Celebrity Friday: Whitney Cause Of Death Released

*sigh* More than a month after the sad event, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has finally released the report on the official cause of death Whitney Houston's untimely demise at age 48 the Beverly Hills on February 11 (the day before the 2012 Grammy Awards).

CNN reports:

Whitney Houston died from an accidental drowning in a hotel bathtub, but the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use" were contributing factors in her death, the Los Angeles County Coroner said in an initial autopsy report released Thursday.

Houston, 48, was "found submerged in bathtub filled with water" and "no trauma or foul play is suspected," the coroner said in a one-page release.

Her cocaine use appeared to have "in the time period just immediately prior to her collapse in the bathtub at the hotel," Assistant Chief Coroner Craig Harvey told reporters.

The 60% narrowing of her arteries "suggest a cardiac event complicated by the cocaine use" led to Houston slipping underwater, Harvey said.

"Something happened that caused her to go down and we know that when she slipped under the water she was still alive," he said. "We have evidence of drowning since there was water in the lungs."

The toxicology tests found other drugs in her body, including marijuana, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, the muscle relaxant Flexeril and the allergy medicine Benadryl, the report said. But these drugs "did not contribute to the death," it said.

This is just sad, sad news, although not that surprising. Note that prescription drugs are not the culprit, but heart disease (presumably) due to (longtime) cocaine use.

Viola Davis To Star in Barbara Jordan Biopic

Rod 2.0 is reporting that a major motion picture about Black lesbian icon and civil rights pioneer Barbara Jordan is being put together to star Oscar nominee Vioa Davis and be directed by openly gay, award-winning director Paris Barclay.

Variety reports about the deal:

Davis is eyeing the project as a starring vehicle that she will produce with her husband, Julius Tennon, through their JuVee banner along with Barclay, Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff.

Glasser and Nabatoff optioned rights to the biography "Barbara Jordan: American Hero," by Mary Beth Rogers. Scribe Paris Qualles is adapting the book for a pic that traces Jordan's rise from a poor Houston neighborhood to an elected member of Congress and an influential figure in liberal politics.

Glasser and Nabatoff initiated the project a few years ago and made separate overtures to Davis and Barclay. The thesp and the helmer have been looking for a project to collaborate on ever since Davis starred in Barclay's CBS medical drama "City of Angels" in 2000. The prospect of telling the story of Jordan, who died at age 59 of leukemia in 1996, resonated immediately with both of them.

And Rod tells us about the LGBT angle:

Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention.

But, given how private a life she led, Jordan was considered something of a mystery, even to her close friends–friends who didn’t know about the illness that would eventually kill her at just 59 years old…. And while she never publicly discussed her sexual orientation (not that she had to), Jordan’s obituary mentioned her long-term (30-year) relationship with Nancy Earl, an educational psychologist.

[...]

Jordan died in 1996. [Ten] years later, the Jordan/Rustin Coalition was created in California in her namesake and that of Bayard Rustin. JRC organizes and mobilizes the Black LGBT community around Los Angeles.

There are lots of projects in Hollywood which are announced by press release and articles in Variety that never get actualized into movies in the theater. But this is an exciting announcement. There are many bloggers in joining me in the the hope that it gets made, and it earns Davis her much deserved Best Actress Oscar!

Celebrity Friday: Bobbi Kristina Named Whitney's Heir

Whitney Houston's will has become public, and unsurprisingly, her 19-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, is named as the main beneficiary.

As for the estate, all Houston's money, furniture, clothing, personal effects, jewelry and cars go to her only child. The money is to be put in a trust until the 19-year-old turns 21, with more coming to her at age 25 and the balance at age 30, according to "Inside Edition," which obtained the 19-page document.

Her mother's untimely death at age 48 on Saturday February 11th, the day before the Grammy Awards, shocked the world and sent Bobbi Kristina to the hospital for observation. The cause of Whitney Houston's death has still not been announced, although multiple pill bottles for prescription medications were found in the hotel room of the Beverly Hills Hilton where she died.

Bobbi Kristina and other close relatives of Whitney Houston will appear in an interview with Oprah Winfrey on OWN this Sunday March 11th discussing the aftermath of her mother's death.

