2009 OUT Music Awards

Chaos and Confusion at 2009 OUT Music Awards
by Antoine Craigwell,

Chaotic, disorganized and confused were some of the adjectives used to describe the 2009 OUT Music Awards held at New York City’s Webster Hall on Tuesday, Dec 8. Billed as the 19th OUT Music Awards, an alliance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) recording artists and performers, the awards celebrated the accomplishments of many of the artists and musicians in the community. The list of sponsors included LOGO, MAC cosmetics, Grace Hotels, Peaceman Foundation, and GMAD.

While behind the scenes was a hive of activity, scores of volunteers, and assorted staff and assistants running about trying to pull the show together, the first inkling of the widespread disorganization manifested itself outside the Hall with an officious bouncer determining who could gain entry. On one occasion, when he recognized three people who had somehow forced their way to the front of what was a collapsed line, to the chagrin of those who stood in the cold night air waiting to be admitted; he, feigning familiarity with hugs and simulated kisses, brandished a slim sheaf of papers, on which was written names of people who were VIPs, pretended to look at the list and declared, to no one in particular, that the three people were on the list, then waved them to another gatekeeper who affixed different colored wristbands.

On entry, in the lobby, more confusion reigned: an obviously harried assistant perfunctorily waved media and VIPs to the right and others, a press of people around her, she struggled to determine who had what type of access. And, when asked about VIP passes, the assistant was only too willing to hand over a quantity of the green VIP wrist bands without checking that the person was actually a VIP. In a long slender room, up against a wall, was what appeared to be a hastily constructed step-and-repeat banner, a flimsy strip of red carpet and a cordon, behind which a motley gaggle of photographers strained to hear the name of whoever was announced by an equally harried assistant, their cameras clicking away at anyone who appeared in front of the banner.

Those who appeared on the “red carpet”, after their moment of photographic fame, were ushered into either a larger room or left to fend for themselves. In the larger room, a pre-show was underway, which featured a couple going through the motions of presenting awards. At one point, the duo announcing the award categories, the nominees, opening a large blue envelope, and the winners were shouting, unamplified, to be heard above the din; some time after were given working microphones.

Many of those who walked the “red carpet” were sensibly if tastefully and fashionably attired. Others appeared in various costumes as if, some two months later, the Halloween parade had finally made its way across town from 6th Avenue to 3rd Avenue. One person who had designed and made his costume, as he said, to look like a sea creature, looked more like the main character from the Hans Christian Andersen story of the Snow Queen. Another appeared in an all black skin fitting costume with creations of two other people attached to the central figure with limbs sprouting from every direction; and another, the artist known as Sir Ivan, wore a floor length multicolored cape attached to a body suit which seemed as if he was an incarnation of Liberace.

Before the awards began, an assistant came on stage and made three important announcements: she apologized to the VIPs in the balcony that one of the main sponsors had not come through with the liquor, which meant that they had no bar service. A couple who had given up on being VIPs even though they had paid an estimated $300 a person for their tickets, took up seats on the main floor, which had a bar, and proceeded to get as drunk as they could. The assistant also apologized to the crowd of people who were seated in the first three rows, asked them to give up their seats for the nominees, and informed everyone that the entire show was being filmed live for LOGO.

After a further wait, that seemed to go on forever, the show’s joint hosts, Rodney Chester from Noah’s Arc and Kate Clinton, political humorist, appeared on stage and were followed by performances by Christine Martucci, Toshi Reagon, and an assortment of hip hop performers, one of whom kept indicating to the audience that she wanted more adulation. At one point, there was obviously no coordination when Clinton and Chester were to appear on stage together; she appeared and began speaking, followed later by Chester who emerged from behind a curtain and tried unsuccessfully to laugh off his missed cue.

According to the program, there were 23 categories with an interminable list of 91 nominations. Kevin Aviance was presented with the OUT Music Lifetime Achievement Award, which was followed by other special awards, including Willie Ninja, the OUT Music Icon; Reagon the OUT Music Heritage; and Debra Harry, the OUT Music Pillar award. Dan Martin and Michael Biello, who received the OUT Music Visionary, said that the OUT Music awards began in their living room, and then it was about men singing to men and women singing to women.

