He was an immenselytalented man, determined to a degree unusual even in the ranks of Hollywood stars.
His huge fame gave him the freedom—and, more importantly, the money—to be his own master. He already had the urge to explore and extend a talent he discovered in himself as he went along. \can't be me. Is that possible? How extraordinary,\is how he greeted the first sight of himself as the Tramp on the screen.
But that shock rousedhis imagination.
Chaplin didn't have his jokes written into a scriptin advance; he was the kind of comic who used his physical senses to invent his art as he went along.
Lifeless objects especially helped Chaplin make \ He turned them into other kinds of objects.
Thus, a broken alarm clock in the movie The Pawnbroker became a \patient undergoing surgery; boots were boiled in his film The Gold Rush and their soles eaten with salt and pepperlike prime cuts of fish (the nails being removed like fish bones).
This physical transformation, plus the skill with which he executedit again and again, is surely the secret of Chaplin's great comedy.
He also had a deep need to be loved—and a corresponding fear of being betrayed.
The two were hard to combine and sometimes—as in his early marriages—the collisionbetween them resulted in disaster.
Yet even this painfully-bought self-knowledge found its way into his comic creations.
The Tramp never loses his faith in the flower girl who'll be waiting to walk into the sunsetwith him; while the other side of Chaplin makes Monsieur Verdoux, the French wife killer, into a symbol of hatred for women.
It's a relief to know that life eventually gave Charlie Chaplin the stability and happiness it had earlier denied him.
In Oona O'Neill Chaplin, he found a partner whose stability and affection spanned the years age difference between them, which had seemed so threatening, that when the official who was marrying them in turned to the beautiful girl of who'd given notice of their wedding date, he said, \—Chaplin, then , had cautiously waited outside.
As Oona herself was the child of a large family with its own problems, she was well prepared for the battle that Chaplin's life became as many unfounded rumors surroundedthem both—and, later on, she was the center of calm in the quarrels that Chaplin sometimes sparkedin his own large family of talented children.
Chaplin died on ChristmasDay .
A few months later, a couple of almost comic body thieves stole his body from the family burialchamber and held it for money.
The police recovered it with more efficiency than Mack Sennett's clumsyKeystone Copswould have done, but one can't help feeling Chaplin would have regarded this strange incidentas a fitting memorial—his way of having the last laugh on a world to which he had given so many. Unit_passage_english_b
Modest and soft-spoken, Agatha Muthoni Mbogo, , is hardly the image of a revolutionary. Yet, six months ago, she did a most revolutionary thing: She ran for mayorof Embu, Kenya, and won.
Ms. Mbogo's victory was even more surprising because she was voted in by her colleagueson the District Council, all men.
For the thousands of women in this farming area two hours northeast of Nairobi, Ms. Mbogo suddenly became a symbol of the increasingly powerful political force women have become in Kenya and across Africa.
Ms. Mbogo launchedher dream of a career in politics in by running for the Embu Council, facing the obstacles that often trouble African women running for political office. She had little money.
She had no political experience.
She faced ridiculous questions about her personal life.
\opponent kept insisting that I was going to get married to somebody in another town and move away,\
Ms. Mbogo also faced misunderstandingamong the town's women, many of whom initially were unwilling to vote for her.
She became an ambassadorfor women's political rights, giving speeches before women's groups and going from door to door, handbag in hand, spending hours at a time giving a combination of speech and government lesson.
\Embu farmer and political activist.
\lead'.\
Education of African women has become a top priority for political activists.
One organization has held dozens of workshops in rural Kenya to help women understand the nation's constitution and the procedures and theory behind a democratic political system.
One veteranfemale political activist said that many women had not been taught the basicsof political participation.
They are taught to vote for the one who \ gramsof salt, or a loafof bread\
Women politicians and activists say they are fighting deeply-held cultural traditions.
Those traditions teach that African women cook, clean, take care of children, sowand harvest crops and support their husbands.
They typically do not inherit land, divorce their husband, control their finances or hold political office.
Yet, political activity among Kenyan women is not a new phenomenon.
During the struggle for independence in the s, Kenyan women often secretly provided troops with weapons and spiedon the positions of colonialforces.
But after independence, leaders jealousto protect their power shut them out of politics, a situation repeated across the continent.
Today, men still have the upper hand.
Women in Kenya make up percent of the people who vote, but only percent of the National Assembly.
No Kenyan woman has ever held a cabinet post.
Against that background, Agatha Mbogo began her political career.
