Coming Soon, 2009!

Reflection time.

New Year's Eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
~Thomas Mann

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.
~Ellen Goodman

Get ready. 2009 can bring nothing less than amazing perhaps revolutionary times.
America has always had the setting for the greatest fulfillment of human potential. So, I pray that we can get back on the path to reclaiming our place and understanding the value of being manufacturers, builders and inventors - not just consumers. I pray we can return our schools goals to developing innovators, thinkers, scientists, and artists - not just test takers and ethicless money makers.
In 2008 we've witnessed tremendous hope and growth by electing the first African American President and a tremendous economic disaster that is the result of our greed and lack of attention.
Here's to keeping hope alive and to waking up.
Happy New Year !

Chicago's climate has gone Wacko!

OMG! Folks what the heck is going on now? Ok, in Chicago we have had some really early winter stuff happening. It's winter in Chitown and so no big deal, right. Meterologist love Chicago because we have real weather here. But this is ridiculous.
We had a huge snow storm followed closely by a huge ICE storm followed by mo snow and Friday got a massive ice blanket covering everything. EVERTHING! We held on to the trees and bushes and each other and anything we could grasp to stay upright.









Cars were stuck in parking spaces and spinning out all over town yesterday morning.









Then during the day the temps started going up. Water from the melting snow made the ice underneath more treacherous.
People had to walk in the streets, so cars and peeps spent the day dodging each other.



Also the melting ice and snow and the sudden warm air combo created an unbelievable fog. Zero visibility. We expected to see wolfman emerge from around some bush.

Walking back from our friends house last night holding on to each other in the ice and fog, we looked like a couple of 80 year olds. I told Monica we were rehearsing for our old age. She said, "rehearsing? This is act one, honey."





Now today, (Saturday morning) it will be near 60 degrees. I just looked outside and the snow and ice are GONE! It's gone. I see grass. And it's raining. Thunderstorms, right now. And, so now the flooding begins. And don't even think of leaving here because all modes of transportaion here are in a constant state of "delayed" and "cancelled".



On Christmas morning it was 8 degrees and now it's springtime. What is going on?

So if you are coming to Chicago, bring your heavy winter gear and boots, an umbrella, a spring jacket, fog glasses, and a raft, and carry them all at the same time.

Eartha Kitt

Sultry `Santa Baby' singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81
By POLLY ANDERSON

NEW YORK (AP) — Eartha Kitt, the self-proclaimed "sex kitten" whose sultry voice and catlike purr attracted fans even as she neared 80, has died. The singer, dancer and actress was 81.

Family spokesman Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.

Dubbed the "most exciting woman in the world" by Orson Welles, Kitt's career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television.

She won two Emmys, and was also nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Kitt was featured on the cover of her 2001 book, "Rejuvenate," a guide to staying physically fit, in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. She also wrote three autobiographies.

She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South, and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.

Her first album, "RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt," was released in 1954. It featured songs such as "I Want to Be Evil," "C'est Si Bon" and the saucy gold digger's theme song, "Santa Baby," which is revived on radio each Christmas.

The following year, the record company released "That Bad Eartha," which featured "Let's Do It," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."


After becoming a hit singing "Monotonous" in the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1952," Kitt appeared in "Mrs. Patterson" in 1954-55. (Some references say she earned a Tony nomination for "Mrs. Patterson," but only winners were publicly announced at that time.) She also made appearances in "Shinbone Alley" and "The Owl and the Pussycat."

She was the sexy Catwoman on the popular "Batman" TV series in 1967-68, replacing Julie Newmar, who originated the role. A guest appearance on an episode of "I Spy" brought Kitt an Emmy nomination in 1966.



In 1996, Kitt was nominated for a Grammy in the category of traditional pop vocal performance for her album "Back in Business." She also had been nominated in the children's recording category for the 1969 record, "Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa."

Kitt also acted in movies, playing the lead female role opposite Nat King Cole in "St. Louis Blues" in 1958. She more recently appeared in "Boomerang" and "Harriet the Spy" in the 1990s.



"Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland," she said in a 1996 Associated Press interview. "It depends so much on gadgetry and flash now. You don't have to have talent to be in the business today.

"I think we had to have something to offer, if you wanted to be recognized as worth paying for."



Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas.
"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later.

In 1978, Kitt returned to Broadway in the musical "Timbuktu!" — which brought her a Tony nomination — and was invited back to the White House by President Jimmy Carter.

In 2000, Kitt earned another Tony nomination for "The Wild Party." She played the fairy godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" in 2002.



As recently as October 2003, she was on Broadway after replacing Chita Rivera in a revival of "Nine." She also gained new fans as the voice of Yzma in the 2000 Disney animated feature "The Emperor's New Groove," and won two Emmys for her voice work in "The Emperor's New School."

Kitt was born in North, S.C., and her road to fame was the stuff of storybooks. In her autobiography, she wrote that her mother was black and Cherokee while her father was white, and she was left to live with relatives after her mother's new husband objected to taking in a mixed-race girl.

An aunt eventually brought her to live in New York, where she attended the High School of Performing Arts, later dropping out to take various odd jobs.

By chance, she dropped by an audition for the dance group run by Dunham, a pioneering African-American dancer. In 1946, Kitt was one of the Sans-Souci Singers in Dunham's Broadway production "Bal Negre."

Kitt's travels with the Dunham troupe landed her a gig in a Paris nightclub in the early 1950s. Kitt was spotted by Welles, who cast her in his Paris stage production of "Faust." That led to a role in "New Faces of 1952," which featured such other stars-to-be as Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde and, as a writer, Mel Brooks.





In 1960, she married Bill McDonald but divorced him after the birth of their daughter, Kitt.

While on stage, she was daringly sexy and always flirtatious. Offstage, however, Kitt described herself as shy and almost reclusive, remnants of feeling unwanted and unloved as a child. She referred to herself as "that little urchin cotton-picker from the South, Eartha Mae."
......................................................................

Eartha Kitt's passing is another great loss for me as one of those entertainers I'll always remember watching with my family. Eartha Kitt was right to a point about being able nowadays to become a star without talent. My fear is that the coming generations won't be able to discern what talent is and if talent will win out over gadetry and flash.

I love this picture of Eartha Kitt. R.I.P my sister.



C'est si bon. It is good!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Katie's Corner

OK folks, if you haven't been over to actress/singer Alexandra Billings' journal lately or haven't seen her outrageously hilarious video logs on YouTube, you are missing some major fun. That talented woman is one of the funniest people on the planet. I've said that many times. But if I didn't know her, I'd wonder if there wasn't something seriously wrong with that girl. Could it be having all those extra helpings of talent? Could be.
Alex's vlogs take us on auditions with her or maybe just out on her porch. And, if ya didn't know, Alex does a great Kate Hepburn, and has now added Katie's Corner to her vlogs. Here's is the latest. OMG!



Be sure to catch Alex on an episode of ELI Stone on December 30th.

OH Christmas Tree!

My friend Maria sent me these pictures of Christmas trees around the world. Very pretty and calming.


Before the ball drops in Times Square, the Big Apple turns on its
holiday charm with the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.


The Capitol Christmas tree in Washington, D.C., is decorated with 3,000
ornaments that are the handiwork of U.S. schoolchildren. Encircling
evergreens in the 'Pathway of Peace' represent the 50 U.S. states.


The world's largest Christmas tree display rises up the slopes
of Monte Ingino outside of Gubbio, in Italy's Umbria region.
Composed of about 500 lights connected by 40,000 feet of wire,
the 'tree' is a modern marvel for an ancient city.


A Christmas tree befitting Tokyo's nighttime neon display is
projected onto the exterior of the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.


Illuminating the Gothic facades of Prague's Old Town Square,
and casting its glow over the manger display of the famous
Christmas market, is a grand tree cut in the Sumava mountains
in the southern Czech Republic.