One artist who came on stage with about 12 back-up dancers, while performing a number with “voging” undertones, was upstaged by two people – a middle-aged man wearing a fur jacket and a tall man in drag with an upswept blond wig and heels – from the audience who couldn’t contain their need to demonstrate that they knew how to “vogue” and felt the need to march up on to the stage. While their antics elicited hooting, hollering and cheering from the audience, there was no crowd control; the person who may or may not have been security, who grabbed the middle-aged man and pulled him down the stage stairs, was standing around with a drink in his hand.

Despite all this, there were a few bright spots in the evening, one of which featured, Nhojj, who performed his song “Love” and won the Outstanding R&B/Soul award over Kalup Linzy and Robert Anton.
“It’s validation from my community and it’s good to be back,” said Nhojj.

Performance artist, milDRED, who earlier in the year had received OUT Music’s Spirit Award in recognition of her 14 years of service, said, “I came to the awards to give my support because OUT Music supported me and my work.”

Jessie O, an R&B pop recording artist who was a 2006 nominee and who introduced and presented Nhojj with the award, said, “This is a fulfillment of a dream where I could be at a place where my talents and that of others support each other.”

But, the actual award, as described by its designer, 24-year-old Emmanuel Perez, was inspired by his own recent coming out to his parents and family, and since he had not been exposed to the gay world, for him it was exciting and energetic. The CEO of OUT Music, he said, approached him and James Meade, the accomplished architect and photographer, with an idea for a campaign for LGBT artists called “Freedom of Expression”, and from this collaboration, a relationship developed. The entire process, from design to mock-ups, took between two to three weeks and was done as a contribution to the awards program, he added.
“I created a disco ball base for the top and a classy microphone as the award and I’m really proud of it,” Perez said.

There were three after parties, one for men, one for women, and another for extra special VIPs at the Grace Hotel. Yet, at the end, even though reactions were mixed, some enjoyed the evening: it was what they expected and more; to others, it signaled an organizational meltdown and leaves questions about the 20th anniversary.

Technology in time of disaster

by Antoine Craigwell

About nine minutes after disaster struck, the first Tweet was sent to the outside world, alerting those on the sender’s Tweeter’s list of the devastation.

As of publishing this story, Red Cross International reported on Wednesday, Jan 13, that so far, approximately $3 million was raised through people texting “Haiti 90999” since the earthquake and untold amounts of money was donated, also by texting, to “Yele 501501” to the charity headed by Haitian singer Wyclef Jean’s Yele Foundation. In a 24-hour period, the Red Cross raised $1.7 million through text donations.

Contrary to some schools of thought, that social media, including FaceBook and Twitter, and Skype, encourage the sharing of an inordinate amount of personal information – though social media detractors do have a point, as it is in some cases used by many subscribers who divulge the minutia of their everyday lives, either as a sign of boredom or of exhibitionism run amok; that it is through the power of this media that at least three major global events were transmitted to the wider world, against other established and traditional forms of communication which had failed, were severely compromised or damaged.

On Nov 24, 2006, when most Americans were sitting down to their traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and when the attackers had laid siege to the hotel in Mumbai, India and were wreaking havoc, it was journalists, members of the Society of Asian Journalists, who Tweeted, using their allotted 140 characters to send reports and updates of what was happening on the ground.

Last summer, when protests erupted in Tehran, Iran over the results of that country’s general elections, and the government had shut down phone service, blocked Internet access, expelled journalists, threatened its citizenry with arrest and imprisonment for using cell phones to Tweet or to take photographs, that some brave souls in the capital risked their lives to Tweet about the state of affairs. It was through the brave efforts of those who Tweeted about the scale of the protests and the wanton use by the government of the Revolutionary Guard and the basjee to violently suppress all protests, was the world outside of Iran made aware.

Once again, when, at a few minutes before 5:00 pm EST time that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, hitting the port city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the traditional communications networks had been destroyed, telephone infrastructure destroyed, it was through people on the ground with their cell phones who were texting and Tweeting the state of affairs, what they were seeing and experiencing. As with the attacks in Mumbai, the protests in Tehran, and now the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, the first pictures appearing in mainstream media, though blurred, were taken and distributed by cell phones.

