Kalman Phillips died on August 17 at his home in Pacific Palisades, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 91. ”Kal Phillips was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 18, 1913, the son of Samuel Phillips and Sofia Zachim, both Eastern European Jewish immigrants. He studied at Columbia University and continued to live in New York City until 1940, when he moved to California. ”Kal served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he published more than 100 short stories and wrote, produced, or directed various television shows, including the series ‘Veloz and Yolanda’ and ‘Men Into Space.’ Kal also served as editor of a series of yearbooks, annual photographic histories of the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. ”In the early ’50s, Kal joined the international advertising firm of J. Walter Thompson, where he was employed for 13 years in San Francisco and Los Angeles, serving as group head, writer/producer, copy chief, and broadcast director. He created the famous ‘Don’t Be a Litterbug’ campaign for the City of Los Angeles and wrote and produced successful television and radio campaigns for other important accounts, including Douglas Aircraft and Hawaiian Punch. ”After leaving JWT, Kal worked as creative director and broadcast director at two other advertising agencies before striking out on his own, with his friend and colleague Adrian Brown, to form Phillips/ Brown Creative Services, which later became Kalman Phillips Creative Services. Kal’s most acclaimed work in advertising was a series of award-winning theatre, television, and radio commercials that he wrote, produced, and directed for the Los Angeles Times. ”He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Betty Phillips; brother Milton, of Palm Springs; daughter Karen, of Petaluma; and sons Greg and Brad, both of Pacific Palisades; and by eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. ”Kal’s family suggests that memorial contributions can be made to the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease at UC San Francisco, P.O. Box 419100, San Francisco, CA 94141.
Arthur Kunstman; Artist, Married for 51 Years
Longtime Palisadian Arthur Kunstman passed away in his sleep on October 24 after a long illness. He was 79. He was born in Chicago on April 23, 1925 and served during World War II aboard the battleship USS Indiana. Art’s name was befitting of his love for artistic expression and his passion towards his business, Hobco Arts, a graphic design firm. He and his wife Teresa met in Chicago and in a very short time, with just pennies in their pockets and an old car, they made the two-week journey to California, where they eventually settled in Pacific Palisades to raise their family. Art loved painting, drawing and especially his sculpture work. His wonderful sense of humor and wisdom has always been admired by his family and many wonderful friends. Along with his wife of 51 years, Art is survived by his daughters, Carmen (husband Frank) of Seal Beach and Margo (husband Alan) of Santa Maria, and grandchildren Chris and Michelle of Seal Beach and Jeffrey, Brian and Alex of Santa Maria. Following Art’s wishes, his ashes will be spread at sea on October 30 in an intimate ceremony with family and friends. Art was dearly loved and will be painfully missed but his memory will live forever. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in the name of Arthur Kunstman to Saint John’s Health Center, attention Foundation Office, 1328 22nd. St., Santa Monica, CA 90404-2091.
State Assembly Race: Pavley’s Record
‘Toughest Rules in Nation. Challenge Expected From Automakers’ You know your voice is being heard when an initiative of yours ends up on the front page of The New York Times, which is exactly what happened to Fran Pavley, the incumbent in Tuesday’s District 41 Assembly race, at the end of September. The article detailed how the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had adopted AB 1493, which imposes stringent air emissions limits upon car manufacturers. The regulations will have enormous ramifications for industry and consumers as California is the country’s biggest automobile market, and could set a precedence: New York and six other Northeastern states have indicated they may pass similar restrictions. ‘I was proud to carry AB 1493 in the beginning, and very pleased to see the California Air Resources Board adopt the final regulations last month,’ Pavley said. ‘California is again leading the way in the fight for cleaner air for all of our citizens.’ While the regulations will only apply to vehicles manufactured in the 2009 model year or after, CARB’s adoption of AB 1493 is the culmination of the assemblymember’s four-year effort to get gas emissions from vehicles, which scientists have linked to global warming, drastically reduced’about 30 percent by 2016. Some of the technology needed to meet that target is already on the road in the form of gas-electric hybrid cars, which Pavley herself drives. Since she was elected to the State Legislature in 2000, 23 of the bills Pavley has authored have been passed into law. Besides her global warming bill’AB 1493, signed in 2002 by former Governor Gray Davis’Pavley had 12 bills recently signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another of her environmental bills is AB 1009, which requires trucks entering California from Mexico to meet federal emission standards. Pavley pointed out that ‘air pollution is already the number one environmental health hazard in the state, and is linked to the high rates of asthma and respiratory illnesses in both adults and children.’ Foreign trucks, because they are often older than U.S. vehicles, are generally considered to be heavier polluters. Pavley said she felt compelled to do something in response to a Supreme Court decision that allows Mexican trucks to operate in the United States even though many do not currently meet U.S. air emissions standards. She said she read about the situation ‘in the newspaper, like everyone else.’ Other Pavley bills recently passed include: ”AB 2901, which requires cellular phone makers, effective July 1, 2006, to take back their used products at no cost to the consumer for recycling, reuse or proper disposal. Most cell phones have an average life span of 18 months and currently end up in California landfills. ‘where their hazardous contents can leak out and contaminate the soil and groundwater,’ Pavley said. ”AB 2943 will prohibit, by July 2006, the injection of any pregnant woman or child under three years of age with a vaccine that contains more than trace levels of mercury. Mercury is known to cause brain damage in fetuses and young children. The bill contains an exception to allow mercury vaccines to be used in the event of a public health emergency, bio-terrorist threat, or supply shortage. ”AB 2554, which amends current law to eliminate the earnings limit ($22,000) for certain retired members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System who return to service. ‘While we need to continue to create incentives for college graduates and mid-career individuals to enter the teaching profession, we must work with school districts in the meantime to find ways to encourage highly qualified teachers to help fill the gaps,’ explained Pavley. ‘The bill will encourage more experienced teachers to step into positions such as special education, math and science, which are typically the most difficult to fill.’ While Pavley, a former teacher and former Mayor of Agoura Hills, is pleased ‘that Governor Schwarzenegger signed bills I authored that will allow hybrid vehicles to drive in diamond lanes, allow low-income seniors to postpone property tax payments, and protect consumers from identity theft,’ Pavley said, she is ‘disappointed that he did not sign other important bills of mine that would have reduced pharmaceutical costs to consumers and provided whistleblower protection to government attorneys.’ Since the current campaign began, Pavley said she has only met her Republican opponent, Heather Peters, once ‘at a community debate.’ Also running against Pavley is Libertarian Richard Koffler (see adjacent story). (Editor’s note: Palisadian-Post intern Helen Highberger contributed to this report.)
Oh, the Palisades Places You’ll Vote!
With election day just around the corner, you may have last-minute voting questions or concerns about what to expect in Pacific Palisades on November 2. Don’t fret. The answers, too, are close at hand. But first, some statistics. In last October’s California gubernatorial recall election, 48 percent of eligible Palisadians were registered Democrat, 34 percent were registered Republican, 14 percent were independents or declined to state their party, and the rest were ‘scattered among small parties,’ according to Joe Halper, Democratic Club President. He also told the Palisadian-Post that 52 percent of registered voters in the Palisades voted in that election. This year, Halper predicts that there will be ‘major shifts because of the amount of interest and depth of feelings that have gone into this election’ and the result will be a greater turnout of voters. Based on phone calls to registered Democrats and independents in the Palisades, he says that about one-third of them are voting absentee. In the last six weeks, the volunteers at the Democratic headquarters in Santa Monica (located at 900 Wilshire Blvd.), have registered over 5,000 new voters, Halper says. As of the October 18 registration deadline, L.A. County had nearly four million registered voters, according to a Los Angeles Times article that appeared Sunday (‘New Voters’ Impact Debated’). However, the article stated that ‘in most states where figures are available, it is nonpartisan voters who have recorded the largest increases’ and the ‘political significance of the new registrations remains unclear.’ What also remains unclear is which new voters will show up at the polls on election day. Palisades Republican Club president Curt Baer says that the Republican headquarters office in the 881 Alma Real building has been ‘trying to get out the vote and answer any questions our voters have.’ He adds that ‘we’ve seen a lot of enthusiastic support’ for President George Bush. One November 2, volunteers at both the Republican and Democratic headquarters will be monitoring voters and contacting registered voters who have not yet cast their ballots to remind them to vote. In response to the nationwide focus on voter protection at the polls, Democratic headquarters manager Marcy Winograd says, ‘We’re taking a more proactive stance to protect the right to vote, making sure everyone knows their rights and that they are entitled to a provisional ballot if they have a problem at the polls.’ She adds that Democratic headquarters will have a table set up on election day in front of the People’s Bank on Sunset, across from Starbucks. Should questions or concerns arise on November 2, Republican voters can call the headquarters at 454-4345. The election protection hotline for the Democratic Party is 877-321-VOTE; to set up transportation to the polls, call 451-1094. What voters should know is that those standing in line to vote at 7 p.m. are entitled to vote, and everyone is entitled to a provisional ballot, according to Winograd. She adds that ‘a voter is allowed to wear a [political] button or T-shirt as long as he or she is not campaigning [at the polls].’ With 29 precincts in the Palisades from the Riviera area to Santa Monica Canyon, voters should check their sample ballots for the address of their polling place, which may have changed from last year.
