What will America look like in 2016? Dinesh D’Souza, a former American Enterprise Fellow and noted author, ventures to answer this question through thorough inspection of our past, present and possible future under President Barack H. Obama. The results of his findings are documented in his film “2016: Obama’s America,” a film based on his noted text “The Roots of Obama’s Rage.”

Throughout the film, D’Souza attempts to trace the President’s early history aiming to arrive at a definitive conclusion explaining the rationale for his actions. Citing frequently from the president’s book titled “Dreams from my Father,” D’Souza ultimately concludes through a combination of detailed interviews  and reflective treks around the world that President Obama’s ‘anticolonial viewpoints’ serve as the basis for his domestic and international agenda.

However, while these viewpoints serve as the rationale for D’Souza to undergo his journey, do his motives prove worthwhile viewing for the film’s 1 hour+ running time?

The answer to that question largely depends on your opinions surrounding the president and his actions during his administration. Those skeptical of his methods during his period in office will appreciate the time that he spends detailing the president’s origins, and will appreciate the film’s early minutes where he spends time detailing President Obama’s roots, all while making surprising connections to his own period of growing up.

In some ways, apparently, President Obama and Dinesh D’Souza are not so different after all.

Republicans, and those with conservative leanings, will undoubtedly enjoy and appreciate this film, especially considering the strong early success and the fair amount of money that it has made since its release. They will likely smile and nod at the time spent detailing the president’s past associations with figures such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Edward Said. In addition, they will likely appreciate his statements ridiculing the president’s attempts to ‘equalize’ America with the rest of the world and affirm his contention that this action will cause the U.S. to lose its place as a premiere superpower.

To support these claims, D’Souza details a speech President Obama made to reduce America’s nuclear arsenal; to him, this action represents a grave misstep considering that other nations are conversely increasing their nuclear strength. D’Souza also mentions the current president’s appeared reticence in dealing with Iran as well as his decision to halt the Keystone Pipeline and siding with Palestine over Israel. In addition, D’Souza obtains secondary voices that echo his concerns, such as Paul Vitz, a NYU psychology professor and Daniel Pipes, a founder of the Middle Eastern Forum.

As for those individuals who are center or left-of-center, their mileage with D’Souza’s project may vary; although it is praiseworthy that the filmmaker spent a great deal of time and effort making this project a reality, he must also be expected to present a balanced viewpoint. It becomes clear early on that D’Souza’s only intention with this production is to tell the story that will buttress his viewpoint rather than a story that will prove factually accurate.

This is especially true during his exchange with George Obama, the president’s half-brother. D’Souza repeatedly stresses President Obama’s failure to help him as an example that he is not “looking out for his brother’s keeper.” This example, he hopes, will paint President Obama as an individual who does not keep his promises.

Interestingly, George douses D’Souza’s plans with cold water, simply responding that Barack’s responsibility is now to the world, and by looking out for that world, he is taking care of him as well.

D’Souza’s central aim to tell only ‘his’ story and not a balanced tale is even more apparent once individuals apply their own outside knowledge to his assertions; in fact, many have fact-checked the claims that he makes and have found that not every statement made in the movie holds water.

That aside, the film’s attempts to build any goodwill are promptly swept through its ignorance of any meaningful background behind President Obama’s actions. After all, it is far easier to criticize the president for wanting to reduce nuclear weapons than it is to actually look back and remember that former President Ronald Regan wanted to achieve the same objective.

In addition, the film also includes a section where the president is having trouble speaking at a rally explaining his new healthcare legislation, while ignoring the hecklers who are making it difficult for him to speak. Lastly, D’Souza opines that Obama is sympathetic to radicals, an action that Osama Bin Laden would strongly disagree with.

When you put all the pieces together, you have a project that will please conservatives, anger liberals, and cause those in the center to ask questions. The casual moviegoer will likely appreciate the extended detail that D’Souza dedicates towards explaining the President’s life, but they may also express confusion at the noted author’s interpretation of the facts. These same individuals should still take the time to see this film, if only to hear a contrasting viewpoint of the President’s life and beliefs.

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At senior center in Dajeon City, South Korea, several high school girls are excited to hear the important stories of a speaker. What makes them so excited is not a popular Korean pop singer or a handsome movie star, but it is In Young-soon, a Korean-war-survivor. She is now telling to high school girls’ what she experienced.

