"Have we forgot the anger in the eyes?"
 

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<TD colSpan=2>The subject line is the title of an article in my local newspaper's editorial section that was written by James L. Larocca, a professor of public policy at Southampton College and who was a naval officer in Vietnam during '67-'68.

In the article he talks about how U.S. Forces would patrol the Mekong Delta at night and, from boats, set fire to shoreline villages, using bows and arrows. The next day civil action teams of soldiers and civilians would arrive with sheets of corrugated tin for new roofs, bags of rice and bars of soap and sweaters from stateside church groups. He said it was all part of the "pacification" process. What disturbed him the most was the look in the eyes of the affected villagers, "The children would be terrified, but also oddly fascinated in that way kids have."
"The mothers, beyond ordinary fear, would be wildly angry, often unleashing a flood of invective that, of course, none of the Americans could specifically understand because no one spoke the language."
"The old widows...would look at you with the cold, dead eyes of people who had been violated forever and seemed to expect always to suffer."
He goes on to say how the men would be the most angry and vocal and would sometimes be beaten down by interpreters and would look at you with, "...the clean, white fury of men who have been reduced to abject humiliation and powerlessness in front of their families."
He then compares it to today's actions in Iraq, specifically one in which several soldiers broke down the door of a house... "The eyes of the U.S. soldiers...filled with confusion and shame at what they were being made to do by their government."

I can't recall in any past posts about that particular kind of "pacification" and I would like to know if any of you have heard of it or participated in such events.

I don't know if our guys in Iraq are filled with "confusion and shame", as Larocca states. I feel its more nervous anxiety that comes with the fear of who may be behind that door and what he/she may be armed with. That's pure conjecture on my part since I was only faced with a semi-combat incident in the PI, but I would like to hear from any combat vets about the 'Nam incidents and your opinions on how troops feel about the Iraq situation.

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DanG
 

No way, Jose. Mr. Larocca's bonafides need to be checked out.

Kindly cut and paste this story here..Sounds like bullshit to me.

Larry

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0813-10.htm


Published on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 by Long Island (NY) Newsday
Have We Forgotten Anger in the Eyes?
by James L. Larocca

Ordinarily, our boats patrolled Vietnam's rivers in pairs. But on this night we had several teams operating together as we launched the Pentagon's latest ingenious scheme for winning the war in the Mekong Delta.

The concept was simple enough: instead of surprising people with conventional gunfire during raids, the boats would first set the houses and buildings on fire with bows and arrows. The brass called this early version of "shock and awe" Operation Flaming Arrow.

Of course, the flimsy huts burned like matchbooks, leaving the families homeless and destitute. The next day, civil action teams of GIs would arrive bearing sheets of corrugated tin for new roofs and bags of rice to help the villagers get started again. There would also be bars of Dial soap and clothing from church groups in the states.

I remember a particular time when, with the fires still smoldering in the stultifying heat of a Delta morning, the teams distributed boxes of heavy sweaters.

I'm sure the church folks back home felt good about their gifts. But we shared with the villagers a sense of absolute mystification at a policy that would burn down people's homes in the middle of the night, then give them tin and soap and sweaters to rebuild their lives.

Our government called it "pacification." We called it madness. It all has come back to me while watching the news from Iraq, where we should be applying more of the lessons so painfully learned in Vietnam. Instead, we seem to be repeating our mistakes.

What I remember most from those nights are the faces - and the eyes. The children would be terrified, but also oddly fascinated in that way that kids have.

The mothers, beyond ordinary fear, would be wildly angry, often unleashing a flood of invective that, of course, none of the Americans could specifically understand because no one spoke the language.

The old widows - there seemed to be one in every hut - would look at you with the cold, dead eyes of people who had been violated forever and seemed to expect always to suffer.

But mostly I remember the men, who, if they hadn't slipped away when the mess began, would be taken by the American troops for interrogation.

Usually, several young soldiers would throw the man down while yelling the few Vietnamese phrases they knew. At least one would hold a rifle to his head. Another might stand on his neck. His hands would be bound behind his back. He would be wrenched up into a kneeling position. Many times he would be blindfolded.

Eventually a "pacification" team member would come along and question the man in Vietnamese. He would be asked to show his papers - documents which, more often than not, had been lost in the fire. He would be yelled at, cursed at, and sometimes spit on. Many times he would be kicked and punched.

Those lucky enough to have the right kind of documents and otherwise convince the Americans of their innocence (of what?), would be released.

Then you would see it. In the eyes. The clean, white fury of men who have been reduced to abject humiliation and powerlessness in front of their families. The hatred in their eyes would be as pure as any you would ever see. It would last forever. You would never forget it.

I saw those eyes again the other day on the evening news. A group of young American soldiers, sent by their government to go house to house in a sweltering Baghdad suburb, had kicked in a door and rousted a family. The children were terrified, crying. The mother was furious, screaming. The eyes of the GIs were filled with confusion and shame at what they were being made to do by their government.

And the father, down on the ground in front of his house with a kid from Arkansas or Detroit or California standing on his neck, showed in his eyes the kind of white-hot hatred that will take a thousand years to extinguish.

President George W. Bush, who spent almost all of his military service out of uniform and involved in political campaigns in the South, and Vice President Dick Cheney, who never served at all (he had, in his words, "other priorities"), would do well to consider the lessons of Vietnam.

We did not win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people because we occupied their country while we burned down their homes and killed them and brutalized and abused them.

We will not win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by wrecking their towns and cities, destroying their homes, terrorizing their families and humiliating their men. Incredibly, we have again become an occupying army, out of touch with the realities of the lives and culture of the people we are there to save. Not surprisingly, the Iraqi people are striking back.

Last week, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the chief commander of allied forces in Iraq, said that "maybe our iron-fisted approach to the conduct of ops is beginning to alienate Iraqis." Perhaps today's Army is remembering the eyes.

