Celebrities Go Online to Have Their Say About Terror Attacks
We’re determined to carry on like good Americans, but what to do, where to go? Every day we check the e-mail. Every day we’re disappointed. The spam has picked up; the invites haven’t. The silence is so unsettling, but we’re not yet desperate enough to interview local monuments, as gossip maven Liz Smith resorted to last week with her “exclusive” chat with the Empire State Building. And so, we turned to the Internet, where lots of celebrities have plenty to say about the terrible events of Sept. 11.
How do we know the world has changed? Clintonista Barbra Streisand is making nice with the Bushes. “In light of recent events, I strongly believe we must support our government despite our disagreements on certain policies,” she says on barbrastreisand.com, where suddenly several Bush-bashing articles have disappeared. Streisand says she removed the criticism “in an effort to encourage national unity instead of partisan divisions.”
On a more personal level, Streisand sends “thoughts and prayers” to everyone who died, and everyone who grieves for them. She finds comfort in acts of heroism, and even in the “beautiful” New York accents she hears on the evening news. “We have seen that when we set aside our differences for the greater good, we can prevail against any negative force in this world,” Streisand writes. “This indomitable American spirit has always carried us through the darkest of days and strengthens our determination to create a brighter tomorrow.”
Another Malibu resident, Shirley MacLaine, is leading chakra meditation sessions to cover us with a protective bubble of positive energy and bombard the terrorists with white light and love from our higher selves. The reincarnated author and entertainer is making Sunday’s hourlong meditation available for free to anyone who visits shirleymaclaine.com until Saturday. Here’s what we heard:
“Let’s allow our souls to smile and remember that adversity introduces us to ourselves. We are all filled with sorrow, with anger, rage and a feeling of helplessness. These are our identifiable emotions relating to the attack on our beloved nation. Since we cannot all be in New York or Washington to provide hands-on assistance, which would make us feel we are at least contributing something, there’s another way to help.” If our higher selves can connect with theirs, MacLaine says, we can “melt their weapons, melt their hearts, melt their anger with love.”
On Monday, Alanis Morissette released “Utopia,” a song from her upcoming album, as a free download on maverick.com, the Web site operated by her label, Maverick Records. She says she’s sharing the song “in the spirit of wanting to offer comfort to everyone who is grieving,” through music, her favorite form of expression. “I believe this is a hugely defining time for us as human beings,” she says on alanis.com. “I believe we live in a relative realm and that it is in the face of what some are calling ‘evil’ that we are able to know ourselves as peaceful, transcendent and willing to contemplate the motivations for doing what happened on Sept. 11th.”
Melanie Griffith posted a Sept. 11 diary entry on melaniegriffith.com: “I have never in my lifetime felt as I do today. It was very surreal to wake up and watch as the World Trade Center had not 1 but 2 planes fly into them. My first tears came in pain for the people in the planes and in the buildings. Then to watch the Pentagon get bombed? ... This is so serious and so scary it is much worse than Pearl Harbor. We must band together with love and strength. What can you do as an individual here in America? I know what I’m going to do. I will do anything to stop the fighting, the cruelty, and the insanity of the people who are hurting my children, our children with such violence. I WANT PEACE, Melanie, xoxoxo.”
Cindy Crawford’s Sept. 21 posting: “Hello Everyone--Thanks to all of you who expressed concern last week about the safety and well-being of me and my family. We were all in Los Angeles, watching in horror with the rest of the nation. Having just had a beautiful baby girl, I was filled with so many conflicting emotions. Joy at becoming a mother again and deep sorrow for the tragic loss of so many lives. I’m not sure either reality has set in. I am filled with overwhelming admiration for the heroism and bravery displayed by so many. My prayers are for the fallen, for their loved ones and for the healing of the planet. Sincerely, Cindy.”
Melissa Etheridge: “My first response once it seeped into my brain that there was something that really had happened, was that I wanted to be with my children. That was an overwhelming need at that point in the time of the crisis.”
Steven Tyler, on behalf of Aerosmith: “Our hearts and prayers go out to the injured and the families of those who perished. This country is all about freedom and we’re proud to be an American band.”
Tori Amos, in a Sept. 11 posting on her site: “Those of you who are strong need to be there for those who have lost someone today. We have to be here for each other right now.”
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Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.