Thursday, November 09, 2006
Ed Bradley, O.J. and Me
By Daniel D. Ziegler
Ed Bradley is gone but remembered by me.
In early June of 1994, when I was working at Turtle Lake Resort near Union City, Michigan, and the news was still fairly fresh that we were now a nudist resort, it attracted the attention of not only the local newspapers but eventually was picked up by the national wire services as well. The wire services picked up on it when one of the local papers told of how one of our members, an ordained minister, was booted from his church when church authorities found out he was a nudist. When the wire services picked up that story, our phones began going crazy.
One of the many reporters that called during this frenzied time was none other than Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes. He wanted to do something on nudism for 60 Minutes, but something different from the usual sensationalism that we all had seen on TV up until then. Inspired by the story of our minister member, what he had in mind was a piece focusing on the personal and spiritual growth aspects of the nudist lifestyle. "Wow!" I thought. "Here is a man who understands." This was right down my alley too and perhaps I would finally get a chance to express my thoughts on nudism to a national audience.
Being the spokes person for the resort, he and I talked on the phone on a couple occasions, making sure we were on the same page and getting together on dates, etc. But it never happened.
June 12, 1994.
Enter O.J.
It was then that the whole O. J. Simpson story broke and for the next several weeks, that story monopolized the news. I called Ed Bradley a couple times during all that and not surprisingly he told me that the O. J. story was now the hottest thing going, and even though he still wanted to do the piece on nudism, it would have to wait. I never heard back from him.
Thanks, O. J.!
November 9, 2006.
Good bye, Ed. We almost did it... but, ironically, sensationalism won again.
Dan Z.
To receive a free e-copy (PDF file) of my book NAKED BEFORE GOD: A Look At Healing, Self-discovery and Spiritual Growth Through Social Nudism, go to http://less-onsfortruth.com/ or email me ddziegler44@yahoo.com
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2 comments:
OK, I'll say it, . . . even though your comments had nothing to do with race and it was pure coincidence that the two men in the story were both black . . .
... Thank you! That was really interesting. It would be hard to find two Black men more representative of opposite ends of the spectrum in the same story.
. . . unless, perhaps, one thinks scoring touchdowns is a redeeming virtue. But, even in that case, there's a better example of a phenomenal Black man who brought the capability to do practically everything, athletic and intellectual, to Ed Bradley's end of the spectrum of accomplishment and conviction. I think the quickest way to appreciate him is to read Wikipedia's bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson and then find a recording of Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River".
Dan,
Ed and I would run into each other at Jazzfest in New Orleans; the last time I saw him was 2005, three months before Katrina. We were hangin' out on Rampart Street at our favorite bar, Donna's on a Thursday.
Old school Black men are bound by a code to speak to each other. When he passed I said, "What's goin' on, blood'?" He nodded, "The same ol', same ol." He had a seat at the bar, where he had two young, blonde honeys saving him a seat. The music was the Danza Quartet and they were smokin'; My blonde honey and I caught two sets.
I miss Ed; I shed a tear when he left too soon.
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