GRAPHIC: Yes, Sex Discrimination Still Exists

The Economix blog at the New York Times examined college majors and their impact on the persistent wage gap between men and women (women get paid on average 81 cents for every dollar a man makes). Interestingly, the only major where women were paid (1%!) more than men for the same exact degree was Information Technology. In Mathematics, males were paid 3% more than women ($53,200 versus $51,900) in their median starting salaries.

In their article this interesting image (shown above) depicts how the gender gap in wages persisted even through various levels of education. Notice how the light blue (male) bar graphs are always aslightly longer than the pink  (female) bars for every single category. Note also that as one gets more education one's median salary also goes way up.

Of course, if you ask people "Does discrimination against women still exist?" I think most Americans would say "No."

It's precisely because graphs like the above still exist that I am proud to call myself a feminist (which basically means: women and men should be treated equally and fairly; the wild proposition that gender and sex are not valid means for discriminating or differentiating humans).

Jennifer Hudson covers "I Will Always Love You"

Last night's tribute to Whitney Houston  at the Grammy Awards was too brief but it did feature this incredible rendition of Jennifer Hudson singing an abbreviated version of the classic "I Will Always Love You" with impeccable grace and amazing technique/

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Shirley Ann Jackson, College President

Shirley Ann Jackson is the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. from MIT

Today's Celebrity Friday is Dr. Shirley Jackson, the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, my alma mater, the nation's oldest technological university.

This is from her official bio:

Described by Time Magazine (2005) as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science,” President Jackson has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, research, and academe.

Since 1999, Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson has led an extraordinary transformation of the Institute with an ambitious strategic effort known as The Rensselaer Plan. Guided by her vision, Rensselaer is now home to the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, and the East Campus Athletic Village. Under her leadership, more than 230 new faculty members have been hired, research awards have doubled, and scholarships have increased. Her tenure also has been marked by innovations in curriculum, expansion of undergraduate research, and new award-winning student life initiatives.

Nearly $1 billion has been invested in The Rensselaer Plan, including more than $700 million in new construction, renovations, new equipment, technology and infrastructure. In 2001, President Jackson secured a $360 million unrestricted gift to the Institute. In 2004, she launched a $1 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer capital campaign. In 2006, the goal was expanded to $1.4 billion. The campaign closed in 2009, having surpassed the ambitious goal of $1.4 billion in gifts and gift commitments, nine months ahead of schedule, exceeding all previous fund-raising at Rensselaer.

Curiously, her Wikipedia page is clearly a site of contestation for her supporters and detractors. Regardless, she is still a Black woman who has been the head of a federal agency (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1995-1999), a college president (1999-??) and a trailblazer as a physics professor (Rutgers).

WATCH: TV Ad For Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady

Harvey Weinstein is pushing hard to help Meryl Streep to finally win her 3rd Oscar for her stunning performance in The Iron Lady. Watch the television ad which ostensibly is promoting the movie but is also pushing Streep towards her much deserved win. However, Viola Davis from The Help is the sentimental (*cough* white guilt *cough*) favorite and won the Screen Actors Guild award which is a good sign she has a big following among the actors, which is the largest branch of the Academy. If Davis were to win she would be only the second black woman in 84 years to win for Lead Actress (Halle Berry for Monster's Ball). In fact the number of Black people who have won Oscars in my lifetime can basically be counted on one hand  two hands (Denzel Washington (twice!), Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Foxx, Forrest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman and Monique).

What do YOU think is going to happen at the Oscars on Sunday February 26th?

WATCH: Mo'nique Supports Marriage Equality

Celebrity Friday: First African Miss Universe Fights HIV

Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes,
Miss Angola, was crowned Miss Universe

Leila Lopes, Miss Angola, became the first winner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant from Africa this week. I believe she is the first "dark-skinned" woman to win the most famous beauty pageant in the world.

Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper reports:

This is the first time a beauty queen from Angola has been crowned as Miss Universe. She is first black African to win the 60 year-old pageantry. Nigeria’s Agbani Darego won the 51st Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa, on 17 November, 2001.


[...]

The brand new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes said she wants to help her native Angola escape a history of war and impoverishment and work towards combating HIV.

Being crowned at the ceremony in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the 25-year-old said that “as Miss Angola, I’ve already done a lot to help my people.”

“I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs,” she said. “I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.”

