tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67384043115370863862024-03-04T21:17:42.323-08:00Debbie Allen's EVERYDAY PEOPLE"Everyday People" is me putting
my two cents on the table about books, theater, film, television, art and other things we all should know about or consider.Debbie Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15101722968981506808noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6738404311537086386.post-52715044458709109232018-10-16T13:50:00.000-07:002018-10-16T16:16:39.857-07:00WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT ELLE'S "WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-bc8e994d-7fff-ac17-6662-327e670ce527"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last night, Krista Vernoff (Showrunner, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grey’s Anatomy</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and I were Shonda Rhimes’ guests at </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Elle</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’s 25</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 8.4pt; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">th</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Celebration of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Women in Hollywood</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If I could press a button, say "Beam me up Scotty” and take you back, I would snatch you away from whatever you are doing just to spend a few moments experiencing the most dynamic, inspirational, heartbreaking and take all the “bullshit out of the game” testimonies of last night’s honorees: Shonda Rhimes, Lady Gaga, Charlize Theron, Mia Farrow, Keira Knightly, Yara Shahidi, Sara Paulson and the women of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black Panther</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The night began with </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anita Hill</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who was introduced by Kathleen Kennedy (the incredible producer for Steven Spielberg). Anita talked about how she has lived for 27 years with what it means to “speak truth to power" and the Hollywood Commission that she </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">is leading on sexual harassment. The audience stood and cheered before she said a single word.</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-75a99b73-7fff-f13b-e125-82fc66966daa"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yara Shahidi</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the youngest honoree at the age of 19, was introduced by Kenya Barris, the creator of her hit show </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black-ish. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yara left the audience stunned with her brilliant tirade about pseudo patriotism and daring to be an idealist in today’s world. The </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Harvard</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> freshman whose political consciousness and clear civic engagement made Kathleen Kennedy remark that “2020 we are looking for a candidate.”</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-8d45672b-7fff-ba94-7766-d599ebb38b67"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keira Knightley</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">introduced with real grace by James Corden, spoke very directly about creating more opportunity for women behind the camera and not being defined by a man, like her character in the film </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Colette</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a woman who is pushed to write novels under her husbands name and then fights to let her talent be known. Keira recently revealed that she is not allowing her children to watch </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disney </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">movies because the princesses don’t uphold her feminist ideals.</span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1347c38e-7fff-7779-0ea2-6d91ef48e449"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mia Farrow</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who stood alone decades ago fighting for her daughter and the allegations of sexual abuse by her husband, spoke of what it was like to be groped and have a studio head stick his tongue down her throat at 17 years of age. Introduced by her son Ronan Farrow (the journalist who exposed Harvey Weinstein) she joked ”...what a disappointment you turned out to be.” Mia ended with the challenge that she wanted to live to see not progress but “unequivocal equality."</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-5534dadd-7fff-10cf-3592-55996d68671d"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sarah Paulson</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, introduced by her best friend Sandra Bullock (who was hilarious), talked about her insecurities, not taking her success for granted and living up to the responsibility it brings.</span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-6e3ca4dc-7fff-a909-aefd-e1c6a548c664"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charlize Theron</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> whose honor came late in the evening apologized for having had too many drinks for a mother of two and warned her use of the “F” word in her speech. “This fucking year…incredibly powerful for women and also an incredibly shitty one.” The room howled when she told Sarah Paulson, who was chatting with Ryan Murphy, to “shut up bitch I’m talking." Charlize spoke about how her career choices were always included strong women but none of them compare to the fearlessness of women like Christine Blasey Ford, Anita Hill and the myriad who come forward to tell their truth. “Death threats be damned.” She also remarked that she did not know when she did </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mad Max </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that they were “actually giving ideas on how to run the country. I thought it was more of a cautionary tale.”