James L. Larocca, a professor of public policy at Southampton College, was a naval officer in Vietnam during 1967-68.

http://www.bam.org/cinema/hanoitohol.../symposium.asp

As a forum for discussion about the war, its aftermath, and its representation on film, BAM Education & Humanities presents a special symposium complementing the film program. Renowned Vietnam War scholars will join veterans and filmmakers to inform our perspective on the war and its consequences.
Sat, November 16
BAM Rose Cinemas
Tickets: $9 per panel ($6 for Friends of BAM and Students with valid ID at the BAM Rose Cinemas box office) Call 718.777.FILM (order by ?name of movie? option and enter name of panel discussion below) or visit www.bam.org or the box office.

BAMcafe will be open for lunch 12?1:30pm.

From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War
10:30am?12noon
This panel will examine the representations of the Vietnam War in documentaries, television reporting, and film. Panelists include:

Bernie Cook, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the American Studies Program and Associate Director of the John Carroll Scholars Program at Georgetown University. Dr. Cook is the author of the article, ?Over My Dead Body: The Ideological Use of Dead Bodies in Network News Coverage of Vietnam,? published in The Quarterly Review of Film and Video 18:2 (2001).

Peter Davis, Academy Award-winner for Best Documentary (1974) for Hearts and Minds to be screened on November 15.

Jurate Kazickas, Lithuanian-born Jurate Kazickas went to Vietnam in 1967 as a freelance photo journalist. Her combat stories and pictures appeared in newspapers around the US. She was wounded in March, 1968 during the siege of Khe Sanh. She joined the Associated Press in New York in 1969 as a feature writer. Among her diverse assignments, she was sent to the Mid East for the 1973 crisis, accompanied the American Bicentennial Mt. Everest Expedition, and covered the Carter White House. She has worked as a freelance TV producer and co-authored several books on women's history. She is one of nine authors of the recently published WAR TORN - Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam (Random House).

Gene Michaud, Assistant Professor in the Communication Arts Department at Framingham State College. Dr. Michaud is the author of numerous publications and presentations concerning the images of the military in the U.S. media, co-editor of From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War in American Film, and the consultant for this film retrospective.

Carol Wilder, Associate Dean of The New School where she serves as the Chair of the Department of Communications, Film, and Media Studies. She has made four research visits to Vietnam and currently teaches ?Vietnam: Rhetoric and Realities? in The New School?s graduate Media Studies program. Dr. Wilder?s Vietnam essays are collected in the forthcoming book The War that Won?t Die.

The War Remembered
1:30?3pm
This panel will discuss and compare personal experiences of the war?in Vietnam and upon returning home?to those stories depicted in film. Panelists include:

Sondra Farganis, Director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School University. Farganis is author of several books including The Black Revolt and Democratic Politics and The Social Reconstruction of the Feminine Character.

Yusef Komunyakaa, Professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Komunyakaa is Chancellor of the Academy of the American Poets, a Vietnam veteran, and author of numerous books of poems including most recently, Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems and Talking Dirty to the Gods.

James L. Larocca, Dean at Southampton College. Larocca is an award-winning playwright who has treated issues of war in his works, most notably in his 1997 play Penang. He was also a candidate for nomination for the Governor of New York in 1998 and a Vietnam War veteran.

Nguyen Ba Chung, Research Associate at The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His essays and translations have appeared in Nation, Vietnam Forum, and elsewhere. He co-edited Mountain River: Vietnamese Poetry From the Wars 1948-1993. He organizes the annual Summer Study Program with Hue University in Vietnam.

Tran Van Thuy, a Vietnamese filmmaker described as ?The Francis Ford Coppola of Vietnam.? Three of his most famous films, How to Behave, Tolerance for the Dead, and Song of My Lai will be screened in this series on November 16.

Marilyn B. Young, Professor of History at New York University. Dr. Young is a leading American historical expert on the Vietnam War and author of several books, including Vietnam and America: A Documented History and The Vietnam Wars, 1945?1990.

excerpt... note the "phony bum" comment ....

http://www.antonnews.com/floralparkd...s/sabbeth.html

.........................


Though he remained, to the last, high on Betsy McCaughey Ross, who was hoping to be the Democrat's gubernatorial candidate this year, he had a decidedly uncharitable view of a man considered by many to be the area's favorite son in that race, former Long Island Association President James L. Larocca.

"It's really unfortunate that Betsy has the reputation she does; that people perceive her as a flake, because in my experience in dealing with her, not only have I found her to be extremely intelligent and sincere, but she's also an outstanding candidate.

"In terms of generating the kind of attention we need to bolster other candidates' chances, Peter Vallone and Charles Hynes, both good men, can't hold a candle to her.

"Ultimately, in a year like this, when Republicans are expected to do very well in the general election, we need candidates at the top of the ticket that will interest Democrats enough to bring them to the polling booth.

"Even if they might ultimately vote against that candidate in the end, at least by inspiring them to go to the polls we have a chance of getting their vote for one or more of our other candidates."

But what of Jim Larocca, whom Sabbeth had at one time tacitly supported.

>>>>

"Jim Larocca is a phony bum," the party chairman said. "He is the worst of politics, and the reason I say that is two-fold. First of all, he doesn't seem to believe he needs to take anybody's advice, despite his being new to politics.

"On top of that, in terms of his personal fundraising, he gave us assurances that proved to be completely untrue.

"Frankly, my advice to Larocca was that he run for lieutenant governor this time. I said, 'You're a nice guy. Get your message out there. Get people to know who you are.'

"In addition, I tried to impress upon him the importance of using the capitol, the contacts, he made during his years with the Long Island Association. I said, 'You know all of the rich people on the Island. In fact, you've done a lot for them. Reach out to them and try to get their support.'

"I mean, he just had to do that in order to be a credible candidate. After he committed himself to the gubernatorial race, I said, 'Okay, if you want to be governor, you've got to raise money and you've got to raise your percentages in the polls.'

"What happened instead was, he misfocused. He spent too much time upstate, in my opinion. So in the end, I think what you had in Larocca was a candidate who couldn't raise money and who couldn't put the tools together that he needed to win.

"The other thing was that he tended to put too much weight in the blips that occur in a campaign. Yes, he did experience a few blips along the way, a few up-ticks in his fortunes, but in politics, a blip is nothing on its own.