After winning her council seat, she declined a spot on the education and social services committee after a colleague called it \
She instead joined the town planning committee, a much more visible assignment.
Then last year, she decided to challenge Embu's mayor, a veteran politician.
Ms. Mbogo said she had become frustrated because the donor groups that provide substantialaid to Kenya's rural areas \
\
\—the donors' money seemed to be going to individuals.\
After a fiercecampaign, the council elected her, to . She said women in Embu celebrated. Men were puzzled; some were hostile.
They asked, \
Ms. Mbogo has not met with the kinds of abuse that other female politicians have been subjected to, however.
Some have said their supporters are sometimes attacked with clubs after rallies.
Last June, Kenyan police attempted to break up a women's political meeting northwest of Nairobi, insisting it was illegaland might start a riot.
When the women, including a member of the National Assembly, refused to go, officers tore down their bannersand beat them with clubs and fists, witnesses reported.
In contrast, Ms. Mbogo generally receives warm greetings from the men of Embu, and many say they are now glad the council chose her.
Donor groups are now fundingprojects in Embu in earnest. A new market is going up downtown.
A -bed section for new mothers is being added to the hospital.
A dormitory-style home has been built for the dozens of homeless street children who once wandered the city.
Ms. Mbogo is especially proud of the market and the hospital because \
women\
At the current market, where hundreds of people, shaded by umbrellas, lay out fruits and vegetables, one person who sells lemonssaid she liked the new mayor.
\
\
Nearby, a man said he found Ms. Mbogo a refreshingchange.
\
\what we want, she is all right.\Unit_passage_english_a
A welfare client is supposed to cheat. Everybody expects it.
Faced with sharing a dinner of rawpet food with the cat, many people in wheelchairsI know bleed the system for a few extra dollars.
They tell the government that they are getting two hundred dollars less than their real pensionso they can get a little extra welfare money.
Or, they tell the caseworkerthat the landlord raised the rentby a hundred dollars.
I have optedto live a life of complete honesty.
So instead, I go out and drumup some business and draw cartoons. I even tell welfare how much I make!
Oh, I'm tempted to get paid under the table.
But even if I yielded to that temptation, big magazines are not going to get involved in some sticky situation.
They keep my records, and that information goes right into the government's computer. Very high-profile.
As a welfare client I'm expected to bowbefore the caseworker.
Deep down, caseworkers know that they are being made fools of by many of their clients, and they feel they are entitled to have clients bow to them as compensation. I'm not being bitter. Most caseworkers begin as college-educated liberalswith high ideals.
But after a few years in a system that practically requires people to lie, they become like the one I shall call \
Not long after Christmas last year, Suzanne came to inspect my apartment and saw some new posters pastedon the wall.
\
\
\
This was my cue to beg. Instead, I talked back.
\
\
Suzanne tries to lecture me about repairs to my wheelchair, which is always breaking down because welfare won't spend money maintaining it properly.
\know, Mr. Callahan, I've heard that you put a lot more miles on that wheelchair than average.\
Of course I do.
I'm an active worker, not a vegetable.
I live near downtown, so I can get around in a wheelchair.
I wonder what she'd think if she suddenly broke her hipand had to crawlto work.
Government cuts in welfare have resulted in hunger and suffering for a lot of people, not just me. But people with spinalcordinjuries felt the cuts in a unique way: The government stopped taking care of our chairs.
Each time mine broke down, lost a screw, needed a new rollerbearing, the brakewouldn't work, etc., and I called Suzanne, I had to endure a little lecture.
Finally, she'd say, \
She was supposed to notifythe medical worker, who would certifythat there was a problem. Then the medical worker called the wheelchair repair companies to get the cheapest bid. Then the medical worker alertedthe main welfare office at the state capital. They considered the matter for days while I lay in bed, unable to move. Finally, if I was lucky, they called back and approved the repair.
When welfare learned I was making money on my cartoons, Suzanne started \every fortnight instead of every two months.
She looked into every corner in search of unreported appliances, or maids, or a roastpig in the oven, or a new helicopterparked out back.
She never found anything, but there was always a thick pile of forms to fill out at the end of each visit, accounting for every penny.
There is no provisionin the law for a gradual shift away from welfare. I am an independent businessman, slowly building up my market.
It's impossible to jump off welfare and suddenly be making two thousand dollars a month. But I would love to be able to pay for some of my living and not have to go through an embarrassing situation every time I need a spare part for my wheelchair.
There needs to be a lawyer who can act as a championfor the rights of welfare clients, because the system so easily lends itself to abuse by the welfare givers as well as by the clients.