Keep walking, Kwame. Out the door, off the stage and into a jail cell. You had a chance, on what could have been the most honest night of your life, to truly stand up, to change the image of who you are and perhaps begin to change yourself. Instead, you put cops at the door, blocked reporters you didn't like from coming in, then bathed in sycophantic applause before leaving in a gush of phony bravado, like an ego-mad athlete being tossed from the game.
Christine Beatty sat in the courtroom, staring at her feet, hollow as a ghost, even as the columns seemed to be collapsing around her in some Biblical destruction scene, the mayor about to plead guilty, the police chief quitting, helicopters flying over the Manoogian Mansion. And you wondered, as the man she once considered the "love of my life" began his life as a convicted criminal, if she finally realized what everyone in this town should know by now: Charm and arrogance are a treacherous combination.
Bill Davidson is ready to go. He sits behind his desk, holding his arms, and before I can fully sit down, he grins and says, "OK, let's start."At 84, Davidson needn't wait for anything or anyone. And those who know him suggest, at his age, he's not waiting around for the perfect words, either. He speaks his mind, honestly and frankly. He is at times impish, coy and painfully blunt.
The summer's over, the kids are back to school and the NFL's first snap is just a day away. Obviously, it's time for the Lions to hire their running backs.Hello, Rudi Johnson and Marcus Thomas.Good-bye, Tatum Bell and Aveion Cason.
Because it's China.Because I can still see the opening ceremony in my head.Because the first people who greeted us gave a small bow, a symbol of respect that repeated itself every day.Because of Michael Phelps.Because of his mother.Because of stories that turn on one hundredth of a second.Because of NBA players jumping up and down at center court, as if they'd just won a high school title.Because of seeing Kobe and LeBron, unannounced, clapping for U.S. athletes at the pool.Because 20 Chinese will gather to give directions.
DAY 17: The end of this and the beginning of everything else.BEIJING - The stage is bare, the seats are empty, and you can hear your voice echo off the ceiling. On any given night a musical or concert might take place here. On Sunday mornings, however, around 7, people enter the 21st Century Theater off Liangmaqiao Road carrying wires, microphones and large posters of Christian religious symbols. Within a few hours, services are being held. There is praying. There is a sermon. It mimics, on most levels, what will happen today in churches across America.
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