“During the Korean war, the soldiers from North Korea attacked my city. I had to run away from them, but I couldn’t, because my little sister was with me. We hid together and waited for the soldiers to leave. All of sudden my younger sister started crying. I freaked out and thought that was the end of my life. But, fortunately we didn’t get caught and were able to run away from them.”

These high school girls, who are eager to concentrate on what Young-soon says and to take notes, are members of a volunteer group “Nanum” from EastDaejeon high school.

The volunteer work of members of Nanum is different from what other volunteer groups do. Their main task is that interviewing elderly people and creating and publishing a biography. They have been doing this volunteer work since June 2010, warming many Korean people’s heart.

“Nowadays, young students don’t know how to respect the elders. So I started this volunteer group in order to teach young students how to be polite by spending time with the elders,” guidance teacher Kim Soo-jin from EastDaejeon high school said.

In 2009, starting the volunteer group was not that easy at first. There were no elders who wanted to participate for two reasons. First, most elderly people did not want to talk about their personal life, and second, they were skeptical that these students had enough skill to write a biography.

However, the students did not give up. They studied a lot to have better writing and interviewing skills and also kept contacting senior centers in Daejeon City to find elderly people who would be interested in the project.

Three months later, Nanum members finally found someone who wanted to help them. Kim Kum-ja, a head of Daeduk senior center, expressed her interest in their activity, saying “What members of Nanum is trying to do is not about someone famous or popular, but is it about the ordinary people that we can see around us easily, and it is also the connection between the older generation and young generation. In that sense, I thought this activity should continue.”

Students visited a senior center and seniors’ houses three or four times a month and listened to their life stories. At first, it was awkward for young students to be around old people. There were many things that young high school girls could not understand because of the generation gap. However, as time went by, students started enjoying those stories and becoming comfortable with the elders.

“When I first visited seniors, everything was new to me. Some of them actually experienced what I only saw in the text books, and when they told us that story, I felt as if I was in that scene,” said Yum Hyung-joong, a member of Nanum.

Chae Seung-woo, a former member of Nanum and now a freshman at Hanbat National University, said, “Writing a biography for seniors gave me a new prospect about Korean history. I also realized that what we overlooked in the history class can be important for someone’s life. I have learned  real history with this volunteer work.”

Students also learned how to understand other people’s life and communicate with them by writing a biography.

Another member of Nanum, Hwang Hee-jung said Nanum has changed her life.

“I was feeling a little unconfident in terms of deciding somethings before I started this volunteer work. But now I have become a more confident person, because Nanum gave me a chance to meet many people.”

A guidance teacher Kim Soo-jin of Nanum said, “I have seen a lot of students becoming more polite and tolerant with this volunteer activity. Since it is the work to deal with people, there are many times that students got their feelings hurt. Sometimes, there is a disagreement among students. After getting through all these processes, students become more understanding and thoughtful in terms of treating other people.”

Nanum’s good deed also has brought happiness to seniors. Usually when seniors get their biography from students, they show tears with a big smile. The biography written by others makes the elders feel not only happy but also proud of themselves. It gives them time to recall their earliest memories, and sometimes brings them the desire to develop a plan for the future.

Seniors who got their biography have their own way to make a return for students. When students visit them, they always welcome them with delicious foods or snacks. Some grandmothers make a sweater or bracelet for the girls.

It is been four years that Nanum first started its activity, and it has published 20 biographies of elderly people. Currently, Nanum has 13 members. The students who first started Nanum now are college students.

Now, members of Nanum are planning to expand their group by associating with other schools. Although they had a slow start, they believe their project will make a lot of people happy just like they have been doing so far.

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Shane Levene is a writer, artist, musician, poet. He is, some might argue, a better poet than a musician, a better artist than a poet and a better writer than an artist. However, the role that Shane Levene inhabits most fully is, undoubtedly, that of a semi-functional heroin addict.

The entries in Levene’s blog, “Memoires of a Heroinhead,” are not all about the drug. To be sure, the author often evokes a typical, if uncompromisingly realistic “Trainspotting”-esque literary snapshot– a low-rent French apartment, whitewashed walls decorated with grotesque patterns of dried blood, a man-sized receptacle for used syringes and burnt papers– but he writes about other things too: a future and a past without heroin.

The loosely organized memories, such as they may be, brings forth the most haunting pictures of the author’s life as it is, as it was and, occasionally, as it might be. The son of working class, northern English addicts– one of whom was butchered by notorious serial killer Dennis Nilsen– Levene’s childhood appears to have been almost entirely misspent. Stories of teenage youths dressing up in drag to visit Glam clubs in Soho pepper the blog’s homepage, living side by side with recounted memories of domestic abuse, murder and soul-crushing poverty.