Renaissance Academy Fights for Its Future on Alma Real
While teaching its students about successful participation and service in the Palisades community, Renaissance Academy Charter High School struggles to maintain ground at its 881 Alma Real location. At 4 p.m. Tuesday, 25 Renaissance students volunteered to empty trash cans and pick up loose trash in the Palisades business district, a project that was part of the community service component of the charter, according to Bill Bryan, RA board president and parent. ‘The school plans to make this a regular thing,’ Bryan said. ‘The real question is ‘Why haven’t we done this sooner?’ and the answer is ‘We haven’t done it sooner because we’ve been trying to survive.” And survive they have, despite being served with a Notice of Default by building landlord Greg Schem two weeks ago, and undergoing a progress inspection from L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety last week. The inspection was performed after Building and Safety ‘received a complaint about occupancy,’ said Robert Steinbach, the department’s public information officer. The school was found to be ‘exceeding what permits allow for number of occupants’ and ‘occupying parts of the building outside [the school’s] temporary Certificate of Occupancy,’ including using ground-level space as classrooms and more than the four permitted classrooms on the lower terrace level. To date, Building and Safety has officially restricted the ground level for administration and counseling, and stipulated that only 90 students occupy the four permitted classrooms on the lower terrace level. Renaissance currently has about 325 students. As a result of the inspection, Building and Safety issued the school a correction notice, which is ‘what inspectors use on any building site,’ according to Steinbach. No citation or ‘issue to comply’ was issued because there were no life safety problems and Renaissance is making an appeal to City Planning on the parking issue, Steinbach said. The parking situation needs to be resolved before Building and Safety can issue Renaissance a ‘change of use’ permit to E(ducation)-Occupancy, allowing for one person per every 20 square feet. The change of use would allow for over 350 students. Under the Pacific Palisades Specific Plan, a high school requires ‘seven parking spaces for each classroom or teaching station.’ This plan technically requires RA, if and when it is officially permitted by Building and Safety to use all 15 classrooms, to provide a total of 105 parking spaces in the building. While the underground garage can accommodate up to 268 vehicles, and the school has only 27 designated spaces in its lease’reflecting the current permitted use of four classrooms’RA said it only needs 20 spaces and has ‘initiated the process for obtaining a parking variance,’ according to Bryan. ‘Because they’re taking the necessary steps to comply [with Building and Safety], we suspend enforcement,’ Steinbach said yesterday. ‘We won’t take any further action unless there’s a [decision made about the parking variance] from City Planning.’ Meanwhile, Renaissance met its October 25 deadline for responding to landlord Schem’s Notice of Default. Last week, Schem told the Palisadian-Post that the school had ’10 days to comply with the terms of the lease’ from the time it was served. As to specific violations of the lease, Schem only said, ‘there are way more students using the building than are permitted by Building and Safety.’ When asked about RA’s response to the Notice of Default, Schem said, ‘We’d love to see them stay but they have to stay within an amount [of students] that works for Building and Safety requirements.’ Bryan emphasized that Renaissance ‘strenuously disagrees with [the landlord’s] interpretation of the lease,’ specifically in terms of ground floor use, and said, ‘We will pursue relief from that [interpretation] with the help of lawyers.’ He added that RA has told its attorneys, ‘We will follow your conservative advice as long as you aggressively pursue getting [use of] the space back.’ From a financial point of view, the public school has struggled most with ‘the complete prohibition of our class activities on the ground floor,’ which Bryan said ‘is backbreaking, but we’ve accepted it.’ This week, Renaissance has allowed 150 students to study in the terrace level because that is the number permitted by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Those students have been using seven of the eight classrooms on that level. Only independent study groups of about 10 students have been using the ground level, according to Bryan. Other RA students have been attending classes at satellite locations, including Aldersgate Retreat Center on Haverford, which is owned by the United Methodist Church. ‘We have a semi-permanent arrangement with Aldersgate,’ said Bryan, who explained that they will be using the facility (three to four rooms) almost every day for the rest of the school year, except for days when the rooms have already been reserved or planned events are taking place. Aldersgate could not be reached for comment. Students are also studying in a room at the Methodist Church, the YMCA board room and, occasionally, in Mort’s Oak Room. ‘Sometimes [the students] get scared that the school is going to go away,’ Bryan said. ‘We tell them that it’s going to be in existence for a long time.’ He added that only ‘a tiny number’ have left Renaissance. The school is still continuing to search for an alternate permanent location.