"Nothing is going to happen for you unless you take advantage of a blip and turn it into something."

Perhaps the most surprising of all the things Sabbeth said over the course of an hour-and-a-half interview was that Geraldine Ferraro was "politically naive."

"The former vice presidential candidate politically naive?" The reporter asked.

"Yes," Sabbeth said. "And I'll tell you why. Because a campaign is about more than name recognition and talking about the issues. Yes, those things are extremely important. And you have to have to be able to convince people that if elected, you have the potential to do something in the individual voter's interest.

"But beyond all that, in order to wage a successful campaign, you also have to understand basic neighborhood by neighborhood politics. You have to know, for instance, in a statewide race, what your bottom-line, must-have vote is in Westchester County.

"You have to know those numbers and have a strategy to achieve them -- or have someone working with you that has that knowledge. Ferraro just didn't have that."

Closer to home and with a relevance beyond this years' election, the Nassau County Board of Elections will soon be computerized.

"It's going to occur in two components," Sabbeth said. "This first component is the digitization of buff cards, a process that will be implemented in 1999.

"The other component is somewhat more involved and relates specifically to election night reporting from the polls. The way things are now, after the polls close at 9 p.m., polling inspectors take the results off the machines, fill out these cumbersome sheets, and then call us at the board of elections and read us the results.

"It's needlessly time consuming and is the reason the outcomes of elections in Nassau take so long to figure out. Ultimately what we hope to have in place, within the next two years, are computerized sheets which can then be taken to the local police precinct, fed into a master computer, and then released from here. The whole process could then be done in a matter of minutes, rather than the hours it takes now.

"As the Democratic Board of Elections commissioner, the other hat I wear, I'm committed to making this happen. More than anything, I want to see our elections held in a cost-effective, efficient manner, and in such a way as to benefit all the people of Nassau County," Sabbeth said.

http://www.arts4all.com/newsletter/b...bb=2108&aid=12


BAMcin?matek: From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film

BAMcin?matek Presents From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film, Featuring Works on Film and Video, Nov 1-30

Month-long program features examinations of the war by filmmakers Hal Ashby, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Davis, Brian DePalma, Milos Forman, Stanley Kubrick, Dang Nhat Minh, The Newsreel Collective, Barbara Sonneborn, Oliver Stone, Tran Van Thuy, Frederick Wiseman and more

In conjunction with film series, BAM hosts a variety of complementary events: spoken word performances (Nov 14), two nights of songs about war (Nov 15 & 16), a symposium (Nov 16), and a BAMdialogue (Nov 19)

Q&As with Beth B, Rev. Daniel Barrigan, Peter Davis, John Heard, Nick MacDonald, Matthew Modine, Lynne Sachs, Oliver Stone, Tran Van Thuy and others

Brooklyn, October 1, 2002-In its most extensive series to date, BAMcin?matek, the repertory film program at BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Avenue), presents From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film, a month-long series, November 1-30, exploring cinematic interpretations of the Vietnam War. Presenting a multi-faceted look at the conflict, the program features 35 works including documentaries, independent films, and big-budget Hollywood productions created by Vietnamese, American, and Canadian directors. The films communicate disparate viewpoints on the war-sometimes harsh, sometimes sympathetic, always provocative. The BAMcin?matek series is co-curated by Gene Michaud, co-editor of the acclaimed anthology From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War in American Film (1990); the series title is courtesy of Michaud. From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film includes three New York premieres and eight complementary Q&As, including a Q&A with director Oliver Stone on November 2 following the 7:30pm screening of his film Platoon; and Vietnamiese director Tran Van Thuy for his works How to Behave (45 min), Tolerance for the Dead (50 min), The Sound of My Violin in Lai (30 min) following the 6:20pm screenings on November 16. Additional events include live spoken word and protest song performances at BAMcafe (Nov 14-16), a symposium exploring the war, its aftermath and its representation in film (Nov 16), and a BAMdialogue (Nov 19). Special funding for this series is provided by Dan Klores, James Ottaway, Jr., and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.

According to Michaud, "Drawing on material from a variety of sources-Hollywood studios, independent filmmakers, and Vietnam itself-From Hanoi to Hollywood is a selective but wide-ranging look at how film and video artists have interpreted and documented the longest war in United States history. Designed to stimulate critical thinking and discussion, the series aims to shed light on the many ways in which the events and consequences of the Vietnam War have been represented and understood in American culture. Though the series was conceived months before September 11, 2001, the selections may also help us to better understand the possibilities and limitations of media representations that explore, illuminate, and criticize turbulent contemporary events."

Highlights of the series include Hal Ashby's Coming Home (1978) (November 8), Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) (November 3 & 23), Peter Davis' Hearts and Minds (1974) (November 15), Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) (November 10 & 11), Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) (November 2), and Born on the 4th of July (1989) (November 27), and Francis Ford Coppola's recent revision of his late-1970s masterpiece, Apocalypse Now Redux (1979/2001) (November 30)-all of which received top honors at the Academy Awards.

Documentaries figure prominently in the series, including two New York premieres: Investigation of a Flame (2001), Lynne Sachs' examination of the "Catonsville Nine" (November 19), 1968 Catonsville, Maryland arrest of Father Philip Berrigan, his brother, Rev. Daniel Berrigan, and other supporters, for burning their draft records; and a documentary focusing on the post-war experience of Vietnamese women, Hidden Warriors: Women of The Ho Chi Minh Trail (2002), directed by Karen Turner (November 22).

To complement select screenings, directors and commentators will be present for Q&A sessions with BAMcin?matek audiences. Oliver Stone will be at BAM to speak about his film Platoon (1986), on November 2; documentarian Nick MacDonald will present his film The Liberal War on November 7; award-winning actor Matthew Modine discusses his role in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket on November 10; film critic Elliott Stein will host a Cinemachat in conjunction with Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way (1981) on November 13 with actor John Heard; acclaimed Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Van Thuy will discuss three of his films on November 16; documentary maker Lynne Sachs will be present for a BAMdialogue with activist Rev. Daniel Berrigan at the New York premiere of Investigation of a Flame (2001) on November 19; Gail Dolgin will talk about the award-winning documentary, Daughter from Danang (2002), on November 21; the November 26 screening of Beth B's Breathe In/Breathe Out (2000) will be accompanied by a Q&A with the director; and Composer Galt McDermott and writer Jim Rado will answer questions about turning their musical Hair into a film on November 29.

