Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Can't Tell Me Nothin'

What a shame about Kanye West's mom's untimely death, all for cosmetic surgery, for someone who didn't appear to need any, as she appeared youthful. (And the weeks in recovery from plastic surgery are the same number of weeks that hitting the weights in the gym might have toned a tummy up instead of getting a tuck.) The irony is that this incident spotlighted a trait which served Donda West well most of her life, her stubbornness (which Kanye obviously inherited), but which turned on her in her insistence on having surgery even after her initial (apparently honest) surgeon balked at performing it at the time. (So, apparently Kanye's not the only one in his family who can't be told nothin.')

Some good may yet come out of this tragedy, if only because it may snap folks into remembering that plastic surgery is actual surgery, with all its attendant risks. Also, it's bizarre that Dr. Jan Adams could have a Beverly Hills practice, and programs on cable, but not be board certified? (Which means that much of his affluent clientele and cheerleaders never bothered to take a close look at his credentials, such as they were, even boosters such as Oprah, who's having a run of problems herself lately.)

* * *

Unfortunately, such focus on the death of a celebrity's mom has eclipsed reflection on the lives of luminaries who have recently deceased, such as the late Congressman Augustus "Gus" Hawkins, one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus and a champion of civil rights, who recently passed away. (He had recently celebrated his 100th birthday.) Oh, the things he must have seen and experienced in this past, free-flying century.

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