PaliHi to Receive Over $350,000 as LAUSD Restores Funding
The Los Angeles Board of Education voted 4 to 3 on October 12 to restore $2.2 million in funding to seven area charter schools, including Palisades Charter High School. ”PaliHi was one of seven conversion charters that had been seeking restoration of integrative funding from the Los Angeles Unified School District ‘that we received last year but were initially denied this year,’ said Gregory Wood, chief business officer. ”The charter schools’ motion directed LAUSD superintendant Roy Romer ‘to restore all Targeted Instructional Improvement Grant (TIIG) resources (integration funding) previously allocated to conversion charter schools for the 2004-05 school year, and urged him to conduct a full review to determine whether TIIG funding should continue to be be allocated to conversion charter schools beyond that.’ ”Pali, which became an independent charter school on July 1, 2003, will receive between $350,000 to $400,000 of the $2,218,223 that was assigned to the charter schools. It’s unclear where the money will come from or when it will be allocated since ‘the Board left it up to the district to decide,’ Wood said. ”He added that how Pali will spend the money will be determined after disctribution. ‘[The restored funding] creates a lot more flexibility to deliver and expand educational projects we’re looking to provide students.’ ”The schools and the LAUSD have yet to reach a ‘consensus’ regarding special education funding and facility, or oversight fees. ‘It’s an ongoing discussion,’ Wood said. ”Originally, funding was going to be denied because the district’s legal team determined that LAUSD is not legally obligated to distribute the funds to charter schools. Given the budget crisis and the need to cut $500 million for fiscal year 2004-05, the associate superintendant of specially funded programs recommended against the distribution. ”The three board members who voted against passing the measure probably took into consideration the district’s tight budget, said Roberta Benjamin, director of LAUSD charter schools.’They are really stretching resources,’ she said. ”Over the summer, $370,000 from Pali’s reserve funding was used to purchase text books for various departments, ‘as opposed to being constrained to buying books for just one department’ if the school was still a dependent school within the LAUSD, Wood said. ‘As a charter, we were able to take advantage of cost containments and prudent spending.’ ”In addition to Pali, other conversion charter schools that will receive funding include Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace, Granada Hills, Montague Charter Academy in Pacoima, Pacoima Charter School, Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood and Vaughn Next Century Learing Center in San Fernando.
