Almost 30 years ago, people all over the world were glued to their televisions, watching the 'slow speed chase' on the freeways of Southern California, and O.J. Simpson trying to escape from the police. It was the beginning of a great story that would enchant the people of the USA for at least a year and a half. This famous and infamous man died of cancer on April 10th. Who was that man, and why did he attract so much attention?

O.J.

Orenthal James Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 in San Francisco. His aunt gave him the name Orenthal, which was the name of a French actress she liked. At the age of two, he developed rickets, which left him lame, with his feet turned inwards. His mother could not afford to buy him leg braces. She tied a pair of shoes together with an iron bar, and O.J. had to wear them for a few hours almost every day, until he was five years old. His mother raised him and three other children by herself, where they lived in a rough area (Potrero Hill) in San Francisco. He was a troubled child, and joined a street gang when he was only thirteen years old.

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"I never infringed ón people," he said in an interview with Playboy in 1976. "I only beat up the dudes who deserved it - at least once a week, usually on a Friday or Saturday night. If there wasn’t a fight going ón, it wasn't a weekend."

O.J. played American football in middle school, and when he broke a few records, he caught the attention of talent spotters. From there, O.J. went from strength to strength. He was one of the best running backs ever in the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, and won the Most Valued Player (MVP) in 1973. He played for the 'Buffalo Bills' and the 'San Francisco 49ers'.

O.J. was also a movie star, even when he was playing for the NFL. He had a major role in the trilogy 'The Naked Gun' (1988,1991,1994), as a detective.

Murderer?

Despite being as famous as a footballer and an actor, he is remembered today as the prime suspect in a court case. If you're over a certain age, it's more likely than not that you've seen the police manhunt for O.J. on television, while he was in a car driven by his friend, Al Cowlings. O.J. had a gun, aimed at himself. The police arrested him when they arrived at his home. O.J. was accused of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

Trial of the Century

O.J. had a team of lawyers. who were so strong that they were called 'The Dream Team'. Robert Kardasian, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran were the members of that team. Although there was irrefutable forensic evidence that O.J. was present at the crime scene, a prosecutor named Christopher Darden made a catastrophic error in the court case. The murders took place at Nicole Brown's apartment, and the police found bloodstained footprints at that location that were the same size as O.J.'sown footprints. DNA evidence on a few drops of blood from the crime scene also placed O.J. at the scene. And one glove was found at the scene and the other glove of the pair at O.J.'s house, smeared with his blood and the blood of the two victims.

Despite that compelling evidence, the case fell apart when Darden asked O.J. put the gloves on. O.J. had only three words to say. during the trial, and he said them then – "they're too small!" When Johnnie Cochrane was making his closing statement at the end of the trial, he said: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" O.J. was found innocent ón all counts.

Karma?

But three years later in 1998, in civil court, Simpson was found responsible for the deaths of Brown and Goodman. He was fined $33.5 million. O.J. said that he did not have the money and only paid about $300,000 of the fine in total.

There was another chapter left in O.J.'s story, however, when he was accused of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas in 2007. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison. But he was released in 2017 on parole, after serving nine years in prison.

O.J. Simpson died as a fallen hero who was no longer loved by the public, and that is a sad ending - may his soul rest in peace.

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It is hard to believe that Sinéad O'Connor has passed. I hope she will finally be free of worry, unlike in her life.

Childhood Injuries

Sinéad’s upbringing impacted her whole life, and especially her mental health. She described it in her autobiographical book entitled "Rememberings".

She was born in Glenageary in Dublin in 1966. In 1975, her father left and her family was split. Sinéad and her little brother went to live with their father, but they missed their mother a lot that whole time. So after a while they went to live with their mother. The whole thing was torture for Sinéad, as her mother beat the shit out of her over and over again. When she was just thirteen years old, Sinéad attended a rehabilitation center for girls with behavioral problems. She benefited little from that, however, and left the center after only a few years. She then attended boarding school in Waterford. During the summer holidays, she joined a band. When she went back to school, she left the band and ran away from the school and then got a bedsit for herself. In 1985, her mother died in a car accident. Sinéad was only eighteen at the time. Later in the same year, she signed a contract with 'Ensign Records', and left the country and went to London. The wide world knows what happened next!

Fame and Fortune

Sinéad received a Grammy for best rock performance in 1989, with her debut album 'The Lion and the Cobra', and that was just the beginning. When the song 'Nothing Compares 2 U' was released in 1990, she achieved international recognition as a singer, and the song went to the top of the charts around the world. The music video that was released with the song was also excellent, and still stands as a great example of that art. 'Nothing Compares 2 U' was nominated for three Oscars and 'Rolling Stone' magazine named Sinéad as 'Artist of the Year' in 1991. She has released 10 albums in total, with songs in various genres of music. from rock music to reggae music, from punk to traditional music.

Zealous Activist

But she was not just a musician, as she was an outspoken activist for human rights, who had no qualms about using her global platform to speak out without fear or shame against those who violate human rights.

Sinéad’s reputation was tarnished when she ripped up the Pope's picture in front of the world on the famous show 'Saturday Night Live'. She was showing her determination regarding the behavior of the Catholic Church, and in particular Catholic priests who sexually abused children. The ripping up of the picture caused trouble for Sinéad O'Connor, and she lost most of her fans in the United States as a result, even though she was absolutely right about what was going on.