Following this explosion of cellular activity, it came as a technological surprise to many when two organizations put abroad that donating money for the relief efforts could be sent by a “text” and the amount would be added to the sender’s cell phone bill. Not forthcoming or asked about is for those making donations over their cell phones, the cell phone companies making a pledge or commitment to donate a portion of their grossly inflated revenues to the Haitian cause.

You’ve got the flu or want to avoid getting it:

Here’s what you do – HIV Positive people, especially, need to take extra precautions

When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said that people should avoid subways and other confined spaces because of the swine flu sweeping the nation, the country recorded its first swine flu death – a toddler in Houston, TX – which led to the decision by state and federal health officials to ratchet up their alert level, and which prompted the Word Health Organization (WHO) to up their grade to Phase 5, a status just below declaring a full pandemic, has come as a jolt to everyone. This drastic and seemingly draconian action by national and internationally health related agencies should come as no surprise, since many of them were severely criticized for their lack of preparedness and response to two major flu outbreaks in recent memory, Sars and the Avian Flu, both which emphasized the global nature of the spread of any infection and threatened to overwhelm countries’ health infrastructure, revealing how unprepared many were.

But while there are numerous suggestions on what to do, to protect against contracting or passing the virus on, many of those tips in the local media have not included enough detail for adequate protection.

A person could be infected and spread the flu up to a full day before he or she feels symptoms and up to seven days after they are sick.

Many HIV positive people, especially, need to take extra precautions, as someone once said, the general perception is that most people are afraid of contracting HIV from an HIV-positive person, but really, it is the HIV positive person, who with a compromised immune system, is most vulnerable and at risk from the general population. Consequently, a HIV-positive person needs to observe the rules for the general population and take additional precautions, such as staying away from crowded or heavily populated areas, like night clubs, sex clubs, parties, public transport conveyances, and should contact their doctor to enquire as to the best medication. Those with the HIV virus should be aware of the signs of an illness coming on, the beginning scratchiness or dryness in the throat, the feeling of lethargy or extreme tiredness, or headaches. HIV positive people should make it their duty to pay attention to their bodies, as with a compromised immune system, assumption should not be entertained and nothing taken for granted.

According to William Shay, M.D., a Chelsea-based general internist who specializes in HIV treatment, an HIV-positive person who has a fever of 101-degrees or higher and has a cough with any other symptoms, should see their doctor.

So, while waiting for a vaccine, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) optimistically suggest could take six months to be produced and some reports state that even if there is a vaccine there won’t be enough for everyone, and it would be ineffective, because this flu strain is likely to have mutated or people would develop a resistance to it.  These five critical tips, widely agreed upon by the WHO, the CDC, and other health experts, are what a person could do to avoid getting sick and, importantly, avoid infecting others.

• Washing hands:
  The best thing anyone could do right now to avoid swine flu, experts say, is to wash their hands. It sounds like a stupidly simple response to an overwhelming situation, but almost compulsive hand-washing helps prevent the spread of this respiratory infection. It’s the droplets from coughing and sneezing, which coat surfaces and which people touch that spread the infection. The virus gets on hands, and then everything touched is infected.

  While washing the hands seems simple, how it is done is important:

• Use warm or hot water if you can;
• Lather up with soap and rub not just your fingers and palms but also under the fingernails, around the wrists and between the fingers for as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice; and
• Rinse well.

While it is important to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before eating and after using the bathroom, for whatever the bodily function, it is also important after using a tissue or covering the mouth as with a sneeze or a cough, sick or not, or as with seasonal allergies, which could present similar symptoms to the flu.

A person should think of how often he or she would wash their hands if they worked in a hospital’s emergency or operating room; hands should be washed that often and that thoroughly.

2. Covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing.

“The way you spread influenza is with droplets that come out of your mouth or nose,” said Dr. George T. DiFerdinando Jr., a physician, epidemiologist and professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health. He recommends the classic shoulder or crook-of-the elbow sneeze.

“It’s a whole lot better for those [droplets] to be on blouse or sleeve than spraying onto surfaces or other people,” he said, after which, wash the hands.

While wearing surgical face masks are an option for containing the droplets, they don’t keep a person’s hands clean and there is no consensus in the healthcare community on whether or not face masks are advisable for everyday use.