The complete schedule for From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film follows.

General admission tickets to films and symposium panels are $9. Tickets are $6 for students (with valid I.D. Monday-Thursday, except holidays), seniors, BAM Cinema Club members, and children under twelve. Tickets are available at the BAM Rose Cinemas box office, by phone at 718.777.FILM (order by "name of movie" option), or online at www.bam.org. Performances at BAMcafe have no cover charge ($10 food/drink minimum). A dinner and movie package on Friday and Saturday nights at BAMcaf? is available for only $30 (at the box office only). For more information, call the BAMcin?matek hotline at 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org.

From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film schedule

November 1 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
China Gate (1957), 97 min
Directed by Samuel Fuller
With Gene Barry, Angie Dickenson, and Nat "King" Cole
From Hanoi to Hollywood opens with the first film about the Vietnam War made in Hollywood, Samuel Fuller's China Gate-a work "ahead of its time...show[ing] Vietnam as an issue of importance" (The Los Angeles Times) and one that served as a template for subsequent related films. When an international unit is sent to destroy a Communist ammunition dump in North Vietnam, a Eurasian smuggler (Angie Dickenson) agrees to use her connections to help them if they promise to bring her son to America.

Nov 2 at 2, 4:30, 7:30pm*
Platoon (1986), 120 min
Directed by Oliver Stone With Tom Berringer, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen
Oliver Stone's harrowing film about a young American soldier's one-year tour of duty in Vietnam won the Academy Award for best picture, and is widely considered one of the best films about the experience of American troops in Vietnam. Conflicts flare among the men as they grapple with the demands of the battlefield. According to USA Today, "Stone's combat sequences are among the most crisply edited since All Quiet on the Western Front; the characterizations, powerful."
*Q&A with director Oliver Stone will follow the 7:30pm screening.

November 3 at 2, 5:20, 8:50pm & Nov 23 at 2, 5:20, 8:50pm
The Deer Hunter (1978), 183 min
Directed by Michael Cimino
With Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep
The iconic Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino's "opus containing some of the most majestic and savage 70-millimeter imagery ever seen" (The Los Angeles Times), won five Academy Awards after its release, including best picture. Emphasizing the shattering effects of war on soldiers, the film depicts the experiences of three working-class men.

November 4 at 6:30, 9:20pm
The Green Berets (1968), 141 min
Directed by John Wayne
With John Wayne, David Jansen, and Jim Hutton
John Wayne's transparently patriotic film The Green Berets, the only major Vietnam War film made in Hollywood during the tumultuous 1965-1975 period, was "a lightning rod for the growing debate, and in many ways symbolized the wedge that split America in two," according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Focusing on the operations of U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam, the film relies heavily on the Wayne persona-even replaying specific sequences and dialogue from the actor's World War II films-and elements of Samuel Fuller's China Gate (see November 1).

November 5 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
In the Year of the Pig (1969), 103 min
Directed by Emil de Antonio
Using U.S. archival film and material from international sources, this Oscar-nominated documentary examines the roots of America's involvement in Vietnam. The film made a significant impact both in America and other countries, and became a touchstone for anti-war activists. As The Los Angeles Times describes, "De Antonio's 1968 film documents the war up to 1968 using rare interviews and news clips to passionately delve into the roots of the war, to answer the question: Why are Americans fighting in Vietnam?...The question is still relevant and the answers as searing as ever. This is an important document of the era."

November 7 at 4:30, 6:50*, 9:30pm
The Liberal War (1972), 33 min
Directed by Nick Macdonald
Using a series of found objects rather than documentary footage, director Nick Macdonald constructs an imaginative and effective anti-war message by explicating its causes, its methods, and its consequences.

Preceded by:
No Game (1968), Boston Draft Resistance Group (1968), The People's War (1969), 75 min total
BAMcin?matek presents three films released by The Newsreel Collective, the media distribution network for American anti-Vietnam War activists during the late 1960s and early 70s. The films document the activities of the movement, ranging from a 1967 protest at the Pentagon to local actions encouraging grassroots opposition to the war.
*The 6:50pm screening will be followed by a Q&A director Nick Macdonald.

Nov 8 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm
Coming Home (1978), 126 min
Directed by Hal Ashby
With Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern
Hal Ashby's "warm, beautifully acted" (San Francisco Chronicle) Coming Home won the Academy Award for best picture, and leading actors Jane Fonda and Jon Voight also won acting awards. The film explores the impact of the Vietnam War on three Americans: a U.S. military officer, his wife, and the disabled Vietnam veteran with whom she has an affair. The film dramatically represents the domestic conflicts among individuals during the war's aftermath.

November 9 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Gardens of Stone (1987), 112 min
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
With James Caan, James Earl Jones, and D.B. Sweeney
Gardens of Stone, Coppola's second film focusing on the Vietnam War, centers on a decorated veteran who is reassigned to the Old Guard Regiment at Arlington National Cemetery, where he counsels younger soldiers in his unit as they prepare for combat assignments in Vietnam. "The movie creates its characters with realism, love and detail," observes Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times.

November 10 at 2, 4:30, 7pm* & November 11 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Full Metal Jacket (1987), 118 min
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
With Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, and Vincent D'Onofrio
With his trademark irony, Kubrick follows a group of U.S. Marine recruits from basic training to combat during the Vietnam Tet Offensive in Full Metal Jacket, a film based in part on Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers. Upon its release, The Washington Post hailed the film as "the most eloquent and exacting vision of the war to date," and it was nominated for best picture at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.
*The 7pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with Matthew Modine and other guests.

