Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, September 3, 2022

13

OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 3, 2022 

RICH & FAMOUS 


PUT THE LIGHTS ON

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

PRODUCTION

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Stuart Tolchin 

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

STUART TOLCHIN

While My Guitar 
Gently…Strums!

Twas’ a dark and stormy Sunday 
night. 8 pm. A small black and white 
television set turned on and tuned in 
to the CBS Television Network.

The Ed Sullivan Variety Show was just starting. But something 
was different. Possibly it was the sound of 700 teeny bopper girls 
screaming through the little TV’s tiny 4-inch speaker. Or the cosmic 
effect of watching a broadcast with 73 million other people 
gazing over my shoulder.

And suddenly there they were. Four long haired young guys from 
Liverpool: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Beatles! They performed 
four songs and they had me.

A week later a guitar appeared on my bed. And from the age of 
13 on, a guitar has never been far from my side. I play it when I’m 
happy…when I’m sad. And I get to play it in front of people and 
bring smiles to their faces.

Playing the guitar has so enriched my life, that I wanted to reach 
out to readers who always wanted to play the guitar.

Are you one of those people? Do you dream of playing the guitar? If 
you do, you are in luck. You and I have a tremendous opportunity.

Eric Byak, a local friend, also happens to be one of the most extraordinary 
guitarists I have ever heard. His guitar playing has been 
heard in trailers of popular films and underscores for many TV 
shows. Eric is taking on a limited number of new students.

So, whether you have never picked up a guitar before, or are looking 
to advance to the next level, Eric can teach you to play at a level 
few people ever achieve. In addition to his teaching talents, Eric is 
simply a nice guy. I’m signing up too!

His lessons can be in-person, and also via remote learning (Skype 
or Zoom).

If the guitar is your dream…Make that dream come true. Join me 
in becoming one of Eric’s students. You can reach Eric at (818) 321-
1533. Or ericbyak@gmail.com. Or visit www.ericbyakmusic.com.

Speaking of music, my 1960’s-70’s fun rock band JJ Jukebox is performing, 
Saturday evening, September 24 at Nano Café. 6:30-9:30. 
Join us for an evening of the best fun rock of the 60’s and 70’s…and 
maybe a little 80’s. Call Nano Cafe to make reservations. (626) 325-
3334. Tell them the number of people coming and give them your 
phone number. Look forward to seeing you.

ADMIRATION


Right now my IPhone says the temperature outside is 100 degrees 
and I admire anyone who is walking around out there when 
they don’t have to. I, in my air conditioned bedroom, have spent 
the day watching the U.S. Open tennis matches. Just now I saw 
Venus, age 42, the older of the Williams sisters, lose what might 
well be her final singles match after turning professional at age 
14. As most of you know, after seeing the award winning “King 
Richard” Movie, Venus and her sister grew up in Compton. This 
is a place in what was then called South Central Los Angeles, 
right next to Watts. (In 2003 the Los Angeles City Council voted 
to officially replace the name “South Central Los Angeles”) the 
places may have been changed but the neighborhoods character 
and reputation remain the same.

 Let me describe my major impression of Watts to you. In 1966 while in Law School 
I ended up with a work-study job helping to create a program which brought Hispanic 
students from Boyle Heights and African-American students from Watts and Compton to 
UCLA to live in the dorms for the summer. As the student-coordinator I was allowed to 
reside in the dorm with the male students. I think the program was a life-changing experience 
for many of the students; it certainly was for me. In the program there was a brother 
and sister who lived in a Watts apartment. We received a call that there was some sort of 
emergency at the kids’ home. A few staff members and I accompanied the kids who were 
15 or 16 to their apartment. When we got there a crowd and some policemen were gathered 
around the house and as we all walked towards the open door of the apartment someone 
from the crowd yelled, “Sorry Whiteman, she’s closed for the night.” Almost at the same 
moment we saw, the kids and staff members, we all saw their murdered mother lying on the 
apartment floor. I looked away as soon as I could but the horror remains in my mind as a 
fitting description of Watts.

 In the movie Venus and her sister Serena are shown playing tennis under the watchful 
eye of their father. Playing, or practicing on the cracked concrete courts with broken 
wire nets separating one side from the other. Their father, who was not a tennis player, 
hatched an idea after seeing female professional tennis players receiving large checks that 
he could oversee his daughters to do the same thing. Of course the White female players 
were not only of a different race, they were from a completely different social class. At the 
time there were no African American( all right they were called Black then) on the professional 
tour but amazingly they both made the big time and are both considered to be 
among the best female players in history. (Actually Serena is generally recognized to be the 
all- time greatest.) I don’t know if their abilities were compared in the movie because to be 
truthful I have difficulty watching movies about sports heroes which seem like glamographies, 
hardly truthful and overly dramatized such that I don’t pay much attention.