Venice 's Murano Island renowned throughout the world
for its quality glasswork is home to the tallest glass tree
in the world. Sculpted by master glass blower Simone
Cenedese, the artistic Christmas tree is a modern
reflection of the holiday season.


Moscow celebrates Christmas according to the Russian Orthod ox
calendar on Jan. 7. For weeks beforehand, the city is alive with
festivities in anticipation of Father Frost's arrival on his magical
troika with the Snow Maiden. He and his helper deliver gifts under
the New Year tree, or yolka, which is traditionally a fir.


The largest Christmas tree in Europe (more than 230 feet tall)
can be found in the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon, Portugal.
Thousands of lights adorn the tree, adding to the special
enchantment of the city during the holiday season.


'Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree': Even in its humblest attire,
aglow beside a tiny chapel in Germany's Karwendel mountains,
a Christmas tree is a wondrous sight.


Ooh la la Galeries Lafayette! In Paris, even the Christmas trees are chic.
With its monumental, baroque dome, plus 10 stories of lights and
high fashion, it's no surprise this show-stopping department store draws
more visitors than the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.


In addition to the Vatican's heavenly evergreen, St. Peter's Square
in Rome hosts a larger-than-life nativity scene in front of the obelisk.


The Christmas tree that greets revelers at the Puerta del Sol
is dressed for a party. Madrid's two-week celebration makes
millionaires along with merrymakers. On Dec. 22, a lucky citizen
will win El Gordo (the fat one), the world's biggest lottery.


A token of gratitude for Britain's aid during World War II,
the Christmas tree in London's Trafalgar Square has been
the annual gift of the people of Norway since 1947.


Drink a glass of gluhwein from the holiday market at the Romer
Frankfurt's city hall since 1405 and enjoy a taste of Christmas past.


This is my favorite. Against a backdrop of tall, shadowy firs, a rainbow trio of
Christmas trees lights up the night (location unknown).


Maria also sent me this quietly regal scene of respect for our soldiers at Arlington National Cemetary. These wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington,Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

My Governor, Busted!

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was hauled away to the pokey before dawn yesterday morning. Yep, the gov handcuffed and arrested. How 'bout that?
Surprised? Not me. He is innocent until... you know, but I've long felt this day would come. This public official has been pushing it for a while and now he's gone one brazen step too far and had to be stopped.
Among a multitude of other corrupt actions, he was trying to SELL the president-elect's vacant Illinois Senate seat for all he could get. Or in his own words, "pay to play".

Blagojevich was served a 79 page complaint and will face a grand jury for possible indictments in the coming weeks.
Click here for the story of his crime spree. Here's the official complaint. It's a very interesting read to be sure. Be prepared for some filthy language including the governor calling Obama a MF.

This guy is all arrogance and no brains. He knew he was under scrutiny and yet he (and his wife) both put themselves in this fix by using the phone to squeeze, solicit and bribe for $$ every chance they got. How do you spell stupid or arrogant? Try BLAGOJEVICH. Four of the last eight Illinois governors have served time in the clink. We in the land of Lincoln don't mind treating our governors to public hospitality. So what was this man thinking trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat, bribe and harass the Chicago Tribune, threaten to withhold money for Children's Memorial Hospital to make a personal profit. What a jerk! This is different from political wrangling and favor trading. Blago is caught trying to personally profit from his public office.

Wire tapped conversations finally did him in. A "friend" who wore a wire did a lot of damage to Hot Rod Blago. It will be interesting to see this played out. There will be others going down with Blago.
The state of Illinois at the time of great pride, now takes an embarrassing hit. Stay tuned.

History May Be Bush's Hell

One of my Hyde Park neighbors sent a link to this Washington Post article. He said, sad reading...but oh so true...
I agree. I can hardly wait until this man leaves office.


Bush's Final Fiasco


By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, 12/3, 2008; Washington Post.

As he prepares to move back to Texas, our 43rd president is the beneficiary of Bush fatigue. The nation has long since repudiated him. Americans are looking ahead to the promise of Barack Obama.