November 12 at 6:50pm
Unfinished Symphony: Democracy & Dissent (2001), 60 min New York premiere
Directed by Bestor Cram and Michael Majoros
Covering an antiwar march organized by Vietnam veterans from Lexington Green to Concord, Massachusetts in the late 1960s, this documentary contains recently restored footage from this significant yet overlooked event. The march was designed to follow the route of Paul Revere's ride; it ended with the arrest of over 400 participants.

November 12 at 9:10pm
When the Tenth Month Comes (1984), 90 min, Archival print
Directed by Dang Nhat Minh
In this fictitious film, "Vietnam's finest filmmaker" (The Los Angeles Times), Dang Nhat Minh, explores the dramatic impact of the war on the daily lives of the Vietnamese people through the story of a woman who attempts to keep from her family the news of her husband's death. The film was nominated for the Moscow International Film Festival's Golden Prize.

November 13 at 7:20*, 9:40pm
Cutter's Way (1981), 105 min
Directed by Ivan Passer
With Jeff Bridges, John Heard, and Lisa Eichhorn
Called a "powerful paranoid thriller" by The Chicago Reader, Cutter's Way follows a disabled Vietnam veteran and his closest friend as they investigate the murder of a high school cheerleader in their hometown. Passer's film articulates the growing sense of alienation, social fragmentation, and moral ambiguity that existed in America in the years after the war.
* A Cinemachat with film critic Elliott Stein and actor John Heard follows the 7:20pm screening.

November 14 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Basic Training (1971), 89 min
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Since his early work in the 1960s, Frederick Wiseman has become one of America's most influential (and controversial) documentary filmmakers. Basic Training, called a "humanistic masterpiece" by The New York Times, examines the methods employed by the U.S. Armed Forces to train soldiers during the Vietnam War era, thereby providing insight into the military experiences of young American men and women in the 1960s and 1970s.

November 15 at 6:30*, 9:30pm
Hearts & Minds (1974), 112 min, Restored print
Directed by Peter Davis
Peter Davis' provocative, Academy Award-winning documentary examines the cultural values and beliefs that inspired U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and contrasts these beliefs with the images and experiences that occurred after the war. Effective on multiple levels, the film invites critical discussion about the assumptions made by U.S. policymakers and citizens about foreign involvement in distant lands. According to The Los Angeles Times, the film "shows the futility of the war and the heartbreaking series of events that brought the United States into Vietnam. It is a powerful piece of documentary filmmaking."
*The 6:30pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Peter Davis.

November 16 at 6:20pm*, 9:30pm
How to Behave (45 min), Tolerance for the Dead (50 min), The Sound of My Violin in Lai (30 min)
Directed by Tran Van Thuy
On November 8, From Hanoi to Hollywood spotlights Tran Van Thuy, one of Vietnam's most esteemed filmmakers. The evening features a trio of the director's short videos, including How to Behave (1987), called "a fascinating glimpse into (North) Vietnamese society at the start of economic and social change" by American Historical Review. In addition, Van Thuy will be present for a Q&A to discuss the state of film making in his country. *The 6:20pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Tran Van Thuy.

November 17 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Go Tell the Spartans (1978), 114 min
Directed by Ted Post
With Burt Lancaster, Craig Wasson, and Marc Singer
Considered "one of the best Vietnam films" (Boston Globe), Post's provocative yet largely overlooked film tells the story of a group of American soldiers who are assigned to defend a former French outpost in Vietnam shortly before the escalation of the war.

November 18 at 4:30, 9:10pm
Ashes and Embers (1982), 120 min
Directed by Haile Gerima
With John Anderson, Evelyn A. Blackwell, and Norman Blalock
Haile Gerima's compelling film tells the story of an African-American veteran's attempt to reconcile his war experiences with his postwar life in the U.S. The narrative makes connections among his personal search for meaning and issues of racism, Black Nationalism, and the consequences of the Vietnam War. According to The Nation, its "jarring episodes...show incurable anger and alarm, futile escape and final despair at the order offered Black veterans by our society."

November 18 at 6:50pm New York premiere-One show only!
Dumbarton Bridge (1999), 98 min
Directed by Charles Koppelman
With Tom Wright, Esperanza Catubig, and Daphne Ashbrook
BAMcin?matek presents the New York premiere of Charles Koppleman's Dumbarton Bridge, a story about an African-American veteran who is forced to confront his suppressed wartime memories when his Vietnamese-American daughter arrives in the United States.

November 19 at 6*, 9:10pm
The Sad Song of Yellow Skin (1970), 58 min
Directed by Michael Rubbo
Made in Canada and largely overlooked in the United States, this unique film documents the impact of the war on ordinary citizens in Saigon through the eyes of three American peace activists. Honored with the best documentary award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA)

Preceded by:
Investigation of a Flame (2001), 45 min New York premiere
Directed by Lynne Sachs
Lynne Sachs' documentary, which makes its New York premiere at BAMcin?matek, investigates the Catonsville Nine, a group of anti-Vietnam War activists who burned selective service records at a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office in 1968. Through interviews, archival footage, and dramatic recreations, the film examines the appropriateness of civil disobedience during times of war.
*The 6pm screening will be preceded by a 45-minute BAMdialogue with director Lynne Sachs and activist Rev. Daniel Berrigan.

November 20 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
The War at Home (1979), 100 min
Directed by Glenn Silber and Barry Alexander Brown
Nominated for an Oscar for best documentary, The War at Home examines the growing anti-Vietnam War movement in the U.S. in the 1960s by following a cluster of activists at the University of Wisconsin.

November 21 at 6:50*, 9:30pm
Daughter from Danang (2002), 75 min
Directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco
Daughter from Danang, which won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, follows a young Vietnamese-American woman (taken to the U.S. as part of 1975's Operation Babylift) who returns to Vietnam to be reunited with the family she never knew-with unexpected results. "With fly-on-the-wall unobtrusiveness, Dolgin and Franco capture every painful moment of the meltdown, and the cumulative effect is deeply moving," notes Variety. The film raises challenging questions about cultural differences, socialization, and historical interpretation.
*The 6:50pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Gail Dolgin.