</span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-5a00dd77-7fff-1ddf-f6c1-ee6192054384"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shonda Rhimes</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> shut the house DOWN and took it all the way BACK UP with “Black Girl Magic.” Introduced by our </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grey’s Anatomy </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">star Ellen Pompeo, Shonda took to the stage and pronounced that “women need to brag …men do it all the time sometimes about nothing. I am awesome!!! I am the highest paid Showrunner in television.” The room exploded in shouts, applause and a standing ovation with Ryan Murphy standing right along with us. Shonda made us understand that we should and must claim our power!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked up and Jennifer Lopez had swirled </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">into the room looking gorgeous to present </span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lady Gaga</b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who's acceptance speech was the most heartbreaking.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">When she spoke the room quieted with not even a whisper. Dressed in an oversized man’s suit she explained that she had to forego Hollywood’s expectation of dressing to impress but rather to “use what really matters, my voice.” Gaga shared that at age 19 she had been sexually assaulted by a man who she still did not have the “courage to speak his name.” She talked about her pain and how she can hardly stand to watch the news and what is happening in our country. Gaga pleaded that mental health must become a primary global issue so people, unlike herself, that don’t have resources can get the help they need. She praised Anita Hill: "You give me courage.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angela Bassett</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with long beautiful bushy hair hanging down her back looking like the true QUEEN of WAKANDA, left us with these positive words, “As I stand here tonight we are going to win in every way imaginable. But we have to do it together. Women are a nation of powerful human beings……we are unstoppable.”</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-cf5ed2ef-7fff-af0e-10c3-8828474072a4"></span><br />
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Debbie Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15101722968981506808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6738404311537086386.post-10095533163884612422018-10-02T19:55:00.000-07:002018-10-03T13:21:40.041-07:00WELCOME TO DEBBIE ALLEN'S "EVERYDAY PEOPLE"<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: large; vertical-align: baseline;">Hello, it's Debbie Allen!!! </span><span style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, I like to dance and direct and act and produce and cook but this is the beginning of something new! That’s right "Everyday People" is me putting my two cents on the table about books, theater, film, television, art and other things we all should know about or consider.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr. Charles Blockson told me I was a “bibliophile;” a person who loves books, when he visited my home and saw stacks of books in the living room, in the kitchen and in the bathroom. It was my love of books that led me to the </span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Howard University</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Bookstore (my alma mater) where I found a book called </span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Amistad</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a collection of essays and speeches by Black Academicians, religious leaders and philosophers. The preface had a one page summary of the Amistad mutiny, Supreme Court trial and eventual release of the African captives who were sent back home. That little book led me on an 18-year journey that resulted in an </span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Academy Award</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> nominated film directed by Steven Spielberg that starred Matthew McConaughey, Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anna Paquin. I served as producer along with Colin Wilson and had the joy of working with John Williams (Composer -</span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Star Wars</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Schindler’s List</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), Rick Carter </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Production Designer - <i>Avatar</i>, <i>Lincoln</i>) and Ruth Carter (Costume Designer - <i>Black Panther).</i> So here we goooo!!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>BOOK OF THE WEEK:</b></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">Southern Discomfort by Tena Clark</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tena Clark's memoir </span><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Southern Discomfort </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a true coming of age story that reads like a Tennessee Williams play. Set in the deep south in the 50’s and 60’s, where magnolias, catfish, the Bible, guns, alcohol, racism and carnal knowledge collide, Tena's story confronts the heartbeat of America's identity crisis. A crisis of faith, family, freedom and truth. She knew she was gay at six years old.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The daughter of a wealthy womanizing father, a gifted alcoholic-gun toting mother, the youngest of four daughters, Tena was practically raised by Virgie, the Black maid. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Southern Discomfort </i>a</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ddresses the Jim Crow South and Civil Rights from a young white girl’s perspective standing up for her “Virgie." </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She turns old southern values upside down by marrying a woman. Talented like her mother, Tena rises to become a <i>Grammy Award </i>winning music producer, loving mother and wife. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This story will make you laugh out loud, cry and hope that one day you can stand as tall as Tena. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #26282a; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Discomfort-Memoir-Tena-Clark/dp/1501167944/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538533835&sr=8-1&keywords=southern+discomfort+tena+clark"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Get your copy TODAY!!!!</span></a></span></div>
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Debbie Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15101722968981506808noreply@blogger.com3