The 20-Dollar Bill

My pastor told a story in church today that I think we should all remember when we are doubting ourselves or feel that our past mistakes make us unworthy of having God's blessings.

He took out a 20-dollar bill, held it up and asked the congregation who wanted it. As expected, dozens and dozens of people gleefully raised their hands, some shouting, "I do, I do!"

Our pastor then said, "I can't guarantee where this money has been. As you can see, it's not a new bill. It's been around a long time. It could have been used to buy drugs. It may have been used to purchase stolen goods, or even a lap dance. It's old and a little dirty."
Then, he held it up again and said, "Who still wants this 20-dollar bill?"
This time, as many as had raised their hands before and even more, did again.
Our pastor picked one woman out of the congregation and asked her to come up to the altar of the church. When she did, the pastor asked, "Why do you still want this 20-dollar bill when you don't know where it's been. You don't know its past."
The woman said, "Well, it's in a good place now".
In God's eyes, our worth does not change because of the mistakes we have made. The key is to recognize the behavior and make honest efforts to do better.
We are all valuable when we finally get to that "good place".

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda walked into our junket room just as self-confident as she has always been. Never mind that the airline just lost her luggage full of clothes that she was going to wear doing a round of interviews promoting her new film, "Georgia Rule" co-starring Lindsay Lohan and Felicity Huffman.
She still looked good.
I asked her if she gave the airline a piece of her mind. In true Jane Fonda fashion, she said, "No, I was so tired, I didn't have enough mind to give them."
Jane plays a small town mom struggling to keep everyone together as terrible family secrets slowly reveal themselves.

The conversation eventually turns to the reported bad behavior of Lindsay Lohan during filming on the set. Jane says she offered Lindsay emotional support but, says the young starlet wasn't in a place where she wanted it, so Jane didn't push.
Then, Jane puts it out there saying "when a young person doesn't have structure and a value-based foundation, and you overlay that with celebrity from 12-years-old, that's hard". Reading that as a not-so-subtle message that parents need to hear.
Turning now to politics...Jane had just gone to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner where Sanjaya was a huge celebrity. I asked if she had met the American Idol reject and Jane says, "Oh yes, SHE's a lovely girl". I say, "No, Jane, Sanjaya's a guy!" She says, "Oh, I see. Then I guess I did not meet him."
But, of course, she knows her politics and she's still very passionate about them.
Jane was still bemoaning the fact that, at the dinner, she missed witnessing the widely-reported confrontation between singer Sheryl Crowe and Laurie David - a major Democratic donor and producer of the global warming documentary featuring Al Gore, 'An Inconvenient Truth' - and President Bush's deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. She says, "I heard about some fight going on and scampered to try to find them but, couldn't. But, I think Sheryl and Laurie did just fine without me'.
The lady can still handle herself - especially after selling 17-million workout videos.
Okay, I'm going to throw out, 'The China Syndrome' as my favorite Jane Fonda film.
What's yours and why?

One of the really cool things I get to do is meet people you wouldn't ordinarily run into.
Case in point, Tom.
You know Tom. Come on. Okay, let me refresh your memory. When you first signed up for MySpace, who was the first person who greeted you with his smiling face, welcoming you to the most popular networking site in the world? Your FIRST friend.
That's right. THAT TOM! (Isn't he the cutest?)
Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are the co-founders of MySpace and I had the honor of meeting them awhile back at a Recording Academy event that I hosted and, at which, they were honored. That was tens of millions of friends ago and, since then, I have developed a professional friendship with the two of them and can honestly tell you that they are two of the coolest guys. Their phenomenal success in creating a cyberspace "neighborhood" with some 173-million people has left them, nothing but thankful and determined to use their platform to help the world - whether it be a band struggling to get signed or the people in Darfur.
I was very surprised to read that, not long after Tom and Chris created MySpace that Tom didn't think their internet venture would be successful. He said that even though things went remarkably easy, they struggled for a short time. He said when they were about a month into it, he remembered thinking, "This may not work out."
And then , Tom said, " Just one day, in particular, we saw this huge spike because of people telling each other. It just went crazy from there."
When I read that, I starting thinking...do we sometimes just give up too easily? How quickly do we throw in the towel when things get tough, when we hit a roadblock? I began thinking about the times I started a project and got discouraged because someone planted the seed of doubt. "Are you sure you want to tackle something like that?" "How are you going to have time?" "That's going to be impossible". "That's going to take too much time/money/energy". "Just stick with something you know".
Is there something that you are passionate about or feel that you were put here to do? A new venture that you set out on and then, for some reason, just quit?
Do you need a reason to keep going?
Tom will give you 173-million and counting.