“If the swine flu virus is spreading throughout the community, it would not surprise me if people use face masks to good effect,” DiFerdinando said.

1. Staying home.

Someone who is sick should stay home, DiFerdinando said. Try to muster the energy to wash the hands after every tissue use so as not to avoid re-infecting everything touched afterward. This helps to reduce the presence of the virus in the immediate environment, with recovery, and protects household and loved ones.

1. Not touching the face.

While very few people succeed at restraint and control, more people are urged to try to keep their hands away from their face and areas where there are mucous membranes, such as around or close to the eyes, inside the nostrils and mouth, which are direct routes to the bloodstream and which allows the virus to bypass the protective barrier of the skin.

“That’s just human nature,” DiFerdinando said. “It’s not something to moan about. In this circumstance you’ve got a very strong motivator to keep your hands clean. If you keep washing your hands, you decrease the dose [of flu virus] that you get when you put your hands in your mouth.”

5. Avoid sick people

It’s a good idea to avoid close contact with other people who are sick, DiFerdinando said, adding: “We won’t even see air kisses.” The flu virus tends not to float in the air. Instead, once dispersed, the liquid droplets tend to settle on objects that doctors call fomites – things that people touch that can pick up a virus. Examples include coins, hand rails, door knobs, common household and office objects. Smooth objects transmit microbes more than rough or porous ones. So, for instance, coins would allow one to pick up more virus than paper money.

Not surprising to Dr. James Koopman, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, is the number of cases concentrated in one geographic area.

“There is a lot of direct contact and touching of common things when children are in school,” Koopman said. “They are in general more susceptible to these things.”

Koopman and his colleagues are trying to pin down the relative importance of different routes of transmission, whether by the air or by hand touching, fomite.

“Our work is indicating there can be big differences between something like airborne virus – you may take a small amount in with every breath, but when you get a big goober of someone’s cough on your finger and it touches your mucosal membrane – your eye, nose, mouth or somewhere where it can gain access – that could be a much higher dose,” Koopman said.

It takes time for a new virus – and the swine flu outbreak is based on a new strain of an H1N1 virus – to adapt to a human’s immune system and survive there long enough to find another organism to infect, Koopman said.

At first, the immune system can handle small doses of virus, such as with airborne transmission, he said. In that case, “maybe the hand-fomite touching spread would be more important than the airborne,” he said.

Maybe later, the virus evolves to survive and transmit successfully in smaller doses, or via different routes, he said.

“I personally think this virus has been circulating a bit longer than is recognized at this time,” Koopman said.

The CDC photograph, below, captured a sneeze in progress, revealing the plume of salivary droplets as they are expelled in a large cone-shaped array from this man’s open mouth. The flu virus can spread in this manner and survive long enough on a doorknob or countertop to infect another person. It dramatically illustrates the reason you should cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing to protect others from germ exposure, health officials say. It’s also why you need to wash your hands a lot, on the assumptions others don’t always cover their sneezes.

Photo of man's sneeze - droplet plume

Gossip and Sensation tied to papers’ sales

Here is another dimension to the NY Post cartoon furor. While the NY Post can claim under the First Amendment, freedom of expression and the right of a free press, the cartoon can also be seen as an incitement, provocation or at the very extreme, treasonous, in advertising for the death of the president. And, while that may be so, it would be good to remember also, that of the large numbers who voted for President Obama, there were also a number of people who did not,most of which are based on race. The NY Post, Murdoch and NewsCorp, Murdoch’s U.S. news conglomerate, caters to this minority racial element.

Additionally, Murdoch’s publications are only concerned with muck-raking and gossip, as is the “tabloid” mentality, not real, true news. Is it possible that in this environment where newspapers are struggling to stay in business, where advertising as the mainstay of newspapers is drying up, that the NY Post’s action is designed to increase the numbers of those who would buy and read the paper and the advertisers who would get on board? In fact, a surge in their newspaper and advertising sales from this cartoon, may have singlehandedly resulted in a sharp infusion of money into the papers, may have saved it from cuts.