 Anyway this article is not about the movie, it is about Venus. Venus is an amazingly 
supportive, complicated person. All along her father was telling all who would listen 
that Venus would win a major championship but his younger daughter Serena would be 
acclaimed as the best player of all time. Remarkably the younger sister did win a Major 
Championship, the U.S. Open in 1999. I think I remember seeing Venus absolutely thrilled 
by her sister’s victory as she stood snapping pictures of her. Actually, this might have been 
after another Serena victory during which she defeated Venus. In fact in one year Serena 
defeated Venus in the final of all 4 major championships and Venus always seemed overjoyed 
by her sister’s victories.

 By this description it may sound as if Venus is a self-effacing person easily dominated 
by others. Anything but! She has a remarkable record of her own victories together 
with as record for longevity. Venus has been the major force demanding that female players 
receive comparable compensation as do the men. After being racially insulted at the annual 
Southern California tournament held at Indian Wells near Palm Springs, Venus and 
Serena both boycotted the tournament for a few years depriving the sponsors of attendance 
revenues. Originally Venus and Serena were criticized for not being committed enough 
to the game. It was predicted that after their original early success they would fade from 
view succumbing to destructive pressures and pleasures of celebrity hood. This is exactly 
what happened to teenage champions like Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pearce. This year 
the number one female player, Ashleigh Barty has retired explaining that the pressures and 
expectations made continuing too much of a burden. Recently young players like Naomi 
Osaka and Coco Gauff have missed tournaments and complained about depression and 
emotional pressures.

 Over the years Venus has been afflicted by some chronic disease which has sapped 
her energy, her older sister was murdered in Los Angeles, her parents have separated. Nevertheless 
Venus has matured into being on her own a very successful business-woman and 
a political spokesperson. She lost the match today, but will play doubles tomorrow or the 
day after with Serena as her as her partner. Win or lose she is a person to be admired and 
it’s hard to find such people these days.

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JOHN MICEK

BIDEN’S PHILLY SPEECH WAS A 
CHALLENGE TO ALL OF US


Returning to the state where he launched his candidacy — 
and the one that handed him the White House in 2020 — 
President Joe Biden on Thursday called on Americans to join 
him in a fight to preserve democracy and to beat back the 
forces of extremism.

The 30-minute address was equal parts tribute to the nation’s 
resilience and a wartime call to arms from a president who 
based his candidacy on restoring the soul of a nation buffeted 
by the pandemic and four years of domestic unrest.

“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American 
democracy is guaranteed,” Biden said, speaking before a nationwide audience in Philadelphia 
with Independence Hall as his backdrop. “But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect 
it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us.”

With little more than two months to go before this November’s midterm elections, Biden 
drew a stark contrast between Democrats, independents, and “mainstream Republicans,” 
who support and defend democratic norms, and “MAGA Republicans” who embrace political 
violence because they cannot accept that they’d lost an election.

“Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. “[Former 
President] Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that 
threatens the foundations of our democracy.”

Biden’s speech came even as Trump, who faces the very real prospect of a federal indictment 
over top secret documents found at his Florida residence, said he would not rule out 
pardons to Jan. 6 rioters who sacked the U.S. Capitol and violently attacked law enforcement 
officers if he regains the White House in 2024.

The optics of Biden’s speech were hard to miss. More than two centuries ago, the Founders, 
with a bloody revolution barely in the rearview mirror, gathered in Philadelphia to 
hammer out the framework of a new nation.

Then, as now, the future was hardly assured. Then, as now, there were deliberate choices 
to be made about what kind of country the new United States of America would become.

What emerged was a nation forged in compromise, with branches of the government designed 
to counter and temper each other; a system designed to rein in the tyranny of both 
the majority and the minority. It was a breakthrough, but it was hardly perfect. It was then, 
and remains now, a work in progress. And it remains as fragile as ever.

Elections, they say, always are about choices. This year, at this point, those choices never 
have been more clear.

From book bans and efforts to restrict voting rights to the ahistorical insistence that 
America is a Christian nation (which condemns millions of our fellow citizens to second- 
and third-class status), these extremists and nationalists seek to turn back the clock on the 
“faith, freedom and reason,” as the historian Jon Meacham describes it, that the Revolutionary 
Generation (as flawed as it was) fought so hard to usher into existence.

In these dark times, it’s easy to give into cynicism, to dismiss Biden’s speech as a political 
pep talk, given in a political season, that was designed to energize the base, and likely 
would not win him any new converts.

But as he exhorted Americans, in classic Biden fashion, to stand up, to get involved, and 
to “vote, vote, vote,” it was hard not to feel a cautious optimism that his message would cut 
through the noise, and hit its intended mark, uniting the country in common purpose.

In his closing pitch, Biden made it clear he believes that’s the case.

“There’s nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American. That’s 
our soul. That’s who we truly are. And that’s who we must always be. I have no doubt — 
none — that this is who we will be and that we’ll come together as a nation. And we’ll 
secure our democracy,” Biden said, adding, “We just need to remember who we are.”

Whether the passion behind Biden’s plea will work only will be known on Election Day. 
But the gauntlet has been thrown down.

An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-
Star in Harrisburg, Pa. 


Mountain Views News

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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com