And it's lucky for George W. Bush that they are, because his handling of our plunging economy is Hooverian in both its substance and inadequacy. Herbert Hoover, we should recall, had a program for dealing with the Depression. It consisted of lending to banks but opposing fiscal stimulus or direct aid to individuals. Which is why Hank Paulson's frenzied endeavors to prop up the banking sector and Bush's dogged resistance to assisting anybody else amount to pure neo-Hooverism.

As the 1930s began, Hoover believed that the coordinated actions of the private sector could save the beleaguered economy. It soon became apparent that the only action that private-sector businesses could agree upon was closing down factories and offices and throwing people out of work. Under immense pressure to do something, in late 1931 Hoover asked Congress to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to provide funds to banks it deemed creditworthy.

By 1932, the RFC was making loans. Yet with the economy in free fall, the rate of bank failures increased until Hoover's successor, Franklin Roosevelt, created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Having done his bit to bail out the banks, however, Hoover rested. He opposed provisions that would have enabled homeowners to hang on to their homes.

As breadlines lengthened, he vetoed a bill appropriating funds for public works on the grounds that it was inflationary and contained pork-barrel spending. Bankers would be saved; everyone else was effectively damned.
Sound familiar? The Bush administration's approach to today's meltdown is to direct all its energies and largess to lending institutions. There is, as yet, no program to help floundering homeowners renegotiate the terms of their mortgages. The president is opposed to further stimulus programs, even though private-sector investment in the United States has all but ceased.

It's becoming increasingly clear, however, that while saving the banks may limit further calamities, it doesn't really save anybody else. Even with government-guaranteed lines of credit, financial institutions are refusing to lend money. With the banks effectively on strike, an economic recovery, if there is to be one, must begin with the government injecting funds to those parts of the economy that need it most: infrastructure development, state and local governments, an alternative-energy sector. These are all programs to which Bush is firmly opposed.

In a sense, Bush's inactivity is even less excusable than Hoover's. Unlike Hoover, Bush could learn from the successes of New Deal and World War II-era programs to revive the economy. Keynes's general theory of how to defeat depressions wasn't around when Hoover was president, but it's been with us now for 72 years. What's more, virtually every reputable conservative economist, from Martin Feldstein on down, now supports a government stimulus program. But Bush, drawing on no known body of economic thought, remains opposed. (So does Republican House leader John Boehner, who seems determined to elevate stupidity to a party principle.) And with each passing day, the economic hole out of which we will have to climb grows deeper.

So where's the outrage? Why aren't demonstrators besieging the White House? Where are the "Welcome to Bushville" signs in those neighborhoods where abandoned homes outnumber the occupied ones?

The answer, I suspect, is that you can only irreversibly give up on a president once. Further catastrophic failures on the president's part elicit only diminishing returns. Buchanan did nothing while the South seceded: That was it for him. Hoover did nothing as farmers, workers and middle-class America got wiped out: With that, he was beyond rehabilitation. Nixon had Watergate: Enough said. One mega-strike and you're out.

Bush, however, has had three. He misled us into a nearly endless war of choice to disarm a threat that never really existed. He let a great American city drown. And now he stands by while the economic security of tens of millions of Americans is vanishing.

Yet in the hearts of his countrymen, Bush's place is already fixed. Even before the financial collapse, he was in the ninth circle of presidential hell, with Buchanan and Hoover. At his own party's national convention this summer, his was the name that no one dared speak. And so, though his mishandling of the economy is criminally inept, he is being spared one more outbreak of public rage by two countervailing public sentiments: Americans' relief that he soon will be gone and their kind reluctance to kick a corpse.

meyersonh@washpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120202938.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Well yall, America may be reluctant to kick Bush's lame duck, post prez corpse right now, after all we are rather busy treading water and trying to stay afloat in the wake of his fine leadership. But, will his cronies feel the same?
I doubt we'll have to wait long for books on the Bush years to start coming out by everyone close to him? Folks trying to clear their names for history's sake. Folks trying to clear their consciences, and folks trying to make money from Bush's ashes.

