August 21, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Opinion

An eight-alarm fire destroyed three buildings and damaged another three at the Riverwalk luxury apartment complex in Conshohocken last week. Three hundred and eighty-five people were left homeless. Many of them lost everything of value they owned. (Photo Joel Hoffmann)

And I still have 14 minutes to go

Three hundred seventy-five people lose their homes and somehow I become a celebrity! I’ve always had a knack for irony, but this is a bit ridiculous.

Yes, I am the same Joel Hoffmann who gave eyewitness testimony to Action News anchor Jim Gardner as the “Conshohocken Inferno” leapt from attic to attic on Aug. 13. At the time of my report, I could hardly comprehend the magnitude of what I was seeing. (It was around 6:11 p.m., according to my cell phone records.)

I had no clue that pets were suffocating to death — that wedding pictures and birth certificates and countless keepsakes were melting. I thought that only the unfinished Riverwalk apartment building was on fire. I didn’t realize the flames were spreading to all six buildings.

I didn’t sleep well after the fire. Helicopters were still droning a few blocks from my house, and my final (sarcastic) words to Jim Gardner were beginning to haunt me.

“It’s burning pretty good, I’d say.”

Gardner repeated me with gravitas: “Burning pretty good.”

It’s been about 12 hours since firefighters drowned the phoenix.

Sorry, I’m running out of dramatic synonyms — and the shock is finally wearing off.

In the relative calm of my office at the Local, where I don’t have to worry so much about my lungs seizing up, I am finally able to reflect on the meaning of accidental celebrity.

From what I’ve heard, the phones in my hometown of Glenolden were buzzing with gossip about me:

How did he manage to get on TV?

Did you realize he lived that close to a major tragedy?

I thought his last name was spelled differently.

Three hundred seventy-five people lose their homes and somehow I become the story.

I can’t blame people for relating more to me than to a tragedy. We can share one family’s sorrow, but we become numb once the victim count climbs into the triple digits. This is hardly a novel insight.

“Numbers have dehumanized us,” Dalton Trumbo wrote in his preface to the classic war novel Johnny Got His Gun. “Over breakfast coffee we read of 40,000 American dead in Vietnam. Instead of vomiting, we reach for the toast.”

Trumbo wrote that in 1970 — well before the 24-hour cable TV news cycle, well before the Internet distorted the scale of everything.

It is this numbness that allows us to go to war so foolishly. It is this numbness that allows us to divorce ourselves from our communities and pretend the homeless don’t exist. Sure, many of us write checks to the survivors of tragedy. But that’s no substitute for true empathy.

You can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps if you don’t have any boots.

What disturbs me most is that I will likely benefit from my accidental celebrity status. The newsreel will look good in my portfolio, especially as I branch out into multimedia production with the Local.

Who knows how many Facebook friends I’ll gain from this. Hell, maybe my high school crushes will want to date me now.

Our world is burning good, I’d say. I pray that we feel the flames.

Joel Hoffmann

Songs of late summer: catching up on the wide world of sports
by ADAM SERFASS

So here I am sitting at my iMac and listening to my iTunes. “Can’t Fight this Feeling,”REO Speedwagon.  Um, is this my computer and should I really be telling anyone this? It’s on shuffle. And what the heck does this have to do with sports? 

Après pot, however, I can’t fight this Olympics thing. Oh, I know. Some of you are not watching for the fact that the Chinese are hosting... Not me. Number one, it’s sports. Number two, isn’t the Olympic creed supposed to be supersede political views?  Number three, is it the athletes’ fault some committee chooses a communist city (though the pollution seems like its worth a complaint)?  Number four, are you still reading all this?  

“Don’t Ya Stop,” The Cars.  So I keep writing.

 My dad just spent three weeks in China and was fascinated with it.  He learned a lot about Chinese culture, the beliefs and lifestyle. Sure it’s hard to live there. No, I don’t believe in all that is going on. No, I do not like the idea that people were simply moved out of their homes just to make this Olympic thing happen.  But you see the women’s diving. The men’s pair diving.  100-meter men’s dash.  Michael Phelps is single-handedly carrying the USA spirit of the Olympics. Eight golds? In one shot? Are you serious?  As sure as “Heaven,” Bryan Adams is playing right now. I can’t stop. I need to find out how Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are doing and how they kicking tail and looking to defend their title.

Watching the women’s marathon was amazing.  Watching the women’s marathon and seeing Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania take the whole thing by almost a minute was incredible.  My wife and I found ourselves routing and cheering and crying for the athletes. I get to wear my Swiss Olympic jersey and hat I got in Waedenswil, Switzerland and cheer for the Swiss, Canadians and USA. It was amazing for me to share that with my wife; try it sometime.  I highly recommend it.

“I Get Around,” The Beach Boys. And I do. I was treated to an Eagles game last Thursday by my buddy Matt S.  I won’t give you his full name, otherwise you’ll bug him for tickets. Find your own dang tickets. 

 It was an interesting game, even if it was only preseason. This means that the dads bring their tiny kids to the game.  Friends bring their other friends to the game, like me, and get to say, or write, they were there.  This game was different. Nothing like any I went to before.

“Paying the Cost to be the Boss,” B.B. King. To have an Eagles game, it must be played outdoors.  And Mother Nature was boss that night.  They delayed the game for lightning. That’s right, lightning. Then they evacuated the stadium. We were asked to leave our seats. It cost me the game. 

Because I have two other jobs that require me getting up early in the morning after 45 minutes of delay, I bagged the game and headed home.

I have never been kicked out of my seat during an Eagles game, even at the Vet, of which I used to have season tickets there. The fans were required to get inside/under the stadium. So, I treated myself to the nastiest hot dog I’ve had in a while. Mmmm. 

