Posted on 05/19/2003 9:38:42 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Actress Jessica Lange used her commencement address at Marlboro College in Vermont on Sunday, from which her daughter was graduating, to denounce the Bush administration. The Rutland Herald reported that "she likened the war in Iraq to Richard Nixon's 'ruthless' bombing of Vietnam. She said executive orders and judicial appointments were eroding women's rights."
The Brattleboro Reformer relayed how she charged: "'Once again, the poorest and most disadvantage are the ones being left behind,' she said, a play on the title of the Bush administration's education law, No Child Left Behind."
...Sunday afternoon commencement in Marlboro, Vermont, an excerpt from the May 19 story by Rutland Herald Reporter Peter Crabtree:
In a speech that mixed the personal and the political, actress Jessica Lange urged the Marlboro College Class of 2003 to battle injustice while remaining alive to the moment Sunday.
A Hollywood star by way of rural Minnesota, Lange quoted another artist from that state when conferring her blessings on the 74 graduates, one of her whom was her daughter.
"I wish you all the courage to have an adventurous heart," Lange told an overflow crowd at the Person's Auditorium. "And as Dylan said, 'May you stay forever young.'"...
Shura Lange Baryshnikov, whose father, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, attended the graduation ceremony, wrote about the role of women in the United States, with an emphasis on issues surrounding motherhood.
Lange cited that project when telling an anecdote about filming a movie recently in Montgomery, Ala. When returning from the set, she passed a strip mall that contained a day-care center. A sign outside the center boasted that it was open until midnight.
"It made me very sad," Lange said.
Lange said she felt for both the children at the center and the parents forced to consign them there so they could most likely work minimum-wage jobs.
"Something's really terribly wrong," Lange said, noting that the United States has the highest rate of childhood poverty among major nations.
Lange went on to condemn the Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies. She likened the war in Iraq to Richard Nixon's "ruthless" bombing of Vietnam. She said executive orders and judicial appointments were eroding women's rights.
The public schools, meanwhile, are being forced to meet tough new standards at the same time that Washington is denying them the resources they need. As for the environment, the national forests are being logged at an alarming rate.
"The list goes on and on and on and on," Lange said. "Now is the time to be vigilant. Now is the time to act. This is the world you are inheriting."
While she urged the graduates to take social action, Lange also offered them some advice with a Buddhist flavor.
"Just be present," she said. "Don't be rigid in your expectations."...
Sounding like Dylan again, Lange urged her audience to be "receptive to the winds of change."
"Everything is transient. Everything is constantly changing," Lange said. "The only thing we really have is now."...
END of Excerpt
For the story in full:
http://www.rutlandherald.com/News/SouthernVermont/Story/65664.html
An excerpt from the May 19 Brattleboro Reformer story by Daniel Barlow:
Criticism of President Bush, hope for a better future and repeated odes to the quickly changing times marked the 56th commencement ceremony at Marlboro College Sunday as the school awarded 74 degrees.
The ceremony, which featured a speech by Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Lange, was also the last for college president Paul LeBlanc, who announced last month he would step down after seven years....
The big draw of the day was Lange, whose daughter, Shura Baryshnikov graduated from the college that day with a bachelor's degree in American studies and women's studies.
Lange compared the graduating seniors of today to where she was after finishing college in 1972. Then, the Vietnam War was in its seventh year and President Nixon had authorized bombs that killed thousands of civilians all in the name of stopping the communists.
Today, she said, President Bush authorizes the dropping of bombs to kill thousands in the name of stopping Saddam Hussein.
But Iraq is not the only battlefield in the world right now, she said. Women's reproductive rights, civil liberties and the health and education of children all over the world are under attack, she said.
Lange said she recently drove past a child care center in Minnesota and saw a sign saying "Now open until midnight." She said the sight made her feel bad for the children who are raised without seeing their parents and for the parents who have to work menial jobs in order to survive.
"Once again, the poorest and most disadvantage are the ones being left behind," she said, a play on the title of the Bush administration's education law, No Child Left Behind....
END of Excerpt
For the story in its entirety:
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8862~1400774,00.html
Notice any differing facts in the two news articles?
Rutland Herald: "Lange cited that project when telling an anecdote about filming a movie recently in Montgomery, Ala. When returning from the set, she passed a strip mall that contained a day-care center. A sign outside the center boasted that it was open until midnight.
Brattleboro Reformer: "Lange said she recently drove past a child care center in Minnesota and saw a sign saying "Now open until midnight."
Alabama or Minnesota? Their climates are so similar! Either one reporter misquoted her, or she sees a lot of day care centers that are open late.
Marlboro College's Web site, which may at some point post the text of Lange's remarks: http://www.marlboro.edu
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaresearch.org ...
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