November 22 at 2, 5, 9pm
Regret to Inform (2000), 55 min
Directed by Barbara Sonneborn
Nominated for an Academy Award and winner of prizes at several film festivals, Sonneborn's work is a "self portrait" on film, chronicling her travels to Vietnam to learn more about the war and her husband's death in 1968. It explores uncomfortable questions about the war and its continuing legacy for both U.S. citizens and the Vietnamese. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, "This fine film is a harrowing reminder for viewers with direct memories of Vietnam, and a useful cautionary exercise for a generation born since the fall of Saigon."

Followed by:
Hidden Warriors: Women of The Ho Chi Minh Trail (2002), 60 min New York premiere
Directed by Karen Turner
Karen Turner's documentary examines the experiences of Vietnamese women who served during the war as well as the conflict's continuing impact on their lives. Through interviews and film material previously unavailable in the U.S., the film conveys rarely glimpsed aspects of Vietnam's wartime history.

Nov 23 at 2, 5:20, 8:50pm
The Deer Hunter (1978), 183 min
Directed by Michael Cimino
See November 3 for description.

November 24 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Bat*21 (1988), 105 min
Directed by Peter Markle
With Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, and Jerry Reed
"Director Markle hits the mark in depicting the nightmarish aspects of [a] jungle war" in Bat 21, observes The San Francisco Chronicle. Based on actual events, the film tells the story of a U.S. military strategist (portrayed by Gene Hackman) who is caught in the middle of the conflict when his plane is shot down in enemy territory. His colleagues desperately try to locate and rescue him before he is captured.

November 25 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm
Casualties of War (1989), 113 min
Directed by Brian DePalma
With Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, and Ving Rhames
When a U.S. patrol in Vietnam abducts and abuses a young Vietnamese girl, one of the soldiers (Michael J. Fox) is torn between loyalty to his comrades and his sense of morality. With a script by playwright/Vietnam veteran David Rabe that is based on actual events, Brian DePalma's film portrays the sharp moral divisions that occurred among U.S. ground forces during the conflict. According to The Los Angeles Times, the film "conveys a sense of moral quagmire, of sinking into squishily dangerous terrain, honeycombed with tunnels and traps, all hell exploding around it. That's the imagery of the movie's first battle scene, a taut prologue for a superb film."

November 26 at 7:30pm* One show only!
Breathe In/Breathe Out (2000), 70 min
Directed by Beth B
Beth B's documentary follows three American combat veterans as they return to Vietnam with their children. Revelations about the impact of the war on their own lives and the effect of their experiences on their relationships with their children make the film a moving account of the personal and social consequences of the war.
* The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Beth B.

November 26 at 9:30pm One show only!
Karma (1986), 100 min
Directed by Ho Quang Minh
Ho Quang Minh's Karma was one of the first war-related films by a Vietnamese artist to be shown in the U.S. following the war's end. The film explores the effects of the conflict on Vietnamese families by focusing on a South Vietnamese officer, once presumed dead, and his wife, who is forced to become a prostitute in Saigon.

November 27 at 5, 8pm
Born on the 4th of July (1989), 114 min
Directed by Oliver Stone
With Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, and Tom Berringer
Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning film is based on the real-life experiences of Ron Kovic, a soldier in Vietnam who was seriously wounded and who later became an outspoken critic of the war. Co-scripted by Stone and Kovic, the film is relentless in its honest depictions of the darker aspects of the war's effect on U.S. citizens and American culture. As The Houston Chronicle says, "Stone makes Kovic's descent brutal, grim and utterly unblinking."

November 28 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10pm & November 29 at 2, 4:30, 7pm*
Hair (1979), 121 min, New print
Directed by Milos Forman
With Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, and John Savage
Milos Forman adapts Hair-the wildly popular 1960s musical about the Age of Aquarius and the youth counter-culture-for the screen. Though the film is rarely included in the canon of Vietnam-related films, Forman strays from the original play to make some pointed statements about the Vietnam era. Featuring choreography by the renowned Twyla Tharp, it is "a boisterous, colorful film, and probably the best film musical of the '70s next to Cabaret," according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
*November 29's 7pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with writer Jim Rado and composer Galt MeDermott.

November 30 at 3:20, 7:15pm
Apocalypse Now Redux (1979/2001), 197 min
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
With Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, and Laurence Fishburne
Concluding the From Hanoi to Hollywood series is Francis Ford Coppola's expansive revision of his visually stunning, Academy Award-winning Apocalypse Now, which includes more than an hour of extra footage. In this film inspired by Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, a special agent is sent to Vietnam to locate and terminate a rogue U.S. officer who is leading guerilla forces in the jungle. The New York Times calls the new version "transporting...Vittorio Storaro's Oscar-winning cinematography is devastating."

Additional events

Through the Eyes of a Poet: The Vietnam War
Thursday, November 14 at 9pm
BAMcafe (no cover charge; $10 food/drink minimum)
An evening of readings and spoken word performances by authors who have written significant works related to the Vietnam War.

l? thi diem th?y (writer/performer) will read excerpts from her work, including her solo piece, the bodies between us. In this piece, th?y l? engages with the unspoken memories of her childhood and her experience as a refugee. She was born in South Vietnam and left with her father in 1978, by boat, eventually settling in Southern California. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and journals, including Best American Essays and Harper's. Her first book, The Gangster We Are All Looking For is forthcoming in May 2003.

Randal Myler's play Touch the Names: Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a moving theater piece composed of letters written by friends and family to the fallen soldiers memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Through the words of colleagues, fathers, mothers, daughters, and sons, we learn not only about the impact of the war but also about love, freedom and patriotism. Actors will read excerpts from this play. Myler is the creator and director of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues (along with four co-authors, he received a Tony nomination for best book), Lost Highway: The Music and Legend of Hank Williams, Appalachian Strings, and Off-Broadway's ode to Janis Joplin, Love, Janis.