But she was irrepressible, and Sinéad continued to speak out for those who were wronged, no matter how.

In Ireland, she built public support for people struggling with HIV/AIDS, at a time when it was heavily stigmatized. He spoke out for women's rights and also for immigrant rights.

The Last Track!

She had a difficult life, as she had constant ill health, both body (fibromyalgia) and mind (bipolar disorder). And worse for her than anything else, her son Shane died tragically as a result of suicide in 2022, and his death broke her heart.

On July 11, two weeks before her death in London, Sinéad announced that she had almost finished a new album (with only one track left). She has been working on the album for the past five years, her first album after her album "I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss" (2014).

Sinéad herself did not find any closure, between music and work. So, the best thing for us to do to find some sort of closure for her is to continue the fight for a worthy cause on behalf of the oppressed! She would want that, no doubt! I hope she will be able to sing with that amazing voice of hers, that was unbeatable, instantly recognizable, powerful and sometimes lonely, wherever she is!

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Catholics in Southern California and around the world have recently been mourning the death of Bishop David O'Connell in Los Angeles. The bishop was known as 'The Peacemaker' and was famous for his work with poor migrant communities. He was shot dead in his sleep at his home in East Los Angeles. Home repair contractor Carlos Medina (65), who did odd jobs for the Bishop around the house, and whose wife worked as a housekeeper for the Bishop, has been accused of murdering Bishop O'Connell. Neighbors of the Bishop complained to the authorities that Carlos Medina, who had a previous drug conviction, had been behaving erratically for the past few days. After the police did some excellent detective work based on that tip, Medina was arrested on suspicion of murdering the Bishop.

The Bishop was born and raised in Glanmire in County Cork. He studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College in Dublin and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979.

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gómez described the Bishop in an emotional press conference. He was trying to hold back tears as he spoke of O'Connell. "Every day Bishop O'Connell tried to show compassion for the poor, the homeless, the immigrants and all those who live on the margins of society. He was a good priest, a good bishop and a man of peace," said the Archbishop.

The Archbishop's voice began to tremble as he spoke of his friend's death and how grateful he is to the police force and the investigative team "for their hard work in bringing the murder suspect into custody".

During his career throughout Los Angeles County, O'Connell stood up to federal and local officials, and even his own leaders when he had to, on behalf of the flock he served. Even after Pope Francis appointed him bishop in 2015, O'Connell never lost touch with the ordinary people.

Peter Dreier, professor of urban politics at 'Occidental College' in Los Angeles and author of 'The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City,' remembered O'Connell as a community organizer who put his personal charm to work for the poor and for people who are disempowered.

“I was always very impressed with Bishop Dave and how knowledgeable he was in the matters of life. I was also impressed by his compassion, and his willingness to challenge people in power on a variety of issues, especially immigrant rights, housing justice, racism and public safety,” Dreier wrote in a Facebook post. "He saw the church as a vehicle for social justice."

Bishop Dave was the parish priest at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in South Los Angeles for more than ten years and the people of the parish remember that Dave was always working for them without stopping. The news of his death shocked them and they struggled to make sense of the violent death he suffered – violence in stark contrast to the Bishop's own attitude and life.

Jarlath Cunnane, priest at St Cornelius Catholic Church on Long Beach in California, met O'Connell more than 50 years ago at All Hallows College in Dublin, while they were studying to become priests. They had a lot in common - both studied English while attending university - and Cunnane quickly realized that O'Connell was a funny, perceptive man.

The two men moved to California in the nineties, and their friendship grew deeper over the years. In 2020, when Cunnane was in hospital for several weeks with a blood infection, O'Connell visited him almost every day. Cunnane was on an oxygen machine at the time and had a terrible taste in his mouth the whole time. O'Connell gave him a kombucha drink almost every visit to reduce that taste.

“He had a great capacity for friendship," Cunnane said of O'Connell.

The two friends met for dinner recently, Cunnane said, and discussed plans to visit some parishes in the O'Connell archdiocese in the near future. His longtime friend wasn't concerned for his own safety, Cunnane said, so it came as a complete shock to him when he found out he had been shot to death. "Who on earth would ever think of doing something like this?" he asked. He is right and Bishop Dave's life has been lost senselessly - may his soul rest in eternal peace.

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You would think that reading the obituary column is not pleasant, and I must confess that I was once of the same opinion. But after reading a few, I saw a special value in them, and then I was hooked. It is a summary of a person's life, and although not all of them are special, they are worth reading because the odd gem is to be found. It is very exciting to read such a special obituary, because you get an insight not only into the life of the deceased, but also into your own life. That is a very beneficial experience, no doubt. The singer and writer David Crosby died recently, a man who was very famous in the sixties in America and around the world. I read a lot of obituaries about him, and mostly they were just a long list of facts. But then I read the report written by Steve Chawkins in the 'Los Angeles Times' and it really hit home for me. I was laughing, I was crying, nodding my head and shaking my head, while reading the obituary. At times I almost felt like I was in the presence of the 'Croz' itself. And most powerful of all, I saw that 'Croz' lived life to the fullest, under obligation to no one on earth! But without a doubt there was a price to pay, and 'Croz' paid dearly for it! You see the strengths and weaknesses of 'Croz' clearly laid out on the table, and through that, you get a small glimpse of the human condition itself. I encourage you to read that column if you can! But in the meantime, here are just a few highlights.

A Few Highlights