Think also of the effect of negative publicity, it sells. In today’s American sensationalist, gossipy culture negative publicity is better than positive news, why? Because positive news lacks the edge to bring in the advertisers who by aligning themselves with the Post, sends a clear message to the readers about where they stand. Thus, not only looking at the newspapers, but looking at the advertisers; people should take a careful look at those who advertise with the NY Post.

However, even with the advertisers it is cyclical as it is with the newspapers: if the Post didn’t print something provocative to generate controversy to have more advertisers buy ads to sell more papers, then many at the Post would probably loose their jobs, and for the advertisers, who would get increased attention from a controversial print publication, take a gamble, but knowing that people would want and need their commodities or services, and they have business that depend on the success of the advertisement, where people would buy the papers, see the ads and go patronize the businesses; means that those businesses can keep their doors open a little longer and keep a few more people employed.

There has to be a way to break those two inter-connnected cycles.

At this turning point in America’s history, the mentality of the American people fed up with the petty nastiness and meanness amplified in the Bush eight years, is calling for a new order, a different way, a more mature and less racist and discriminatory, a more embracing and inclusive American culture; that is in keeping with the ideals of the rest of the world.

BBC retaining impartiality, hypocrisy!

The BBC World News and BBC Middle East Website do not allow any opportunities to post a comment about the BBC opting not to air an appeal for assistance for the people of Gaza. As one of the commentators on BBC America, hosted by Matt Frei, this evening, alluded to the BBC’s hypocritical stance when he compared the BBC’s  charity aid broadcasts for the people of Darfur and Somalia, and have refused to broadcast an appeal for the people of Gaza. The director of the BBC talked about retaining impartiality and objectiveness.

I wonder if perhaps since the BBC is owned and funded by the British government, and it was the British government that was responsible for the partitioning and division of the Palestinian people to make way for the Jews, that they don’t want to get their hands dirty again, or be reminded that they were responsible for the chaos and destruction, and humiliation of the Palestinian people by the Jews. Could it be that there was Jewish pressure on the BBC not to broadcast appeals for aid for the Palestinian people?  Could it be that the Israelis want to exterminate or mete out to the Palestinians what was visited on them as a people in Europe and Russia? I wonder who was behind the intensity of the news broadcasts worldwide, especially in the U.S. showing the horror and suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Jews, in this latest round of atrocities. I wonder, too, at how the Jews have become a protected class: didn’t they use their influence and control of various economic strata to enhance their preferred status, setting themselves apart, and earning them the hatred and venom of the European world pre-World War II? Is it any wonder, however, that the Jews regard any criticism by labeling the critic as anti-Semite, would they level the same accusation against the Palestinian people, who are Semite people like them? If as the world is rapidly moving to a place where, as a result of climate change effects on peoples and a slow down in the global economy, people are coming together to forge stronger alliances and build relationships for survival, that the people of Israel cannot see their determination to hold on to land that is not theirs as passe, then they are so stuck in the past!

Rent Assistance 4 NYC Residents: R U HIV-Positive and symptomatic? Denied assistance by HASA? R U Undocumented?

R U HIV-positive and Symptomatic? Were U denied assistance by HASA? R U undocumented?

If there is anyone or anyone who knows someone who is in rent arrears or needs rental assistance: contact Hispanic AIDS Forum (HAF), Inc., by calling 212-868-6230

If you are you have to be: HIV positive and symptomatic, be denied assistance by HASA, and is in need of rental assistance.

By being HIV-positive and symptomatic, a person who is HIV positive must have documented by their physician that they are showing the signs of being HIV-positive, and their CD4 count is below 200, which technically means they have converted to AIDS, but if their lymphocyte count is 14% or less, they could qualify for assistance. Also, by being symptomatic, a person would have signs, have had or been treated for an opportunistic infection, including STDs. A person would have to produce a M11Q Form filled out by their doctor.

Someone denied assistance by the HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HASA), an agency in the City’s Human Resource Administration, means that the person is ineligible for city and state financial assistance, as in Food Stamps, etc. As a result, the person would have applied for Public Assistance and be denied, and have the correspondence from HASA to prove that they were denied, generally, because that person is undocumented or without legal status in the country.

Anyone needing assistance with their rent, which if they qualify, HAF will pay their ongoing rent, rather than have that person evicted or become homeless. A person in need, with the required documentation, should contact HAF by Jan 31.