Christian Langworthy was born in Vietnam in 1967 with the birth name of Nguyen Van Phoung. He came to the United States in 1975. He has won the Academy of American Poets Prize and a School of Arts Fellowship at Columbia University. His chapbook of poems, The Geography of War, won the 1993 American Chapbook Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1995. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Poet Magazine, Soho Arts Magazine, Viet Nam Forum, and The Asian-American Experience, a CD-ROM anthology of poetry. Mr. Langworthy is writing a novel, excerpts of which have been published or voice recorded in forums such as PBS "American Experience" and Salon.com.

For information and updates, call 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org. (For press reservations and photos, contact Fatima Kafele at 718.636.4129 x4 or fkafele@bam.org.)

Power/Play with Nora York at BAMcafe Live
November 15 & 16 at 9pm
BAMcafe ($10 food/drink minimum)

Come join the singer that the The New Yorker declared an "ingenious, radical, extravagant talent," as she presents two evenings of songs about war, resistance and cultural upheaval, commissioned to coincide with BAMcinematek's series, From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film. Accompanied by electronic samples and a live band, Nora, a recipient of a 2002 New York State Council on the Arts Composer Commission, will deliver an evocative, multi-layered feast of music focusing our attention on the emerging parallels between our past and current political affairs.

BAMcaf? Live presents an eclectic mix of cabaret, jazz, rock, pop, world and gospel. Friday and Saturday night performances have no cover charge ($10 food/drink minimum.) For information and updates, call 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org. (For press reservations and photos, contact Fatima Kafele at 718.636.4129 x4 or fkafele@bam.org.)

Symposium
Saturday, November 16
BAM Rose Cinema 2
Tickets: $9 per panel ($6 for BAM members and students with valid ID card)
The BAMCaf? will be open for lunch from 12 to 1:30pm.

This is forum to discuss the war, its aftermath and its representation in film. Renowned scholars on the Vietnam War and Vietnam veterans will speak with filmmakers who made works that have influenced our perceptions of the war and its consequences.

Panel 1 from 10:30 to 12pm
From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War
This panel will examine representations of the Vietnam War in documentaries, television reporting, and film.

Bernie Cook is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the American Studies Program and Associate Director of the John Carroll Scholars Program at Georgetown University. Dr. Cook's recent article, "Over My Dead Body: The Ideological Use of Dead Bodies in Network News Coverage of Vietnam," was published in The Quarterly Review of Film and Video 18:2 (2001).

Peter Davis is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Documentary (1974) for his film Hearts and Minds, the provocative documentary that examines the cultural values and beliefs that led to U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. His film will be screened on November 15.

Gene Michaud is a professor in the Communication Arts Department at Framingham State College. He is the author of numerous publications and presentations concerning the images of the military in the U.S. media and is co-editor of From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War in American Film. Dr. Michaud is the consultant for the BAMcin?matek film series.

Carol Wilder is Associate Dean of The New School where she serves as the Chair of the Department of Communications, Film, and Media Studies. She has made four research visits to Vietnam and currently teaches "Vietnam: Rhetoric and Realities" in The New School's graduate Media Studies program. Dr. Wilder's Vietnam essays are collected in the forthcoming book The War that Won't Die.

Panel 2 from 1:30 to 3pm
The War Remembered
This panel compares personal experiences of the war (in Vietnam and upon returning home) to those stories depicted in film.

Sondra Farganis is the Director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School University. She is the author of several books including, The Black Revolt and Democratic Politics and The Social Reconstruction of the Feminine Character. Dr. Farganis' current research is on the role of social movements and the cultural elite in the transformation of American society.

Yusef Komunyakaa is a professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. He is a Chancellor of the Academy of the American Poets and author of several books of poetry, the most recent of which include Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems and Talking Dirty to the Gods. In 1994, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Neon Vernacular. Komunyakaa is also a Vietnam veteran.

James L. Larocca is the Dean at Southampton College. He is a combat veteran of Vietnam who served as a naval officer in river patrol operations in the Mekong Delta and is an award-winning playwright who has treated issues of war in his works, most notably in his 1997 play Penang. In 1998 he was a candidate for nomination for Governor of New York.

Tran Van Thuy is a Vietnamese filmmaker described as "the Francis Ford Coppola of Vietnam". Three of his most famous films, How to Behave, Tolerance for the Dead, and Song of My Lai will be shown as part of the film series on November 16.

Marilyn B. Young is a professor of History and is the Director of the International Center for Advanced Studies Project on the Cold War as Global Conflict at New York University. She is a leading historical expert on the Vietnam War in the United States and is the author of several books, including Vietnam and America: A Documented History and The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990. Dr. Young was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and American Council of Learned Society Fellowship in 2000-2001.

Nguyen Ba Chung is the Research Associate at The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His essays and translations have appeared in Nation, Vietnam Forum, and elsewhere. He co-edited Mountain River: Vietnamese Poetry From the Wars 1948-1993, and organizes the annual Summer Study Program with Hue University in Vietnam.

BAMdialogue (45-minute prescreening discussion)
Tuesday, November 19 at 6pm
BAM Rose Cinemas

Filmmaker Lynne Sachs, director of Investigation of a Flame (the intimate, experimental documentary portrait of the Catonsville Nine-the disparate band of resisters who chose to break the law in a defiant, poetic act of civil disobedience during the Vietnam War) talks with Rev. Daniel Berrigan (Catholic priest, social activist, poet, author of over 50 books, and a member of the Catonsville Nine). This event is free with same-day BAMcin?matek ticket

For information call 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org. (For press reservations and photos, contact Fatima Kafele at 718.636.4129 x4 or fkafele@bam.org.)