Finding Samiya in the Chaos of Baghdad
By ANN KERR Special to the Palisadian-Post There it was in my mailbox ‘a beige envelope addressed to me in simple handwritten script with a colorful stamp covered with exotic fish and Arabic writing, postmarked Iraq, March 9, 2004. I had been hoping for a letter from Samiya since 1990, when I visited her in Baghdad but I knew it might be risky for her to write. My visit 14 years before was the first time I had seen her since we were roommates at the American University of Beirut in 1954-55. ”Samiya had been reluctant to meet me at the home of an American diplomat, where I was staying in January 1990 and working on a student exchange program, so we met for coffee in the lobby of the Babylon Hotel. She was nervous about being seen with an American, so our visit was disappointingly short. She spoke in hushed tones about the difficult times they had been through in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. A quarter of a million people had died, among them her youngest brother. Samiya was the eldest sister in a Christian family of 10 children originally from Mosul. She had not married and had helped support her younger siblings as a high school math teacher. Now she was caring for her ailing mother, but they had suffered a setback two years earlier when their house was confiscated by the government with only modest compensation. Her voice lowered as she told me this, and then she explained, ‘I have to be careful’I am a teacher in the school where the children of government officials study, and information is quickly passed around. I could lose my job if they thought I was against the government.’ I learned this month that she had taught three of Saddam Hussein’s daughters. ”I opened Samiya’s letter, almost in disbelief, reading her straightforward language written in blue ink on both sides of a single piece of paper. ‘You asked me how I feel about what is happening in Iraq,’ she responded to the question I had asked her in a letter at Christmas time. ‘I will write how I feel and people around me feel. ”’Last March, I moved to my sister’s house with her husband and daughter. We made one room as a shelter. It was difficult days. One day they fired guns in our district, 35 were killed and 64 wounded. We left to my cousin’s house in the other side of the city. It was worse. I stayed six months with my sister. It was not safe for me to live alone. We thanked God my family was saved during the war. After that, as [with] other people, a car was stolen, my brother and his wife were attacked with arms as they were walking’they took money and a gold bracelet in which was written Glory to God. We didn’t have kidnapping in the family as others because we are not rich. ”’My brothers are three engineers and two computer specialists’they are good at their work and heads of their sections. They have small families, one, two and the largest three children. After the war of 1991 [the first Gulf War], all these families were not able to live with their salaries. ”’I have one brother who has lived in Germany more than 40 years. He started helping us for the last 13 years. He sends the money to me and I give it to nine families and keep $1,000 for emergency. Those who couldn’t [get] help from outside have either to bribe or steal, especially when they have big families. The government gave each family the essential things like sugar, rice, oil’The monthly salary for a teacher or a doctor can help him buy 30 eggs. My pension could help me buy 20 eggs. You can’t live a month on such a salary. ”’I am writing all this to explain to you how sanction has affected Iraq and its people. Before, all children were oblige to study at least six years. Teaching was a respected job. After the sanction, some children [couldn’t come to] school. The sanction has changed many things, the relations between people, the morals of the society. I don’t blame Saddam, only for what happen to Iraqi people. All leaders in different countries are as criminal as Saddam. They all help to keep him in his position. They all sold him weapons, they know how much he used and got rid of, but kept the sanction for 13 years. Mr. Bush the father, who had good relation with Saddam, could get rid of him in 1991. He didn’t’they say [because of] politics which I don’t understand. Now they want to give us freedom and democracy. They can rebuild a better bridge or a house, but they can’t heel the soul and the character of people. It needs years and it will not be the same. It all showed in the behavior of people in this last war. I cried only for the museum, which I love, and for the books that were stolen or buried. A year has passed and life is worse than before. We are afraid in our houses, afraid to drive and afraid to walk.’ ”Samiya ended her letter with a sympathetic story about American soldiers who had searched their house in May. ‘One of them saw my niece’s picture with Santa Claus. He called his friends and showed them the picture. I told them that I hope they will be with their families at Christmas. They said pray for us to go before. I wonder which one of them went. I feel sorry for them to be killed for what?’ ”A second letter from Samiya arrived at the end of September from Germany, where she was visiting her brother, another single page covered on both sides in her tidy penmanship. On the back of the envelope was her brother’s address. I rushed to the post office with a letter to mail to her, giving her my telephone number and asking her to phone me before she returned to Iraq on October 13’hoping she wouldn’t see evidence of the high cost of sending a letter by express mail to Germany. Meanwhile I read and reread her two letters. She had traveled with some of her family members overland in an 11-hour drive by minibus from Baghdad to Amman where she had waited 20 days to obtain a visa for Germany. ‘Here I am having a very nice time. We visited Koln which has the biggest cathedral in Germany. I attended a noon service and prayed from all my heart to have peace in all the world.’ ”’The Red Cross group in this city invited me to talk about life in Iraq. I told them how it is difficult to go by car or to walk. People are afraid that something will explode any time. The American soldiers are afraid too. If they give a sign to stop and the person doesn’t see it, they shoot and many innocent people died in this way. I told them about the electricity cuts for many hours a day and sometimes for many days and it is very hot in Iraq so we can’t keep food. They asked if it was better before. I said I don’t care about politics, but many things were good: Making teaching (required schooling) till the age of 12, or teaching the older people who didn’t have the chance before, and building schools and hospitals. Building big houses for the president and his relatives and many mosques was not good. I preferred if they had built houses for the people. Now, one and a half years have passed and they haven’t built a single school or a hospital in all Iraq. They have painted some schools, and say we are going to do this and that and make contracts, but there is nothing. ”’I told the group also about the situation of Christians in Iraq. I think you heard when they exploded six cars at six services during Sunday service. Many were killed and wounded. After that these fanatic Muslims who entered Iraq, said that Christians in Iraq should leave, and some got letters asking them to change their religion. They think Mr. Bush is our relative because he is Christian!’ ”Life in Iraq is becoming worse. Mr. Jacques Chirac, [president] of France, said a good sentence. He said they have opened one of hell’s doors and don’t know how to close it.’ Calculating that my express mail letter to Samiya in Germany would take about three days, I tried to stay off the phone in the morning hours when I told her I was usually home. Her call came about six days after my letter was mailed. I couldn’t believe I was hearing her voice’the 50-year period since we had been roommates at AUB with all its ensuing tragedy receded into the background as we renewed our friendship. I was tempted to jump on an airplane and go to Germany in the few days she had left there before returning to Baghdad, wanting desperately to do something to counter the helplessness I felt that my government had launched a preemptive war against Samiya’s country. Instead, I asked her if I could phone her several times over the next few days. ”In those phone calls I asked Samiya what she thought would happen if the Americans left Iraq. Immediately she answered, ‘There will be civil war. Bush has put his feet in the Iraqi mud’ believe me, only another Saddam can hold Iraq together. Now it is worse than before. Thirty professors were killed. The radicals want to get rid of educated people. They say it was a Zionist project. There is chaos. The world mafia came in with the American invasion. You will never know the truth from your television. Many thousands have been killed and many of the wounded die and are not counted. The Iraqis think the Americans came to control oil. They have all the Gulf States and now Iraq, tomorrow Iran. We never thought about terrorism.’ ”Samiya said she did not have the choice of staying in Germany where the country was already overflowing with refugees. But I suspect it was her feeling of responsibility as the senior member of her family to return to her siblings, nieces and nephews that enabled her to face the return journey to Amman and then the overland trip by minibus through Fallouja and Ramadi to Baghdad. ‘I will try to write you when I get back, but it might be difficult,’ she said. ‘I mostly stay at home, I read and knit. I have three good friends and we all read books and talk about them. They were teachers and professors’ and all Muslim. This was not a problem before, but I don’t know what it will be like now. The radicals came to a Christian pharmacist’s house last week and told him to convert to Islam or they would kill him. I hear they come to houses of women who live alone and kill them. Saddam kept this down.’ ”I couldn’t conceal my worry for her safe return, and the thought that having finally found her I might not be able to see her again. Hearing the concern in my voice and probably trying to quiet her own, Samiya said quietly, ‘We don’t know when we will die. I depend on God and leave it all. We cannot know when we will die.’ ”Samiya was to arrive in Baghdad last Friday. The front page of the Sunday New York Times had a color photo of Christians attending a blackened church in Baghdad, one of five that had been bombed that weekend. I searched for Samiya in the photo but couldn’t find her. (Editor’s note: Ann Kerr is coordinator of the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program at UCLA. In 1954-55 she studied at the American University in Beirut her junior year in college. There she met her husband, UCLA Professor Malcolm Kerr, who served as president of American University in Lebanon until 1984. That year he was assassinated in Beirut by unknown assailants who claimed responsibility in the name of Islamic Jihad. Ann is the author of two books on the Middle East.)
