I don't know exactly why I decided to attend Comptroller Alan
Hevesi's Celebrating Great Women of the 20th Century at City Hall
Thursday night. Ceremonies, seminars and lectures usually leave
my eyelids drooping and my chin dropping in boredom. Perhaps I
was flattered that the invitation from his office was addressed
to me at the Advance with the subtitle Columnist. Could it be
that someone at City Hall actually reads my column? Nah! More
than likely, I'm simply on a mailing list of potential political
donors.
The ceremony was held in the beautiful City Council chambers and
a Queens College string quartet entertained in the hall where
refreshments were served. As the room filled up, I glanced around
at the mostly female audience and prepared to be dazzled by the
honorees chosen for their achievements. However, looking over the
program and the assorted biographies of the women I confess that
I was puzzled by the selection of the honorees.
I don't mean to disparage these worthy women but I've been more
impressed by the candidates for the Women of Achievement Award
here on Staten Island. At least their accomplishments include
true acts of charitable endeavors incidental to their own
careers. Nearly all of the seven women receiving the awards were
somehow politically connected to Mr. Hevesi or his hometown of
Queens. He good-naturedly referred to the coincidence of the
Queens connection as inadvertent but I couldn't help but wonder
if perhaps he should have searched other boroughs for a more
diverse selection.
Just before the proceedings started a woman passed out cards
addressed to Gov. Pataki and the State Assembly exhorting passage
of a bill protecting abortion clinics. I wickedly wondered what
would happen if I stood up and said, ``Sorry but I'm pro-life.''
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Braddon of Park Slope Methodist gave the
invocation which included just about every possible deity
imaginable including the mouthful, ``Mother, Father, God of
Christ.'' Huh?
Then Alan Hevesi opened his remarks welcoming us to this event
honoring the history of women and our struggle for pay parity. He
cited the statistic that years ago women earned 59 cents to every
man's dollar but that ``now we're up to 70 cents.'' We? Oh, I get
it. Alan Hevesi is the Alan Alda of New York City politics and
identifies with our struggle.
Then he proudly informed us that he had spent an hour and a half
earlier in the day with Hillary Clinton. This brought cheers from
the crowd. Mr. Hevesi said that he discussed the current race
tensions with her and encouraged her to run for the Senate seat.
More Cheers.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Joyce Brown, president of the Fashion
Institute of Technology gave the standard feminist chant with the
usual phrases like, struggling in a male-dominated society; men
squashing women's spirit; feminization of politics; the hand that
rocked the cradle will now rock the world. Her speech was
punctuated by shouts of agreement, some raised fists and loud
sporadic clapping. My chin started to droop.
I will not mention the names of the other honorees because there
is simply not enough of significance to report. Suffice it to say
that they included a lesbian legislator (not that there's
anything wrong with that), an ACLU attorney, an Hispanic cultural
director in Queens; a bureaucrat and an ambassador to a U.N.
commission on women's rights. The ambassador did impress me with
her remembrance of a true heroine in Ireland who fought many
years for peace but was blown up by a car bomb five days ago. It
was a sober reminder of the continuing battle for peace
throughout the world that affects all genders.
Ironically, the one woman who stood out was philanthropist Brooke
Astor who seemed truly humbled by her Lifetime Achievement award.
This is a woman who has given away most of her husband Vincent
Astor's money to New York City. It was her foundation's
generosity that provided children from the slums, like myself, to
enjoy so much of the city's culture free of charge.
She graced us with a few amusing remarks about her past and her
husbands but she mentioned over and over what fun she had and how
lucky she was to have had the opportunity to head the foundation
for the past 45 years. She did not mention one complaint other
than to state that she was old and that's why she quit nor did
she embellish her generosity. She was a sweet, little old lady
who gave and gave and still gives and gives. I found her
refreshing especially after I noted the politically incorrect
mink on the collar of her coat. You go, girl.
I apologize if I have not paid sufficient homage to Mr. Hevesi's
honorees but I find it hard to applaud the ordinary. He really is
a very charming man with a good sense of humor but I have a funny
feeling I'm being taken off a list.