Whitney

How can I NOT do a post about Whitney Houston?

I wasn't ever a huge Whitney fan. It's not that I disliked her - I'd watch a video if it popped up on MTV, but I never bought any of her records. But there is no denying she was one of the top selling pop singers of all time, which translated into MANY fans. And little did I know until she passed away that she was from New Jersey. Newark, NJ, in fact. Which is about 15 miles from where I now live. And little did I know that her father was laid to rest in the cemetery in the town I now reside (population of about 30K - more people went to the universities I attended than live in my town).

But with the coverage her death received here (and I'm sure it was a lot elsewhere on national news, but we got it in all the local news too), there is no way I'll ever forget where she was from.

I don't begrudge her the press her death has received. In fact, I've become somewhat appalled by some of the comments I've seen on coverage of it. Lots of people decrying the fact that so much airtime and press is being given to a "druggie" and "crackhead". But what it comes down to is that she DID sell all those records and she DID have many, many fans. And she let her demons get the better of her.

There were two very good things I read recently about her. One was the writeup in People Magazine about her life. Not that People is usually hard-hitting journalism, but this article did a great job in pointing out the two sides to Whitney's life. She grew up on the mean streets of Newark. Yes, she was big in her church, but she certainly wasn't from some white-bread suburb. She grew up on the streets, liked to party, and liked to be herself with those that knew her best. She was also a product of the music industry, packaged up and sold as this great crossover star - a sweet pop princess all the way. And that the stress of having to hold up that sweet pop facade was hard on her when it wasn't who she actually was inside. Everyone was surprised when she married Bobby Brown, but apparently people that knew her well say it wasn't that big a surprise for who she really was.

The other interesting thing I read was a column in the Newark newspaper (which is my local paper). It pointed out how the story of Whitney (and Michael Jackson, and Elvis, etc.) should really drive home the point that drug addiction is VERY hard to beat. Everybody knows how bad it is for you, and knows rehab and such is how to kick the habit, but when people who have the means to try every route can't seem to break their addictions you know it must be a hard thing to achieve.

So I feel very sorry for Whitney. I feel sorry for her mother and her daughter. I feel sorry for her fans who I'm sure all hoped she would eventually be able to clean herself and her life up. Rather than complain about the media spending so much time on a fallen star, I'd rather use this as a lesson for my children on how drug abuse can ruin your life, and how sad it makes everyone that gets left behind.