For your central Jersey real estate needs: JudyNJHomes.com
Katharine For the People, By the People
By
Greg (Gregoriancant)
That woman there, do you see her? She’s standing on that stage up there in this giant balloon-filled convention hall giving a speech to maybe 20,000 of her fans, friends, family and constituents. It’s a speech of a lifetime. And she looks so unbelievably beautiful at the age of 42, even though she’s still at the place where she doesn’t want to accept that reality. Her skin is still as smooth as it was when she was 32…and 22. Plus, she’s kept her body toned with an aura of healthiness--thanks to a continued balanced diet she helped champion twenty years ago when he career was just beginning. She just looks extraordinary for her age that could make her still pass for a woman in her 20’s. She’s also done so much for other people over the years that this speech is really shocking to everybody and just might age them about twenty years. I’m sitting in the back of the hall—but I still feel the impact of what she’s saying through every single soul in here listening to her every word. With her husband and three kids by her side, she’s just turned down the public mandate for her to be the first woman President of the United States. The public demands to take her extremely positive influence to super levels in the world finally hit a breaking point.
You probably recognize this woman’s name of Katharine McPhee. That seems almost unnecessary to say at this point in time when Katharine pretty much dominates the news on a daily basis and is the most influential and powerful entertainer/philanthropist in the world. I’ve followed her around this week as sort of a secret reporter—because I knew this speech today was coming. This week was probably the most extraordinary week Katharine’s ever had so far in her life…and that’s saying something. But I had to get myself reacquainted with everything related to Katharine, because I’ve been away from her world for quite a while. It was good to have a re-examination of who she is as a person and humanist. Though I’ve examined her life off and on--and it’s been about ten years now when she first hit that crest of influence. That was when she finally broke a record of having the most Grammy wins, Tony wins and Golden Globe/Oscar wins in less than a few years. It began when her eponymous second album won Grammy Awards for album and song of the year in early 2009 at the ripe old age of 25 after already holding 5x platinum status for her debut album released in late 2006. Then she went to Broadway that fall and did a year-long engagement in a new musical written by Stephen Schwartz based on Gregory McGuire’s second book (after ‘Wicked’) called ‘Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister.’ Katharine won a best supporting actress Tony for that playing the Iris Fisher role. She also won a lead Tony Award the following year for playing Elphaba in a revival of ‘Wicked’ on Broadway. She even did a stint in the final Broadway year of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ playing Christine that also garnered a special Tony in 2012. In-between all this, Katharine managed to star as Elphaba in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of ‘Wicked’ for the big screen. Kat already had a long list of co-starring and starring parts in movies—but finally got the lead role of a lifetime in 2010. Oh, she won an Oscar for Best Actress in ‘Wicked’ in Feb. of 2011…including the Golden Globe for the same role that previous January.
After four consecutive years of winning every award possible—she decided to get married and raise a family amid wanting to go in different directions with her career. Her husband didn’t and doesn’t work in her industry (in fact, he later became a stay at home dad), which helped her not have to compete with a spouse in awards and accolades. While she was busy having three kids (all girls) over a period of seven years—the public and worldwide government officials championed her as a major advocate in working with international humanitarian causes related to children. It was much-desired work for her while she raised a family over the next few years. It led to honorary and prestigious positions with UNICEF and Make-A-Wish Foundation while raising hundreds of millions of dollars over a period of five years. By 2016—Katharine received a Presidential Medal of Freedom for her children’s work that saved millions of children’s lives from the world’s critical diseases thanks to her fundraising abilities. All of that amid other awards, honorary degrees and various blandishments that I frankly lost track of. It’s around the time I had to take a break from following the dizzying speed of it all.
Yes, her fundraising abilities have really moved mountains like no one probably since the days decades ago of Princess Diana. I saw Katharine at a fund-raising event for one of those children’s causes about five years ago last. It was right after her third daughter was born, and Kat was so adept at compelling the millionaire corporate suits in the audience to open their wallets and give money. She hasn’t lost a beat on that when I saw her again a few days ago in New York City doing the same thing. I just sat unnoticed in the back of the venue where Kat was doing the fundraising—once again for children’s funds—but this time for Africa where new diseases had overtaken a new generation of children there. Sitting around me on various tables were several magazines and newspapers that had articles lamenting the lack of anyone in the entertainment industry who took this much time to raise money for causes…and so effectively. Katharine McPhee was touted everywhere in the media as the go-to woman who knew how to get things done and bring about real results in the world.
What was especially entertaining on that day was seeing the quite elderly, usually passive millionaires (and billionaires) who were invited and sat transfixed with Kat’s emotion, charm and elegance up on the podium. After Kat’s speech, several of them waddled up to the podium to talk to her while feeling around in their back pockets for their wallets as they creaked their way over to her space. I inconspicuously went up around the area to listen in.
“Holy God…you’re so beautiful! Are you sure you’re not some long-lost offspring of Natalie Wood who was a legend back when I was a kid?” said one old man while opening his wallet that looked like it was filled with nothing but credit cards.
“Well, as long as you have checks in there rather than credit cards…I’ll say ‘yes’ to your question if you want me to,” said Katharine while wiping a strand of her still-beautiful hair out of her left eye. Her face still looked classic, though I could tell by her occasional sour glances at herself in nearby reflective surfaces, she still had off and on doubts about her appearance.
“And how many zeros to write after this 1, darlin’…?” asked another old man while writing a check on the podium. He looked as if--from his extreme overweight--he should be giving some money away before expiring in his expensive corporate business suit.
Kat let out a barely audible “hmmm”—and went over to pick up a corner of the tablecloth blanketing the long dais where she sat earlier before being introduced to speak. On that spot of the tablecloth were some of her left-handed doodles she’d done with a Sharpie while waiting to go on to make her speech. She was in to drawing little circles now instead of the old hearts and smiley faces for some reason. Perhaps it was because she was so used to seeing seven zeros to the right of a bigger number on checks people were giving to charities she spearheaded. There were about EIGHT circles on the surface of that tablecloth—and Katharine just pointed to them while letting out a lighter version of her famous laugh.
“Ok,” the old man said without batting an eye