Can't you see the titles now?

Running A Country, for Dummies
Bush, What Happened?
Bush, The Unadvisable
Emperor Bush's New Clothes
Don't Look At Me
Cheney Did It
Rice or Wrong
How Not To Be President
and
Why I voted for Obama, by Jenna Bush

Once time and scrutiny sorts through it all, we'll know just how it really was.

Nope, as the article points out, Mr. Bush II does not heed, or learn from, or respect history. How do you think history will treat George W. Bush?

World Aids Day

Today is the 20th annual day of remembrance for those we have lost to AIDS.
Today is also a day set aside to highlight support for those living with HIV/AIDS and their families.
Today is a day to re-educate ourselves about prevention, resources, and getting tested.
Today we raise awareness that although treatment and care is greatly improved, the epidemic is far from over. Far from over.
Here are some links to check out.
Take this quiz.
Monica Roberts has some interesting info.
A very personal remembrance from Alexandra about her friend Ginger.

You can find out how to help build awareness and learn about the global pandemic, here.

Here's my big red ribbon for all my friends who have died of AIDS and all those I love who are living with HIV/AIDS. For them and for all of us.

What have you done?

I got this To Do List from my girl Alex, who got it from her pal Sheila.
I put stars next to the things I've done. How 'bout you?


1. Started your own blog***

2. Slept under the stars***

3. Played in a band***

4. Visited Hawaii***

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity***

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo***

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch***

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning***

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables***

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train***

21. Had a pillow fight***

22. Hitch hiked***

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill*** Oh Please.

24. Built a snow fort***

25. Held a lamb***

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse***

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset***

31. Hit a home run***

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied***

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelos David

41. Sung karaoke***

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant***

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight***

46. Been transported in an ambulance***

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling***

52. Kissed in the rain***

53. Played in the mud***

54. Gone to a drive-in theater***

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies***

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason***

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma***

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check***

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy***

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar***

72. Pieced a quilt***

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job***

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone***

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car***

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper***

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating***

88. Had chickenpox***

89. Saved someone’s life***

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous***

92. Joined a book club***

93. Lost a loved one***

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit***

98. Owned a cell phone***

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day***

Happy Thanksgiving Yall!

Some Extra Mac'n Cheese for America, Please

This time of year especially, we see requests for food donations everywhere; at the market, school, the office, everywhere. Mostly the donations are geared toward Holiday dinners for those who can't afford the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday feasts. This year, here in the USA, it is more vital than ever to give. This economy-in-the-toilet thing is not something we can look at as affecting those poor unfortunate others. None of us know if or how or when it will trickle it's way to us. And, excuse the word trickle, it is often not a trickle but more like a gush. My church has a weekly offering that goes to a local HIV/AIDS food pantry and a local food bank. A couple of weeks ago we were told that not only were these pantries experiencing an upsurge in need and a decrease in contributions and food donations, but some of the people who were frequent contributors are now coming in for food themselves.

We hear about more and more business closings and downsizings and they all have domino effects. When Lehman Bros. closed, there were ripples down to the the dry cleaner, the car service employee, the health club, and it goes rippling on down.

So, it is important to remember that the need is not just for one day's feast. We are hurting more than ever. So when you do that Thanksgiving shopping, pick up some extra items for the donation box.
I realize that box is always there. I gotta remember to remember it even after Christmas. We gotta get each other through this, yall.

Transgender Day of Remembrance, 2008

Today is the 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Events have been held all over the world to commemorate the lives of those transgender individuals who have been murdered as a result of transphobic hatred.

Duanna Johnson — a transgender woman who was beaten by Memphis police while handcuffed and in custody. She was sprayed with mace, hit with a closed fist by an officer who wore handcuffs around his knuckles, ignored by medical staff, and called abhorrent transphobic names. Her attack was caught on tape, and Duanna dared to speak out against the violence and injustice that was committed against her. And two officers were rightfully fired, but wrongfully apparently not prosecuted.