‘Kate’s Journey’ Follows Remarkable Recovery of Young Stroke Victim
In 1995, Kate Adamson was leading an enviable life as a vibrant, happily married 33-year-old with two young daughters living in Newport Beach. Her active lifestyle and passion for fitness was leading to work as a personal trainer. ”Then the unimaginable happened when she suffered a stroke, paralyzing her from head to toe. In ‘Kate’s Journey,’ Adamson, a native of New Zealand, tells her extraordinary story of recovery, one for which she was given little hope. ”Adamson will speak and sign copies of her book on Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore. ”Despite overall good health, Adamson had suffered from periodic migraine headaches. She went to bed with a severe one on June 28, 1995 and awoke the next morning with other symptoms: dizziness, slurred speech and the inability to move her left arm. Despite exhibiting classic signs of stroke, no one in the emergency room suspected it because Adamson was so young. ‘The myth still persists that it is only going to happen to someone old with gray hair,’ Adamson said. ”In fact, one-third of all stroke victims are under the age of 65, according to the American Heart Association. Statistics show that stroke is the nation’s third-ranking cause of death, following hearth disease and cancer. It is also the leading cause of disability in the U.S. ”The time between proper diagnosis of stroke and treatment is critical. In Adamson’s case, by the time it was determined that she had suffered a severe stroke at the base of her brain, she was paralyzed, unable to speak and given a one percent chance of survival. Medical staff predicted that even if her life were saved, she would be in a vegetative state. ”The shining light resided in her husband, Steven, and members of her church, both of whom never lost their belief she could make a full recovery. Adamson remembers hearing Steven say to the doctors ‘she’s going to be that one percent,’ planting the seed for her own amazing will to live and recover. ”Following her stroke came 50 nightmarish days in the ICU, during which Adamson was conscious, could feel pain, but could not move any part of her body, a condition known as locked-in syndrome. Tubes surgically placed in her stomach and throat allowed her to eat and breathe. ”’When I was locked into my body, it was so incredibly lonely and isolating,’ Adamson says. ‘I had no one to talk to except God.’ Eventually, Adamson found a way to communicate by blinking her eyes and later, regaining some small movement in her body, she was allowed admittance to a rehabilitation program. ”During weeks of grueling rehab, learning to swallow was one of Adamson’s big milestones, allowing her to eat and drink for the first time in weeks. Working daily with therapists, she embarked on the slow, exhausting process of regaining the use of her legs, arms and hands. ‘Miracles happened every day,’ says Adamson, who enlisted her family’s help in keeping a journal of each day’s triumphs. I remember the first time I could blow my nose, the first time I could sit on the toilet. ”’I had to have tunnel vision and complete focus,’ Adamson says about rehab. ‘It’s the hardest thing not looking down the road thinking ‘I want to walk, why can’t I walk?” ”Beyond the physical struggles Adamson endured, her road to recovery was fraught with enormous emotional difficulties, chief among them the anguish of being away from her kids. The trauma also took its toll on her marriage, leading to a cycle of separation, divorce and later reconciliation. ”Adamson has turned her pain and suffering into a positive force, working as an energetic advocate for stroke victims, others who suffer paralysis and their families. She has testified before Congress for more funding for stroke and heart research and is the national spokesperson for the American Stroke Association. She is also a much-sought-after inspirational speaker. ‘Tragedy can happen to anyone,’ Adamson says. ‘What I teach is how to get on the other side of it.’ ”Though not fully recovered (Adamson still doesn’t have use of her left arm), she feels she has little to complain about. ‘It’s important not to sit on the pity pot,’ she says ‘but to keep moving forward with what you can do.’
At the Movies
By Arnie Wishnick ‘VERA DRAKE’ Vera Drake is a good person. She visits the sick and invites hungry ones to dinner. She has a loving husband (Phil Davis) who co-owns an auto shop. They have an adult son and daughter (Daniel Mays and Alexandra Kelly). Vera is a domestic, cleaning the homes of the rich. She always has a smile. She also has a secret avocation. She’s been a back-street abortionist for nearly 20 years. It’s London in 1950. It’s a time when abortions are available only to the wealthy. After one young woman nearly dies, Vera is arrested in front of her dumbfounded family who (surprisingly) never suspected anything. When confronted, Vera says, ‘I do it for girls who are frightened and need help. I don’t do it for any money.’ (There is a moment when it’s assumed that Vera may have been in the same situation when she was young.) ‘Vera Drake’ directed by Mike Leigh (‘Secrets and Lies’) leaves no doubt about the dangers of an abortion, but it never debates the issue. Although the movie is at its most interesting before Vera’s arrest and gets rather dull afterwards, nothing but praise can be lauded on the cast and its star Imelda Staunton as Vera. She will definitely fill one spot when the five Oscar-nominated actresses are announced. Vera Drake and Imelda Staunton are two names to remember. Out of 5 Palm Trees, ‘Vera Drake’ gets 3-1/2 Palm Trees. ‘Z CHANNEL: MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION’ Before there was HBO and Showtime there was the Z Channel, the first pay cable station in the U.S., started in 1974. It was designed for the movie fan by a movie fan. Every genre of film from every culture could be found on Z. From ‘Cries and Whispers’ to ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ to ‘Heaven’s Gate’ even to soft porn. It was all available for a very low cost. With an obsessive interest in movies, there was Jerry Harvey, the channel’s programming chief and loose cannon. Unable to cope with mediocrity, Harvey ran everything. He hired; he fired; he ranted; he raved. He was loved a little and hated a lot. (This is what liking movies can do to a fan or movie critic.) And then one day Jerry Harvey left the studio for home and shot his pregnant wife and himself to death. With his passing the station was not the same, and in 1988 it was gone. This fine documentary directed by Zan Cassavetes (daughter of John) features interviews with filmmakers and actors whose careers were helped by being shown on the Z Channel: Robert Altman, Jacqueline Bisset, Henry Jaglom, Jim Jarmusch, Alan Rudolph, Quentin Tarantino and James Woods. ‘Z Channel’ is a movie fan’s delight about a little TV station that could, and its mastermind that just couldn’t. Out of 5 Palm Trees ‘Z Channel’ gets 4 Palm Trees.