Virginia Tech Shooter

There was much debate recently in the Access Hollywood newsroom about whether or not to show pictures or video left behind by the Virginia Tech shooter.

The images were haunting - pointing guns at the camera, bullets, swinging a sword. The audio gave us the ramblings of a delusional killer who was paranoid and felt disenfranchised and saw himself as the victim.

One arguement was that showing his picture played right into his hands. He wanted to be a martyr - to go down in history as as a notorious killer and airing the pictures then makes us his personal PR machine.

Another said that the pictures would encourage copycats and that potential killers would see him getting the media coverage he wanted and that maybe they could live in infamy also.

"What would happen if we blur his image?" someone asked who felt we should air the footage. But, to a world who has already seen him, would that even matter? The cow is already out of the barn.

NBC News said they limited the coverage after consulting with federal authorities. In a statement, the news organization said that airing the footage provided some answers as to why this man carried out these awful murders.

Someone else likened it to showing the plane slamming into the Towers on 9/11 and of the Towers falling. And the airing of the rantings of Osama Bin Laden as they appeared on tape. That was what Bin Laden wanted us to do.

What responsibility do we have to our own children or families and communities?

Ultimately, the decision was made not to air his pictures or video but there is no doubt that the debate will linger on.

How To Get Into Television Reporting

I receive many emails and letters asking how I got started in my career and for advice on how to get into reporting.

I started my career in my hometown of Detroit. I interned for a small television station during my summers when I was home from college. I learned how to write, produce, and edit my own stories. I worked for no money at all but, I was very determined that I wanted to be a journalist. After I graduated, I went back to the station and continued working for free. I registered at a temporary agency which enabled me some part-time work just so I could make some money. Finally, because I was so dedicated, the television station offered me a paid position!

I asked my agent, Kenny, to offer aspiring journalists some advice on how to get started. Here's what he said:

"The best preparation, is to put the percentages in your favor that you will land your first, and thereafter, the most appropriate position for you. In connection with your first position, either take an undergraduate, graduate or extension course from which you will get a demo tape, or put together your own. This tape should show your ability to communicate effectively, your personality, and your best look. When it comes to first jobs, subscribe to services that will tell you what jobs are available, or get in your car and take a road-trip to the smallest markets in the areas where you would consider living. Even if there are no openings at the stations that you visit, getting a face-to-face meeting can certainly help in keeping you in the forefront of a news directors mind when an opening does arise. In connection with subsequent positions, the jobs that you take should showcase your strengths, and allow you to shore up non-strengths. At some point, you may well consider securing representation."

This is great advice.

Good luck!

Don Imus

Once again, the issue of race has been re-ignited.

And, once again, women, and certainly black women, are defending their right to "be".

When radio shock jock Don Imus referred to members of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team as "nappy-headed hos", I was disgusted but not surprised.

The first time I was ever called the N-word, it was by a guy in the gym that was angry because I was using a piece of equipment that he wanted to get on. The last time, was 4 years ago.

Both times, (and the 2-3 times in between) I wondered what point they were trying to get across.

The answer was, by virtue of being born with this color, they thought of me as inferior.