Now, Duanna is dead. She was shot, and her body was found lying in the street. Just left there. She was 42 years old.

Again this year there are far too many people on this list. In a time when we are hopeful about getting our diversity act together in this country, we are reminded once again of the fear and hatred in this world. These crimes are particulary disturbing to me. But we can't shorten this list if we don't raise awareness that it happens.
Their names and faces are here in remembrance.

Kellie Telesford, 18
Location: Thornton Heath, UK
Cause of Death: Strangled
Date of Death: November 21, 2007

Brian McGlothin, 25
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Cause of Death: Shot in the head with an automatic rifle
by Antonio Williams who is serving a six year sentence.
Date of Death: December 23, 2007

Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz
Location: Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death: Attacked and stabbed
Date of Death: December 28, 2007

Patrick Murphy, 39
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Cause of Death: Shot Several times in the head
Date of Death: January 8, 2008

Stacy Brown, 30
Location: Baltimore, MD
Cause of Death: Shot in the head
Date of Death: January 8, 2008

Adolphus Simmons
Location: Charleston, SC
Cause of Death: Shot to Death (Aldophus was 18 yrs. old)
Date of Death: January 21, 200

Simmie Williams Jr., 17
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: February 22, 2008


Ashley Sweeney
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Cause of Death: Shot in the head
Date of Death: February 4, 2008
The age of Ashley Sweeney is unknown, she was only described
as a young transgender woman.

Sanesha (Talib) Stewart, 25
Location: Bronx, NY
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: February 10, 2008

Luna (no last name reported)
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Cause of Death: Brutally beaten to death
and tossed into a dumpster.
Date of Death: March 15, 2008

Lloyd Nixon,45
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
Cause of Death:Repeatedly beat in the head with a brick.
Date of Death: April 16, 2008

Felicia Melton-Smyth
Location: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Cause of Death: brutally stabbed to death by Francisco Javier Hollos,
who said he killed her because she would not pay for sex.
Felicia was an HIV activist on vacation from Wisconsin.
Date of Death: May 26, 2008

Silvana Berisha
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: June 24, 2008

Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker, 20
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Cause of Death:Shot
Date of Death:July 1, 2008


Rosa Pazos
Location: Sevilla, Spain
Cause of Death: Was found in her apartment,
she had been stabbed in the throat.
Date of Death: July 11, 2008

Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel, 35
Location: Lombardi, Italy
Cause of Death severely beaten causing fractures
to the head and face before being run over by a car.
Date of Death July 14, 2008


Angie Zapata,18
Location: Greeley, Colorado
Cause of Death: She was found in her home with two
severe fractures in her skull.
Angie was murdered by 31 year old, Alan Ray Andrade.
Date of Death: July 17, 2008

Jaylynn L. Namauu, 35
Location: Makiki Honolulu, Hawaii
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: July 17, 2008

Samantha Rangel Brandau, 30
Location: Milan, Italy
Cause of Death: beaten, gang raped and stabbed numerous
times before being left for dead.
Date of Death: July 29, 2008

Nakhia (Nikki) Williams, 29
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Cause of Death: Found near the dumpster next to her home,
she had been shot.
Date of Death: August 20, 2008

Ruby Molina, 22
Location: Sacramento, CaliforniaCause of Death: Drowned
Date of Death: September 21, 2008
Ruby’s naked body was found floating in the American river.

Aimee Wilcoxson, 34
Location: Aurora, Colorado
Cause of Death: undetermined (Police have yet to reveal cause)
Date of Death: November 3, 2008
Aimee was found dead in her bed.

Dilek Ince
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Cause of Death:Shot in the back of the head
Date of Death: November 11, 2008

Teish (Moses) Cannon, 22
Location: Syracuse, New York
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: November 14, 2008

Ali
Location:Iraq
Cause of Death:executed for being transgender
Date of Death:2008, Month is Unknown