AYSO REGIONAL ROUNDUP
U-10 Boys Striker Eric Alperin scored all three goals as the Tigers beat the Cabbage Heads, 3-1, at Barrington Recreation Center. Co-captain Alex Mack, Jacob Shmuely and Hagen Smith provided the assists. The Tigers’ defense was led by Jack Jordan, Nick Ravich, Tommy Collins, John Collier, Jonah Joffe, John Iacapino and goalie Brad Graboff kept the Cabbage Heads offense off the scoreboard except for an unassisted goal by Chad Kanoff. In another game, the Terminators defeated the Eagles 6-2. The Terminators exploded for four goals in the second quarter, led by Jacob Ashkan and Jackson Bantle. Chris Duval and Jake Mindel each scored for the Eagles, but the Terminators proved too strong despite tough midfield play by Eagles Nicholas Perr and Dinuk DeSilva. Eric Konner was a standout on defense for the Terminators. U-12 Boys Crimson United overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie the Wolverines 2-2 on Saturday. Stephan Callas and Kevin Walker scored for the United off of assists from Shervin Ghaffari and Turner Hanley. Goalie Daniel Davis was assisted by defenders Jordan Lewis and Parker Hiatt. on Sunday, the United offense ignited in a 5-1 victory over B.L.U.E., with Cole Kahrilas scoring twice. Davis, Hanley and Callas also scored for United while Judd Liebman tallied two assists. Oliver de Brevannes, Orly Isrealson and Hanley each added one assist and goalie Casey Jordan made key saves. U-14 Boys Hal Washburn’s Blue Ice tied Hollywood, 1-1, Saturday with their lone goal by Joey Oetzell off of a pass from Graham MacGillvray in the first quarter. Jimmy Plavec’s dribbling produced numerous shots on goal while the defense of Ben Asoulin, John Citro and Connor MacGillvray aided goalies Sullivan Washburn and Kevin Noori. Blue Ice midfielders Wyatt Donen, Matthew Lippman and Scott Sanford remained cool under pressure. U-8 Girls The Golden Stars lost to the Soccer Stars, 5-0, at Brentwood Magnet School. In the first half, Marianne Verrone protected the Golden goal with help from defenders Libby Sondheimer and Jessica Friedman. In the second half, great ball movement and teamwork by Lizzie Howard, Devon Shalom, Caroline Scholze and Brittney Ghadoushi put pressure on the Soccer Stars and Golden Star defenders Violet Somer and Kelsey Allen-Niesen aided goalie Erica Glenn. U-10 Girls The Crushers continued their winning streak with a 3-2 victory over the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Mikaela Hong and Martine Johannessen each scored in the first half for the Crushers, then Brighton Schinto broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth quarter off of an assist from Sabrina Khalili. Victoria Lancey, Lauren Ketterer and Josephine Washburn played strong defense for the Crushers. U-14 Girls The O’ Snaps defeated the Red Uniforms, 4-0, at Palisades High on Saturday. Brittany Edelman scored the first goal, followed by two from Christine Lubieniecki and another from Drake Williams. Assists from Megan Norton and Jenna Winebaum contributed to the Snaps’ offensive attack. Tough defense by Rebecca Kelly, Michelle Spetner, Kathryn Wilson, Maggie Randolph and goalie India Hughes preserved the shutout.