As an African-American woman, I have experienced the pains of racism and sexism. They are with me everyday as I make my way through a society that constantly tells women, they are not as worthy as a man, and as a black woman who has been told that her brown skin, her hair, her nose, are not as beautiful and definitely less desirable than her white counterparts.

Don Imus' comments remind me of the time when a news director told me that the audience would never connect with "a black" in a role of authority on a television show.



My girlfriend, a gorgeous ebony-skinned sister who models, expressed to me that Don Imus reminded her of the time when a modeling agency told her she would never grace the covers of mainstream magazines like Vogue or Bazaar and that she should just submit her portfolio to Essence magazine. One of my best friends, who is Jewish and has three beautiful children by an African-American man, said Don Imus' comments reminded her of the day her daughter came home and told her that a white teacher asked her why she came to school with her hair so nappy.

No matter if the comments come from a teacher, news director, or a shock jock, they reinforce the notion that certain groups of people are inferior and that those differences should be criticized and not celebrated.

Here in America, we have freedom of speech. But, we are also a country that people risk their lives to reach because we have told them - and proven - that we are the greatest country in the world.

And abusing that freedom of speech only diminishes our Greatness.

Share Your Heart, Share Your Home

"This is the best day of my life!" Little Jose was absolutely thrilled and he kept reminding me over and over again. "I'm having the best time!" "This is great!" he yelled.
This was one of those very special assignments for me - one that I will remember for a long time.
I am honored to be the spokesperson for the Los Angeles County, "Share Your Heart, Share Your Home" program. Our goal is to encourage people to become adoptive parents - to give children who have spent so much time in foster care a permanent home. This assignment could not have been a better fit for me. Together, with the help of Access Hollywood producers, Susan Moore, Mark Noble and Shelly Aguilar, we arranged for 7 children from LA County's foster care system to become Hollywood stars and walk the red carpet at the premiere of Disney's new animated 3-D movie, "Meet The Robinsons". (Hence the last name.)
There was charming little 10-year-old Jose who says the girls love to rub the hair on his crew cut. Adorable siblings, Sophia, Sierra, and Gabriel who just began living together after being in separate foster homes. Little Gregory who is very active and loves to draw. 12-year-old Wesley who can teach anyone a thing or two about cards. And, 15-year-old Clay who is a beautiful sophisticated young lady.
We picked the children up in the morning, gave them a ride in a chauffeur-driven town car which they thought was so neat. Next, we piled everyone into a luxury bus and handed out gifts bags that were filled with memorabilia from the movie - hats, pins, puzzles, coloring books, and 3-D glasses to take with them to the movie.
On our way to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, I gave them a little talk about posing in front of photographers on the red carpet and how to act as a pretend Robinson for a day. As soon as we got out of the bus, they were jumping for joy. There were hundreds of people outside, photographers, lights, characters from the movie -all of which could have been overwhelming for kids who are not use to such fanfare but my little "Robinsons" all acted like pros.
Then, we all piled into the theater, where there was free popcorn and soft drinks and an entire row reserved just for us in the theater. The kids had been waiting patiently to wear their 3-D glasses - some even wore them on the red carpet.
After the movie, which all the kids loved, there was a HUGE party thrown by Disney in the back of the El Capitan Theatre. They were bungee jumping, blowing bubbles, racing in big plastic bubbles, and eating tons of food and having the best time of their lives.
Sunday was great but Monday is going to be a different story. Lewis, the main character in "Meet the Robinsons" is looking for a permanent home himself. And like in the movies, he finds one. But, in real life, for these children, each day is another day of waiting and hoping that someone will want to give them a permanent place to call home. These children are so sweet but they are, what the foster care system calls, "hard to place". Not because they are bad children, but because they are older or want to live with their brothers and sisters.
If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more about adoption, call the Los Angeles County Share Your Heart, Share Your Home program at (888) 811-1121.

Desiderata

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.