Jonestown 30years later – what about Guyanese people?

Last evening, at 9pm EST, CNN showed a documentary that was hosted and presented by Soledad O’Brien, who did Black in America, on the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre. Many of us would recall the effect and impact of this event on the Guyanese national consciousness.
Prior to Jonestown, Guyana’s impact on the world’s stage was restricted to vague references such as the Dryfus Affair, the 1963-64 race riots, and a few notable personages, such as Sir Shridat Ramphal, who was Secretary General of the Commonwealth and one of Guyana’s best scholars and representatives, and the semi-autobiographical novel of E.R. Braithwaite’s To Sir With Love.
Guyana, as we who lived through the Prime Minister-ship, Presidential turned dictatorship of L. Forbes S. Burnham era know only too well, was a country by northern hemispherical classification standards a third world underdeveloped country, that was provincial and rural, but to its Caribbean counterparts, because of the fertile land, was considered the bread basket, rated one of the highest in literacy and a steady ship of state. It was anything but bucolic. Rather Guyana was a country caught up and living in a post-colonial ideological confusion: couldn’t quite decide how to define its republic self whether as socialist or just simply anti-American and by extension to the British, anti-imperialist.
We who have lived through the evolutions of Guyana’s history, despite our present allegiances, are still proud of our heritage – our parents, close friends, the unique amalgams of African, Indian, and Amerindian foods – holding fast to gastronomic maxims such as a person who ate labba and drank creek water was bound to return, our particular lilting sing-song Creolese speech, our conversations that sound like full-scale disagreements as each of us tries to out speak the other, to make our point, and our intelligence, general knowledge and education, which placed many of us at odds against those with whom we work or attend schools; made us undeniably and identifiably Guyanese. It is a history and heritage we share to the extent that we still shudder at the memory of the 1963-64 race riots, telling ourselves that we would not ever and warning our children, against a repeat; where we cringe at the shame the recent allegations of two of our fellow Guyanese accused of plotting to blow up the John F Kennedy Airport in New York; and we shake our heads in horror at “Fineman’s” rampage through the country. We who live afar but still retain contact with our family, friends, or business associates in Guyana shake our heads uncomprehendingly at the economic state of affairs, asking ourselves: how could this be, why are prices so high, how are people making it and surviving, isn’t there a government committed to serving the people instead of their own interests, how is it that there is such a bloom and narcotic pervasiveness, which has seemed to become and support a sub-economy? These are some of the questions we ask each other and ourselves.
But have we asked what was behind the deal that Burnham made with the “Reverend” Jim Jones to lease 3,800 acres of virgin land, a turn off from the railroad that plied between Port Kaituma and Arakaka in the Kaituma region, for a commune. As rumors go, which undeniably contains a modicum of truth, Burnham received coveted U.S. dollars for allowing Jim Jones into Guyana. What really was the arrangement that not only gave Jones land in the Northwest region, but a house and land in Prashad Nagar, at the time an affluent section of northeastern Campbelville? Was there an enquiry into why did Guyana have the shame and stain of 918 deaths on its national pride? How was Guyana perceived then and how is it seen now? Guyana’s attraction to Jones was, as Burham was reported to have said after the tragedy, “he wanted to use cooperatives as the basis for the establishment of socialism, and maybe his idea of setting up a commune meshed with that,” and that coming to Guyana “would afford black members of the Temple a peaceful place to live.”
Every year, there has been some mention of Jonestown, but this year marks 30 years since the murder-suicide happened. We who live in the U.S. have witnessed the holding on to and dredging up of the memories of the past: Pearl Harbor, Jonestown, and September 11; incidentally, only those which were caused by others, and which rekindle memories and make healing and forgetting that much harder. How do we as Guyanese feel about this re-hashing of an event we would rather forget? Isn’t healing supposed to involve forgetting and allowing the past to remain in the past? While many of us know that Guyanese, in the main, had no active part in this blot on our country’s pride, are we somehow culpable by our passivity?
I could feel the bile rise in me when I listen to O’Brien recount, in a behind the scenes interview of the making of the documentary, the experience of Traci Parks, a survivor of Jonestown, who was 12 years old at the time and who returned to the area for the documentary. Parks, according to O’Brien said that as it was then, so it is now, she is still trying to wash off the oppressive heat, the sweat and the smell of Guyana from her skin. Parks speaks of the darkness and fear she experienced as she fled for her life in the jungle bordering the airstrip. Earlier this week, MSNBC carried a two-hour long presentation of Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre.
While Guyana has come a long way since the events of Nov 18, 1978 on that turn off from the stretch of railroad between Port Kaituma and Arakaka, questions still linger. Just as in the U.S. there were investigations into what happened and who caused September 11, was there ever an enquiry by Guyanese into all that was Jonestown?

