Morning Edition - 1/9/06

Brokeback; Takes-you-back
Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, starring Jake Gyllenhall as Jack Twist and Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar is real. To downplay this film as a gay love story would not only be a misrepresentation of the facts, but a grossly negligent review of someone too shortsighted to see true love - plain and simple. The film has received great acclaim, but it was its shear ability to portray two characters in such raw form that left me in a very pensive and melancholy state. Ennis and Jack meet while herding sheep for a short period in 1963. The timeframe of the film plays a huge role in the outcome of the love story. Throughout twenty years the two, who began their love affair in a very awkward and unconventional manner, steal brief encounters with each other seemingly unable to ever let the other fade into the past. To be clear, both characters lead otherwise straight lives, have wives and children and struggle with the very fact that they are so in love with each other. There's plenty of dysfunction to speak of - on the part of Ennis there is a childhood experience so horrific that it warps his picture of what can happen to gays in a western farm community. I was especially moved by how life's circumstances and society can have such a negative impact on something beautiful and private between two people. Rather than give up any part of the story line, I'll say that Brokeback Mountain is certainly a film to watch, but don't go in believing you will see a traditional pull-at-your-heartstrings unrequited love story. I didn't cry. I didn't even get a frog in my throat, but I was flooded with a deep sense of emotional connection at the realization that this story plays out everyday and maybe to some degree I've lived a similar role before.

Kill The Girls
The Lancet, a London-based medical journal, reviewed medical files from India and reported that in the last decade over 10 million female babies may have been aborted by parents who after having one female child, chose to abort following an ultrasound screening. The imbalance in male to female population will have devastating consequences said one insider. As many as a half-million female babies were aborted in India just last year. Countries such as Nepal, Afghanistan, South Korea, China and Pakistan also have similar practices of aborting female babies.

B'Mo Bangin'; Chi-town Blows
Men's Health, a men's magazine, that as the name would imply focuses on the health of men, rates cities yearly for their annual best- and worst- cities for overall health. This year, they rated Baltimore the number one city for overall health. Apparently they felt the turn-around of the up-and-coming city with its new parks, gyms and better healthcare make it a healthier city than all the other cities in the rankings. Chicago was ranked the worst. Strangely, most Baltimore residents interviewed laughed at the ranking saying they never thought fried crab cakes would push them toward the number one spot.

On Blast
Brokeback Mountain brings to the forefront how life can sometimes suffocate love. Have you ever experienced loving someone and knowing that your life circumstances will not allow you to ever fully realize that love?

Keep passin' the open windows…