Even though there is still a chill in the air, with the commencement of Lent and daylight savings time, we’re beginning to prepare for spring.
As of press time, several days have passed since the Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared off the radar screen. A 12-mile oil slick was found on the surface the gulf, but there have been no indications that fatalities have occurred.
According to Malaysia Airline System Director and CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, “We’re considering all possibilities.” Meanwhile, the Pentagon made use of a system that looks for flashes all around the world; they had yet to detect an explosion of any kind.
Wow, I didn’t know that we had that type of “Star Wars” technology, did you?
To thicken the plot, the flight’s manifest revealed that two of the passengers aboard had used stolen passports to ease past airline personnel. Both passports, belonging to men from opposite sides of the world, were reported stolen over a year ago, yet there were no bells or whistles to alert authorities at the airport check-in. Hmm.
That doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but then again, maybe it does. Sherlock Holmes, where are you? Or is this a case for Inspector Jacques Clouseau or maybe Bond, James Bond?
This all brings to mind a book I read many years ago called “Yargo,” by the late Jacquelin Susann. It is the tale of a human who mysteriously disappears into an alien spaceship and is taken to the planet Yargo, where the citizens lack all feelings of emotional passion or pain. The only pursuit in life for a Yargoian is to experience the pleasure of achieving their individual career goals, whatever that may be; to do otherwise is incomprehensible.
The two main characters of the story lead very different lives. The human is terribly bored by every aspect of her life, including the man she is about to marry. She does everything others expect of her but nothing to pursue her own dreams, wants or desires. Only one week before her very predictable wedding, as she walks aimlessly through Central Park, the spaceship lands before her. After mulling over her fate on Earth, she is enticed—or might I say seduced—by the idea of what life might be like elsewhere. It is then that she enters the spaceship.
Once on the planet Yargo, she is assigned a companion, her exact counterpart. The guide yearns to know what it feels like to have an emotional experience, while the human being yearns to know what it feels like to follow her dream.
Shall I tell you what happened in the end? Well, because the book may well be out of print by now, I will.
After a series of encounters on the planet, our character is allowed to return to Earth. Her family is excited to see her, and she tells them nothing of what really happened, only that she needed some time to herself. Fast-forward: After having to make a series of hard decisions, the human goes back to Central Park, where she cries out to the stars for the spaceship to return and take her back to Yargo. There, the quest is to combine feeling with achieving. The spaceship returns, she boards and they all live happily ever after on the planet Yargo.
In these modern times, we call it the best of both worlds. I would love to think the missing crew and passengers of the doomed Malaysian flight are on the planet Yargo, living life and loving it. It’s quite a stretch of the imagination to presume what might have really happened occurred for the better, but it shouldn’t stop us from dreaming and hoping.
One man who has been able to create the best of both worlds not only for himself but for others as well is Nicholas Scarpetta. Scarpetta was spotted most recently amongst the guests at a cocktail reception for Bryan Samuels, the new executive director of Chapin Hall of the University of Chicago. Chapin Hall is a research and policy center dedicated to improving the well-being of children, youth, families and their communities. Scarpetta grew up in New York’s foster care system, so he knew what he was talking about when 18 years ago, he founded New Yorkers for Children (NYFC).
NYFC was created to assist children who age out of the foster care system as they move into adulthood. Over the years, NYFC has directed, aided and helped thousands of New York City kids with their transition; the success stories have been countless. NYFC and Chapin Hall have a working relationship that has been developing programs to help foster children in New York.
This, however, hasn’t been the only hat Scarpetta has worn. He was commissioner for the Administration on Children, Youth and Families under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and fire commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
March is Women’s History Month, so it was the perfect time to host the kick-off for Woman Who Care. The kick-off gets everyone and everything in gear for the 13th annual Women Who Care Luncheon, which will take place on Wednesday, May 7 at Cipriani 42nd Street. The event, which benefits United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, also celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of women as professionals, caregivers and volunteers. This year’s host for the luncheon will be award-winning actress Susan Lucci (“All My Children”). Actress Robin Givens will serve as co-chair.
Past honoree Terrie Williams, president and founder of the Terrie Williams Agency, was in attendance at the kick-off and posed with Elinor Tatum, publisher of the New York Amsterdam News, for a photo op, while Mike Woods of Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” was also on hand to represent. Honorees and celebrity presenters for this year’s star-studded event will be announced in the coming weeks. The Hearst Corporation, which is the event’s lead sponsor, is joined this year by Cole Haan as a new major corporate sponsor.
Happy birthday to LeVerne Flowers, who celebrated her birthday with her husband, Kendell, and a few close friends at the Cecil. Head chef Alexander Smalls pulled out all of the stops for Flowers, which is something he loves to do, and he does it so well.
Until next week … kisses