A consummate story teller, Levene is at times brutal and jarring, at others wistful and romantic. The kind of autobiographical self-reflection, typical to the memoir genre, that usually adulterates the graphic immediacy of the narrator’s experiences, is noticeably lacking in these vignettes. Granted, some posts are significantly better than others; Levene’s writing is inconsistent and occasionally contrived. But, particularly in the case of Levene’s most recent offerings, oftentimes they are vividly beautiful and utterly beguiling. Not to mention very, very sad.

In one particularly upsetting post, the raconteur relates how some of his closest friends deliberately attempted to infect him with HIV through shared needles. In another account, Levene poignantly describes an incident in which he overhears a young girl being beaten to death in the apartment above his, but is unable to call the police for fear of them discovering his drug paraphernalia.

The rest of the blog, the parts that aren’t directly about the drugs, is filtered through the creative lens of someone who, honestly and truly, has come to terms with the fact that they are going to die– not in 30 years, but maybe next year, next month, next week, today.

Levene’s portrait of his life as an addict is bleak, his experiences routinely horrific and far removed from the world of the non-junky. Just like Christiane F. before him, Levene faithfully chronicles some of the most harrowing physical and mental consequences of his addiction.

Levene writes, “I choose the needle. We must live and die by our swords. We cannot blame our enemy for us taking up arms. That is a bitter and all consuming road to take.”

It is this stark perspective that defines Levene’s literary persona in his memoirs. Essentially, on the page, a heroin addict is who Levene is, and, as things stand, it appears that Levene’s addiction is also inherent to all he can be. Indeed, as another literary heroinhead, William S. Burroughs once wrote: “Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life.”

Image Courtesy of  Stuart Monk / Shutterstock.com

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John Lithgow has released a memoir titled “Drama: An Actor’s Education” that was well reviewed in Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe & Mail. According to Johanna Schneller’s review and interview, he is a natural raconteur in print and in person.

In a market where many celebrities are encouraged to write an autobiography, it is heartening to see that at least one has a story to tell, and has a talent for telling it. It is easy to list some of the memorable characters he has portrayed, and to mention the awards he has won, but talents should be recognized in their other forms.

There are many, many actors out there, even without considering the film industries beyond Hollywood. They must work hard at reminding people who they are, as it is their popularity that helps keep them employed. Some are fortunate enough to work consistently; for some, it is luck, for others, it is talent.

With all the names to remember, it is not easy to follow any one’s career consistently, nor should anyone need to; however, it is often pleasant to stumble upon a reference of an actor doing something distinct, out of his expected context. There is something intriguing in seeing such people as ‘one of us,’ as a normal person, as himself.

Even in interviews, we might doubt the authenticity of character that is presented. In such cases, when we meet an actor or similar celebrity, it seems important that he or she turn out to be the nice person we had hoped, or, in other cases, shock and disappointment because he or she is not the person we had projected. People are people, even if they are actors.

John Lithgow is firmly rooted among the nice people. Audiences are happy if actors can act; we are impressed when they can sing or dance; it is unusual if they can play an instrument as well. Mr. Lithgow can do these, and write –all very well. Moreover, he is as charming and personable as we had hoped.

He plays arrogance convincingly on stage or screen, but he does not wear it well in person. There are a few roles that help define an actor’s range, and these are what tend to stay with the various audiences. In particular, some will be familiar with his many children’s books, and with his children’s albums; another audience will know his work on stage, Broadway or Royal Shakespeare Company–he was a stupendous Malvolio in Twelfth Night–most will know him from his considerable work in TV and film.

This man can act, as many know: from a trans-gender role in “The World According to Garp,” through multiple-personalities in “Raising Cain,” to bad men, opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Cliffhanger,” and in “Dexter,” or comedy roles in such films as “Shrek,” or “3rd Rock from the Sun,” he can be gentle or completely manic.

It is all the more impressive that John Lithgow can not only act but sing, play the guitar and write. Often, many wince when celebrities try to branch out into ‘the other industry.’ Some actors cannot sing, though they try; some singers cannot act, though they must.

There was a day when “actors” were genuinely multi-talented: actors such as Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews, Danny Kaye and Mary Tyler Moore could sing and dance as well as act; some also played instruments. John Lithgow, is a truly compelling, versatile and pleasant man at the top of his game with no sign of slowing down.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/

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