Credits

BAMcin?matek is made possible through the leadership support of The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust. The BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Richard B. Fisher and Jeanne Donovan Fisher, James Ottaway, Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, HSBC Bank USA, Bloomberg Radio AM1130, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and Bowne Enterprise Solutions. Additional support is provided by The Liman Foundation, French Embassy Cultural Services, The Grodzins Fund, and Coca-Cola Enterprise of New York.Support for From Hanoi to Hollywood: The Vietnam War on Film is provided by Dan Klores, James Ottaway, Jr., Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

BAMcin?matek would like to offer special thanks to Gene Michaud, Paul Ginsburg/Universal, Marilee Womack/Warner Brothers, John Kirk/MGM-UA, Mike Schlesinger/Colombia, Michael Pogorzelki/Academy Film Archive, Todd Wiener/UCLA Film and Television Archive, Nguy?n Van Nam/Vietnam Feature Film Studio, Rebeca Conget/NYF, Kathy Moore/Miramax, Ray Regis and David C. Spencer/N.C. School of the Arts, Amie/Zipporah Films, Jodi Gwydir/Paramount, Mypheduh Films, Amy Adrion/First Run Features, Catherine Kalos/National Film Board of Canada, Tom Hyland/First Run-Icarus, Joe Dante, Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, Beth B, Charles Koppelman, and Nick Macdonald

General information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcaf?, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the main building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (Lafayette and Ashland) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. J.A.M Catering Services provides food and beverages at BAMcaf?, which features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights as well as Sounds of Praise (live gospel music with a soul-food buffet) on selected Sunday afternoons. A package including dinner in BAMcaf? and a movie ticket to BAM Rose Cinemas is available for only $30 (at the box office only). BAMcaf? is open Friday-Saturday from 5-10:30pm and Sundays from 2-8pm. Additionally, dinner is served from 5-7:30pm on all Monday-Wednesday mainstage performance nights.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q Local, and Q Express to Atlantic Avenue
W, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM.

Arts4All, Ltd.

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http://www.americandreamshow.com/James_Larocca.htm


American Dream Show Guest:

James L. Larocca

Larocca, based at Southampton College, teaches courses in the environment, coastal resource management, government and associated fiscal issues and public policy. Mr. Larocca, who successfully mediated the complex dispute over the Long Island Pine Barrens which produced the landmark Pine Barrens Preservation Act of 1993, serves as Chairman of the Board of the Long Island Nature Conservancy. Over the past fifteen years he has served on both New York State commissions on coastal issues and shoreline erosion.



Creation of the new University Chair for Larocca was made possible by a grant from KeySpan Energy Corporation, which has made a number of previous gifts to the University. Larocca is responsible for developing and expanding curriculum in the areas where he teaches, and is available to students and colleagues at the University's two other residential campuses, C.W. Post and downtown Brooklyn.

Mr. Larocca joined an elite and accomplished group of leaders in their fields who have come to the University in recent years as Distinguished Professors, including essayist and public television commentator Roger Rosenblatt, artist Brian O'Dougherty, jazz pianist Billy Taylor, cartoonist and author Jules Feiffer, and novelist Peter Matthiessen.

As President of the Long Island Association, the region's largest business, civic and economic development enterprise, Larocca led the effort to unite a disparate group of corporations, businesses and non-profits into a cohesive organization. During his eight-year tenure from 1985-1993, membership in the organization grew from 1,800 to over 4,000. He is credited with promoting respect for both the economic and environmental needs of Long Island. The Long Island Environmental/Economic Roundtable, and the Education Conference Board were established under Mr. Larocca's LIA presidency.

From 1983 to 1985, Larocca served as New York State Commissioner of Transportation, and from 1977 to 1983 as Commissioner of Energy. Under his leadership of these departments the Rebuild New York program, the State Energy Master Plan, the Conservation Plan, and the Solar and Small-Hydroelectric plans were developed. Prior to this service, Mr. Larocca was Deputy Secretary to Governor Carey for Federal Affairs. From 1983 to 1989 he also served as Trustee of the New York Power Authority. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Touro Law School and a past member of the Stony Brook University Council.

Since 1993 he has been with Cullen and Dykman, a regional law firm. In 1998 he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New York. Throughout his career he has lectured at the university level on government, business, public policy and public administration and is currently Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University.

Mr. Larocca is also an award-winning playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild. His play "Penang" won the Playwrights First Award at the Players in New York City in 1997. He is also an avid ocean sailor with a U.S. Coast Guard master's license. He is married to the former Dale Maizels, a college teacher. They have three children.

Southampton's nationally-renowned programs in Marine and Environmental Science have produced 32 Fulbright Scholars in the past 25 years.

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Jim Larocca Puts His Dream in Play


July 22, 2002


People have called Jim Larocca lots of things over the years, but nothing quite as odd as what he's calling himself.

"I like to describe myself as one of the world's greatest American unproduced playwrights of our time." Larocca said.

Larocca recently relinquished his administrative responsibilities as dean of Southampton College (although not the title) so he could go back to teaching and writing - which includes finishing his dramatic ouevre, a play he won't talk much about, except to say it's politically based and that "there will be many characters in it you might recognize."

And of course, the plot will have the benefit of Larocca's long political resume, which includes stints as state energy and transportation commissioners, New York Power Authority trustee, Long Island Association president and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate. That 1998 run may have sidetracked not only his political fortunes, but his literary ones as well.

At the time, Larocca's first play, "Penang" - based on his experiences in Vietnam, where he served as a naval officer - had already received two staged readings after winning the 1997 prize from Playwright's First, a New York City organization that helps new authors. But it went no further as he got involved in his ill-fated campaign.

Since then, he has written another Vietnam play, a one-act piece titled "Jimmy Chen," and a full-length drama, "44 Sunset Park," about an Irish-Catholic Brooklyn family in the 1930s based on his mother's family.

Why did he get started on this avocation? "The desire to write comes, as it does for all people who want to write, that they think they have something to say," he said. "The form is what I really can't explain."

Larocca will be at the annual Southampton College writers' workshop that starts today, although not at the playwright's workshop ("clearly because I'm involved in other aspects of it. I've got a lot to learn.") And he's hoping that one day one of his works will get a full production, and not just a reading.

So far, though, he's had no luck, even though he's hired an agent. However, he said, "since I have the agent, the quality of the rejection letters has improved significantly. You go from abject rejection to more thoughtful rejection. I'm in the more thoughtful rejection phase."

Bow & Arrow Theory
 

Mr. LaRocca needs a reality check