What did I think of the game?  Don’t know. I saw, like, four plays and thoe looked real rusty. Well, not much really happens at a preseason game anyway. 

 “Money (That’s What I Want),” The Flying Lizards.  More money and contracts need to be ironed out before the season. That’s what preseason means these days. Hold outs and contract dramas.

These guys get paid astronomical amounts of dough for 20 weeks and really for only a few years at a time. I suppose jealousy is part of this particular rant. But really,  they’re getting paid to play a game and it’s a game they really love. If only some of us could get paid that amount of money for things we really love…

“Listen to Her Heart,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. A few weeks ago I went to the Pocono Raceway for a great race.  It was nice to see Carl Edwards win a race and watch the strategizing going on in the race teams’ minds.  A whole bunch of teams gambled and lost. One of which was my driver, Dale Jr.  He have had fourth place but wound up 12th by running out of gas.  Funny to see these stock cars of such force and speed coast, engines off, by me to finish a race.  Nicole and I had front row seats. It was quite a treat. Glad I own a pair of big headphones to deaden some of the thunder they produce.  The group of us were to drive up the next week to Watkins Glen to see the next race on the schedule, but after $610 dollars of unexpected car repairs (are they ever expected?), I opted out and had to break the news to my friends. 

 “Illusions in G Major,” Electric Light Orchestra. I had all kinds of experiences these past weeks with all kinds of sports.  Even going to a dirt track that I forgot to mention.  All of which revolved around two things.  Best friends and competitiveness.  The latter of the two is fun, but not as important as the first part.  My friends and I do more than just watch the sports.  Much like what some do when going to the movies and talking about other things (you know who you are).  My friends and I experience the joy and frustration of sports and share them. It tends to lead to other things.  Sometimes the sport is a backdrop for us, not only for eating great but for talking about how our real lives are going.  That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? “A Matter of Trust, ”Billy Joel. Have a good week.

The most important question candidates are never asked
by Cristina Page

The Centers for Disease Control is not the first place one looks to for ideas on conflict resolution but, with one issue that has divided America, it should be. A recent CDC study revealed that between 1990 and 2004 abortion rates plummeted by 50 percent in the US. The researchers suggest one common-sense policy approach is most responsible: access to contraception.

As political campaigns around the country take very different stands on the abortion issue there is no question that this argument will intensify. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. The next president, if history is any measure, is likely to appoint two Supreme Court justices. Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, currently stands by one vote. The next election will likely decide whether Roe v Wade remains the law of the land. Against this political backdrop, another, potentially more important, reproductive rights conflict may get lost. In fact, the issue many candidates don’t want voters to think about is not abortion, but contraception and the media hasn’t called them on it.

Access to contraception is the only proven way to reduce unwanted pregnancy rates. It’s no wonder that Americans on both sides of the abortion debate overwhelmingly support contraception. Yet few know that more and more candidates vying for their vote don’t. Across the states, anti-abortion organizations have added anti-contraception activities to their agenda and expect those they help get elected to office to join in these efforts. Since this issue isn’t on most voters’ radar, most complacently comply.

North Kentucky Right to Life, for instance, will not endorse a candidate unless he or she states that the standard birth control pill is an abortion method (a widely held, but scientifically unfounded, belief within the anti-abortion establishment). Pro-Life Wisconsin asked legislators to ban emergency contraception from state university campuses and opposed efforts to provide rape victims with pregnancy prevention too.

Missouri Right to Life convinced its allies in the state legislature to completely discontinue the state’s family planning program. Georgia Right to Life organized its favorite legislators to support a bill that would reclassify all hormonal methods of birth control as abortion. In Virginia, pro-life legislators, taking marching orders from their local anti-contraception groups, successfully defeated legislation that clarified, using scientific evidence, that contraception is not abortion.

In the last eight years, on the federal level, anti-abortion organizations have used their political leverage to undermine the nation’s contraception program, Title X. They have appointed anti-contraception ideologues to oversee the program. Not surprisingly, they have under-budgeted it while the number of Americans relying on Title X has swelled. Anti-contraception groups have gummed up the gears of the FDA with like-minded ideologues and have successfully obstructed Americans from gaining greater access to the most effective contraception methods. They were the brains behind the recently leaked HHS proposal that sought to reclassify the most commonly used forms of contraception as abortion.

The questions being posed to candidates on all other critical issues facing the nation today demand cogent and solution-oriented answers. A candidate isn’t considered serious about the economy without answers on how to create new jobs. Who would be labeled pro-environment without a position on fighting noxious emissions? No discussion of escalating gas prices is complete without a candidate explaining his or her position on energy alternatives too. But, oddly, no anti-abortion candidates are ever asked about their position on contraception despite the fact that their views on the matter often differ dramatically from what the public wants and what works.

As we teeter on the precipice of reversing Roe v Wade, candidates’ positions on contraception and pregnancy prevention are more important than ever.

What’s most frightening in light of the precariousness of the right to choose, is how closely tethered it is to the right to contraception. A candidate’s position and, whenever possible, legislative record on ensuring contraceptive access should be closely examined in elections at every level.

Candidates should be asked plainly, “Do you support contraception?” And “If so, what have you done and what will you do to ensure access to it?”

In 2006, soon after South Dakota passed a near total ban on abortion, I was scheduled to debate Jim Sedlak, Vice President of the American Life League.

Before we took the stage I asked if he was disappointed by how “limited” the near total abortion ban was. He replied without irony, “Was it the perfect law? No. Would we have liked it to ban contraception? Yes.” It’s not that those opposed to contraception are unwilling to answer the question, it’s simply that no one ever thinks to ask.

Page is the author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex and spokesperson for BirthControlWatch.org