Edward M. Kennedy: In Memoriam

I grew up in New York City during the '60's. It's a town and a state well known for its charismatic, brilliant legislators and states people -- Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Robert Wagner, John V. Lindsay, William F. Buckley, Mario Cuomo. Even so, Ted Kennedy was always on my radar screen.

When I was three he was tossed out of Harvard for cheating on a Spanish test, later re-enrolled and graduated in 1956. When I was 11, he broke his back in a plane crash, was bedridden and in traction for six months and wore a back brace for a long time.

Two of his brothers were assassinated and his oldest brother killed in WWII. He would be the only Kennedy brother to survive to old age.

When I was a 16-year old in 1969, he was under the spotlight for involvement in the vehicular death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, at the time an event more shameful, cowardly, and scandalous than any other except for Watergate. Ten years later he was a failed Presidential candidate.

His personal life was messy until he remarried in the 1990's and included struggles with alcohol, weight and rumors of womanizing. His young son, Teddy would have to have his leg amputated because of bone cancer. And then he developed brain cancer in 2008.

Can greatly flawed men become great? Someone said, that's the only type of great man there is. That Senator Kennedy could rise from these extreme lows to become one of the greatest if not the greatest legislator of the 20th century speaks of his resilience, his strength and his fighting spirit.

Michael Jackson: In Memoriam

Michael Jackson entertained us and performed for us for 45 of his 50 years on this earth. His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time. His music videos helped define the medium.

"From his earliest days with his brothers in the Jackson Five in the 1970s, through the remarkable peak of his solo career in the 1980s, Mr. Jackson’s music is characterized by risk, invention and musicality....

In the coming days, we will be overwhelmed by stories that will summarize, and maybe even gloat about, his misadventures. The most casual pop fan has heard the stories of the abuse he claimed to have suffered as a child, his many plastic surgeries, sexual indiscretions, short-lived marriages, health woes, financial troubles. In the public forum, Jackson had been a caricature for a good long while. Make no mistake, there are those who were eager to see him fail in London.

But now is the moment to put all those grotesque tales aside and concentrate on his work. Think of Jackson onstage, moonwalking, silver glove glittering, spotlight reflecting off his sunglasses, stardust twinkling amid the curls of his hair. Think of his incomparable intensity as he sang and danced. Listen, even if only in your mind, to the music he made with his brothers or as an enormously successful solo artist. Don’t let anything conflict with your memory of his great gifts—and the joy he brought to us for most of his life and ours as well."

Jim Fusilli, Wall Street Journal For full text, click here

R.I.P., MJ.