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

Excerpt from Slavery of Faith by Leslie Wagner-Wilson: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/11/12/jonestown.wilson.excerpt/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People

Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the People’s Temple

Dear People: Remembering Jonestown

Jonestown – The Life & Death of Peoples Temple

Innovative prostate cancer technology

by Antoine Craigwell

HIFU, high intensity focused ultrasound, is prostate cancer technology used to eliminate cancerous cells in the prostate, with comparably lesser side effects, cost and a quicker return to normalcy than other commonly used treatment methods currently available in the U.S.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) 2007 Cancer Facts and Figures says that while incidence rates of prostate cancer are significantly higher in Blacks than in white men and although prostate cancer death rates have been declining nationwide since the early 1990s, mortality among African-Americans still remains more than twice as high as those of white men.
The ACS 2007 Surveillance Research estimates 26,730 new prostate cancer cases in African-Americans in the New York tri-state region and 8.5 percent or 2,270 deaths. The ACS says that though common among men in North America and southern Europe, statistics show that Afro-Caribbean men have the highest prostate cancer incidence rates in the world and advises men with a strong family history to begin screening for it as early as age 45.
As a treatment method, HIFU goes back to the early 1940s through to the 60s when it was used extensively for the treatment of various cancers in women. It is an alternative to already established treatment methods, including: cryotherapy, freezing cancerous cells; radical prostatectomy, prostate removal; external beam radiation, radiation through healthy tissue for six to eight weeks; and internal radiation seeds, permanent implantation of 80 to 100 radioactive seeds in the prostate — all of which have periods of hospitalization, extended recovery, varying percentages of impotence and incontinence (insufficient bladder control), pain and other lower abdominal abnormalities. While avoiding nerves and blood vessels, HIFU focuses a large pulse of high-energy ultrasonic waves on a single location, raising the temperature of cancerous cells to 100 degrees Celsius, and causing the lipids of cell membranes to melt and the proteins in them to denature.
John Rewcastle, Ph.D., of the Radiology Department at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in a comparative review paper says this treatment method is minimally invasive, without any incision— a probe into the rectum— the recovery is less than one week, the impotency rate is 28 percent, and the incontinence rate is lower that other methods. Other forms of prostate cancer treatment leave radiation failures and prostatectomy residuals — rectal injury, blood loss, and cancer cells. After receiving the HIFU treatment, lasting up to three hours, patients are able to return to their regular lives almost immediately, with only two follow-up treatments for about two hours each.
While acknowledging its effectiveness, Brian Stone, M.D., assistant professor of urology at Columbia University Medical Center, cautions, “It is experimental because there are still questions about it.”
Though accepted and practiced in Europe, Canada, South Korea, Australia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Brazil, HIFU is in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Phase III clinical trials, which examines equipment safety and efficacy, and has not been approved for use in the U.S. Current insurance payouts for approved prostatectomy or radiation procedures range between $100,000 to $150,000; a HIFU treatment costs $25,000 when there is a low prostate specific antigen (PSA), the level of antigen found in the blood, and the tumor is localized in the prostate, and $30,000 if the tumor has traveled and has compromised the seminal vesicles, and the PSA is higher than seven. It is not a treatment option for those people whose cancer has metastasized beyond the prostate.
But, Abraham Woods, III, M.D., one of three African-American urological specialists in the country who work with HIFU, says an alternative prostate treatment is predicated on preventing the certain death men face with undiagnosed prostate problems.
“For those who have had conventional forms of treatment and are living lives with impotence and wearing pads against incontinence, the result is psychological damage to their masculinity,” he says