep in my sweats? Yuck. That’s gross. How college. Even worse. How graduate school.
I look again. It’s still 4:30. Christy is coming to do my make up in 70 minutes.
* * * * *
“Barry, there’s no wind.” I’m standing outside an extraordinary house (more like a Miami-Vice-style mansion) in North Fort Lauderdale where my Creative Director, Andi Galpern, lives.
It used to be a nightclub built by a cocaine dealer, who, I think, is now in jail. Now Andi and her boyfriend Chris live upstairs where the bar was. A giant bar still rings the left side of the front room, with mirrors along the wall behind the bottles, bar stools and all.
Chris’ drum set is in the middle of the room. I stub my toe on the thing that holds the symbol. I think it’s a symbol. “Ouch!”
I’m worried about the stagnant air. Barry explains to me that Florida is a swamp, and there is no wind in swamps. It’s 103 degrees and I still have to shoot two pieces. Barry is really taking the brunt here today. I can go inside and cool off between paragraphs (so I don’t look too sweaty on camera). He has to stand by the camera and wait for my body temp to return to 98.6. After about 10 minutes, I reappear. Barry is drenched.
* * * * *
It’s nearly over; only one part “chunk” to go. (I shoot in chunks.)
Barry barks: “OK Kate, hit it!
I’m Kate Bohner for KBTVonline.
So what happened? This is where it gets really interesting … through the text messaging campaign the young activists were able to ignite public outrage into such a frenzy that it led to two enormous protests – both garnering national and international publicity. And this is what it looked … and sounded like. Loud warnings roared through the PA systems … bellowing out from loud speakers in the crowded streets. Police lined the side walks in riot gear. Despite all of this – the people were unyielding. About 8,000 to 10,000 people participated in both protests. As a result, the city government halted the plant’s construction, saying it “has listened to the opinions expressed and has decided, after careful deliberation, that the project must be re-evaluated.”
BREAK
OK viewer. Put on your seatbelt. This is where the irony becomes almost unbearable. Today, the Chinese government has chosen the following reason to condemn the proliferation of information through text messaging – not that it’s illegal – but “because it doesn’t serve the citizen well due to exaggeration and misinformation.”
BREAK
Apparently the activists who began the text message campaign did indeed exaggerate the inherent dangers of the soon-to-be-built chemical plant saying the paraxylene would “cause leukemia and deformed babies.” So what, say the activists? And … according to the young activists … since when does the Chinese Government care about misinformation?
Thanks for joining today … I’m Kate Bohner for KBTVonline … please leave any comments in the box provided or email us at www.KBTVonline.com … click contact … shoot us an email … we’ll be sure to get you back.
I found out later that one of the gardeners at Andi’s boyfriend’s parent’s estate asked:¿Siempre se habla con ella misma la mujer bonita con el tablero del clip?
The translation: “Does the pretty woman with the clip board always talk to herself?”
Welcome to my world.
To be continued …
posted by rjoyner @ 8:27 PM
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