Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2004 (16. évfolyam, 5-50. szám)
2004-10-22 / 41. szám
In the Whirlwind In the whirlwind of time’s passing judgment The dead, the captive, and the refugee We were like windblown branches, fallen leaves Seeking our roots, the life-giving tree. For fate did not judge us according to How each of us stood up braving the storm, - bound by handcuffs, or mere dandelions? It was luck’s doing, not only our own. But, scattered to the four ends of the world Our bleeding palms found barbed wire alone To hold on to, and our naked soles In deadly grip froze to the icy Don. Nine times the spring found me in prison cells Its buds were struck by early winds and frost, One autumn came and its nine glorious days Compensated richly for the years lost. LIBERTY! October 23, 1956 And those who stayed home and amidst the ruins - grass in the wind - were trying to survive, Their eyes were not allowed to see the sky, Their feet could find no foothold in the past. In a strange land my native firmament Sent nine bright stars to guide me from within, The trees of home, my old companions, The ones I loved, accompanied me here. 1956 Nine luminous stars shine in my hands, Nine candles of hope for the hopeless, And we light a flame in the night In the very heart of the darkness. Tibor Tollas (translated by Susan Jancso) ‘Superman’ Christopher Reeve Dies at 52 We were able to include a short note in Hungarian about Reeve’s passing just before the paper went to print last week, but we would like to commemorate in English as well the actor who played Superman and the man who fought heroically against a devastating injury MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, who turned personal tragedy into a public crusade and from his wheelchair became the nation’s most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research, has died. He was 52. Reeve died of complications from an infection caused by a bedsore. He went into cardiac arrest while at his Pound Ridge home, then fell into a coma and died at a hospital surrounded by his family. His advocacy for stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry during the second presidential debate on Friday. In the last week Reeve had developed a serious systemic infection, a common problem for people living with paralysis who develop bedsores and depend on tubes and other medical devices needed for their care. He entered the hospital Saturday. Dana Reeve thanked her husband’s personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world.” “He put up with a lot,” his mother, Barbara Johnson, told the syndicated television show “The Insider.” “I’m glad that he is free of all those tubes.” Before the 1995 horse-riding accident that caused his paralysis, Reeve’s athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural choice for the title role in the first “Superman” movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts. “Look, I’ve flown, I’ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I’ve faced my peers, I’ve befriended children and small animals and I’ve rescued cats from trees,” Reeve told the Los - Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third “Superman” movie. “What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn’t been Christopher Reeve with his wife Dana in New York last year done?” Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, “escape the cape.” He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play “Fifth of July,” a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie “Somewhere in Time,” and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller “Deathtrap.” More recent films included John Carpenter’s “Village of the Damned,” and the HBO movies “Above Suspicion” and “In the Gloaming,” which he directed. Among his other film credits are “The Remains of the Day,” “The Aviator,” and “Morning Glory.” Reeve’s life changed completely after he broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va. Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury. He moved an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues. “Hollywood needs to do more,” he said in the 1996 Oscar awards appearance. “Let’s continue to take risks. Let’s tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else.” He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of “Rear Window,” a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who is convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a TV movie or miniseries. “I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story,” Reeve said. “But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face.” Reeve also made several guest appearances on the WB series “Smallville” as Dr. Swann, a scientist who gave the teenage Clark Kent insight into his future as Superman. In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and with rigorous therapy, involving repeated electrical stimulation of the muscles, he also regained sensation in other parts of his body. He vowed to walk again. “I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. A goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery,” Reeve said. Notice to the Readers Commemoration of the 48th Anniversary of the Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1956 will take place on Sunday, October 24th at 2:30 p.m., in MacArthur Park, by the Freedom Fighters’ Memorial. (IN CASE OF RAIN, at the United Hung. House) All fellow Hungarians and all friends of Hungary are welcome to participate! v ___________y October 22, Appreciation of the Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1956 „Somewhere within the Soviet hegemony the seeds of this Hungarian revolution will mature and grow into a profound struggle for human freedom...” From The Bridge at Andau by James Michener „I am not one of those who wish to see the people of Hungary take up arms again in a rising certain to be crushed, under the eyes of the nations of the world, who would spare them neither applause nor pious tears, but who would go back at once to their slippers by the fireside like a football crowd on a Sunday evening after a cup final.” Albert Camus „Hungary conquered and in chains has done more for freedom and justice than any people ... But for this lesson to get through and convince those in the West who shut their eyes and ears, it was necessary, and it can be no comfort to us, for the people of Hungary to shed so much blood which is already drying in our memories.” Albert Camus “At dawn, on November 4, 1956, Russian communism showed its true character to the world. With a ferocity and barbarism unmatched in recent history, it moved its brutal tanks against a defenseless population seeking escape from the terrors of communism, and destroyed it. From this point on, it is difficult to imagine native-born communists in Italy or France... or America... trusting blindly that if they join the Russian orbit thir fate will be any different. At the first invitation from some dissident communist group inside the nation, Russian tanks will ride in, destroy the capital city, terrorize the population, and deport to slave-labor camps in central Asia most of the local communist leaders who organized the communist regime in the first place.” James Michener “Self-destruction for the Soviet Union began in Budapest” Dr. András Pogány From Vác to far Peking his slaves make din: “Beware! Beware! Or through the entire world They’ll wall up every window tight with tin!” Tibor Tollas (translated by Watson Kirkconnell) :(t ^ 3|c ^ j)c_♦ __s|e __s|s^___9|:_s|e_*_______s|: _____$_*_*____* Flu Vaccine Shortage Shots are being steered to people most at risk. U.S. health officials said they planned to steer scarce flu vaccine supplies to nursing homes, pediatricians and hospitals as the company that caused the disruptive shortage disclosed that it was under investigation by the Justice Department. Chiron Corp. said it had received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in New York seeking materials on its Fluvirin influenza vaccine and its regulatory problems in Britain. The Emeryville, California-based company said it would cooperate with the investigation but offered no other details. Federal officials declined to comment. Legal experts speculated that the government could be looking for evidence that the company misled regulators or investors about its ability to provide its vaccine this year. The grand jury subpoena was issued by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is known for its high-profile Wall Street probes and its successful prosecutions of lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart and investment banker Frank Quattrone. The Oct. 5 shutdown of Chiron’s Liverpool factory by British regulators eliminated almost half of this country’s expected vaccine supply for the coming flu season and prompted U.S. health officials to ask healthy adults not to get shots this year. The officials said they were working with another vaccine supplier, French drug maker Aventis Pasteur, to allocate 22.4 million unshipped doses of its flu shots to the most vulnerable groups in the U.S. population, including babies, the elderly and residents of nursing homes, veterans hospitals and long-term care facilities. This plan will help ensure that vaccine gets to those people who need it most.