US OPEN 2011: Playing Tennis While Black? #PTWB

The first video above shows the soon-to-be notorious incident which happened at 2-6, 30-40 with Serena Williams serving to Samantha Stosur during the 2011 U.S. Open Women's Final (won by Stosur) for which Serena was assessed a point penalty for deliberate hindrance for shouting "come on" before the point was over. Darren Cahill first posted on Twitter a link to this video of an identical "hindrance" incident with Serena playing Svetlana Kuznetsova two years ago, bizarrely with the exact same referee Eva Asderaki officiating last night. Then it had no more than 600 views. Now it's up to 13,000 and rising LOL. The comments on the second video claim that because Doha 2009 and US OPEN 2011 were played under WTA and ITF rules, respectively, the umpire was correct in awarding a point (and thus a game) penalty to Serena Williams.

Let's go to the text shall we?

The ITF rules on "hindrance" state (Rule 26):

"If a player is hindered in playing the point by a deliberate act of the opponent(s), the player shall win the point. However, the point shall be replayed if a player is hindered in playing the point by either an unintentional act of the opponent(s), or something outside the player’s own control (not including a permanent fixture).”

The WTA rules (pdf) on "hindrance" state:

If a player hinders her opponent, it can be ruled as either involuntary or deliberate. 

1. Involuntary Hindrance 

A let should be called the first time a player has created an involuntaryhindrance (e.g., ball falling out of pocket, hat falling off, etc.), and the player should be told that any such hindrance thereafter will be ruled deliberate. 

2. Deliberate Hindrance 

Any hindrance caused by a player that is ruled deliberate will result inthe loss of a point.

My issue is with the interpretation of the rule. In what way did Serena's scream hinder Stosur in returning the ball? How do Azarenka's and Sharapova's shrieks not hinder the player on the other side of the net? If grunting is not involuntary hindrance than neither should screaming "come on!" If one takes the position that screaming out a word right before one's opponent is going to hit the ball is involuntary hindrance then a let should be played. It was very clear that Serena had hit a winner and was screaming out "come on!" as almost all tennis players do at that point. No human in that position was going to get that ball back in the court. Stosur happened to get her racquet on the ball before it bounced twice but no way was she going to get the ball back into play. If it had been some other event which had interrupted play the umpire should rule that Stosur had no play on the ball and give the point to Serena. But umpires often do interpret the rule (wrongly, in my view) that if the player gets a racquet on the ball (or is even in the vicinity of the ball when the incident happens) then the entire point needs to be replayed.


So the ruling by the umpire was the Serena deliberately hindered Stosur by screaming "come on." This is absolute bovine excrement and must be reported as such. Why is it deliberate hindrance to scream out "come on!" before an opponent hits an unreturnable ball? If the ball WAS returnable, then I think one could rule it was a deliberate hindrance. Because, the player was deliberately hindered from returning it into play. But the ball was not playable so regardless of what Serena said or did that ball was not coming back into play. The bigger question is, why did the same umpire rule differently at the US Open than two years ago at the Doha 2009 tournament, under essentially the same rules in an identical situation? That umpire, Eva Asderaki like the notorious Marina Alves, should never be allowed to referee a Serena Williams match again.


But the bigger issue is with the ability of umpires and officials to make calls which videotape allows the fans and observers to know are incorrect. That is what used to happen with line call and now (thanks to the 2004 U.S. Open quarterfinals match with Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams when repeated, obvious line calls were made against Serena by Referee Marina Alves) we have electronic line calling. And tennis is much better for it. Ask Maria Kirilenko!

What drives us observant followers, fans and players of the game insane is that there are a LOT of these subjective interpretations of the rules in the game of tennis and more often than not they seemed to be interpreted arbitrarily (or to the detriment of Serena at the U.S. Open). My point is that there should be an increased attempt to REDUCE subjectivity in tennis and have all umpire calls appealable by going to an objective source such as videotape (where available) and then a ruling by the tournament referee using the objective source.

Incidents such as "not up," "foot faults," "non-racquet contact with the ball" are all examples of situations which could be resolved by going to the videotape. You can also find multiple examples where umpires have made questionable (and incorrect) rulings against Serena Williams, Venus Williams and James Blake where the video shows pretty clear that the umpire was in error. What do these players all have in common? Hmmmmm.

There are video cameras in the cars of police officers all around the country to prevent incidents of what is known as "Driving While Black or Brown)." 

All players need the ability to review video of incidents on the tennis court to substantiate umpire rulings!

Until that time, anyone playing in an official match, especially if they have "dark" skin may be subject to an incident of "Playing Tennis While Black"!