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Forward thinking
An entirely subjective look at the week ahead
By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published January 31, 2005
RATE OF RETURN
With Washington breathless over the urgent need to overhaul a system that could, maybe, begin having financial problems in 30 years, we note today as the 65th anniversary of the first Social Security check. Legal secretary Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the program, contributing a total of $24.75 from her annual pay of about $900. When she retired at 65 in 1940, her first monthly check was for $22.54. She lived to be 100, collecting a lifetime total of $22,888 in benefits.
FOUR FOR FREEDOM
Forty-five years ago Tuesday, four black college students sat down at a lunch counter at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, S.C. It may not sound like much, but it was one of the pivotal moments of the civil rights movement. PBS kicks off Black History Month at 11 p.m. Tuesday with February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four. The documentary about the four young men, their motives and their lives since 1960 is part of the Independent Lens series.
KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON
Speaking of historic events that shook the nation, Tuesday is also the first anniversary of Janet Jackson's tragic Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction (still viewable on about a bazillion Web sites). With FCC chief nanny Michael Powell stepping down, we're not sure who will be around to collect the fine if Paul McCartney shows us his nipple hardware this year. Maybe James Dobson can take a weekend off from outing cartoon characters and keep an eye on things.
OFF THE WALLS
One is an immigrant from Czechoslovakia whose art draws from communist propaganda and U.S. advertising, the other a Tampa native who works in graphic design. But both Bask and Tes One find artistic inspiration in graffiti that's apparent in "Pound and a Bear Hug," opening at 7 p.m. Saturday at Covivant Gallery, 4906 N Florida Ave. in Tampa, with live music by DJ Research and T the Beat Specialist. Opening the same night is "Willing Evil, Doing Good," a show of Julie Zenz's drawings based on Mikhail Bulgakov's surreal novel The Master and Margarita.
QUEEN FOR 19,359 DAYS
Talk about job security. Sunday marks the 53rd anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II of England's accession to the throne. Given the recent antics of her family, from Prince Harry's appalling taste in costumes to Prince Andrew's pricey luncheon transportation, she may be just about ready to outsource the position and retire.
THE MAN WHO LOVED MOVIES
We hear there's some football game on Sunday, but we'll be watching a DVD marathon of The 400 Blows, Day for Night and The Last Metro to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the birth of Francois Truffaut. The brilliant director, one of the founders of the French new wave and creator of some of the loveliest, most humane movies ever made, died in 1984.
THEY LOVED THE '70s
This is the story of Johnny Rotten: He used to be one of the Sex Pistols; now he hosts the show Megabugs (yes, it's about insects) on Discovery Channel UK. John Lydon is 49 today. His baseball career spanned four decades, but he started breaking major-league records in the '70s. Pitcher Nolan Ryan is 58 today.She was the star of Charlie's Angels and a poster icon, but above all, she was the hairstyle queen of a decade. Farrah Fawcett turns 58 on Wednesday.
- COLETTE BANCROFT, Times staff writer
727 893-8435 or bancroft@sptimes.com
[Last modified January 28, 2005, 17:33:13]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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