Remembering Stephen Huczko

There's no one way (or an easy way) to remember someone who died on September 11, 2001. Being a part of Project 2996, however, I'm trying to do my small part to make sure that Stephen Huczko's memory is not forgotten.

Stephen Huczko was a police officer for fifteen years, working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Stephen was headquartered in Jersey City, an arm's length away from the World Trade Center. As the attacks ensued that day, Stephen and other members of the Port Authority police force rushed into the lobby of the North Tower, but never made it back out. Stephen, thinking only of others at that time, was attempting to save a female civilian stuck in the lobby.

Remembering Stephen's heroic actions on that day only serves to memorialize part of his life. Stephen lived in Bethlehem, New Jersey, with his wife Kate, and their four children, Kaitlyn, Liam, Cullen, and Aidan. Stephen was an exceptional public servant, having been part of the rescue efforts at the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and when an airliner crashed at Newark Airport. Stephen was also part of a Port Authority Pipe and Drum Band.

We will always remember Stephen's heroic efforts that day, when trying to save every last person from those towers. We will never forget him, or the others who died that day. I only hope my short posting on Stephen honors his memory.

A Word About Tomorrow

I have signed up our blog to be a participant in Project 2996, which invites bloggers from around the world to remember one person who died on September 11, 2001.

A Blog About Thangs has been selected to remember Stephen Huczko. I will do my best to honor his memory tomorrow.

Want To Feel Important?

Want to know what Kate and I feel like most days? Want to understand the mental games the law plays with you?

Then play Supreme Decision!

"This is the defining thing of my life. It's not gonna be that hit-and-run!"

With the Fall 2009 TV season right around the corner, Kate and I are promising to blog about more thangs, more frequently, since TV makes up about 75% of our posts. We made this blog to talk about thangs, and that's what we shall do!

Any suggestions on what to write about?

Maybe We Helped?

I don't know the extent of the influence of "Thangs" but I'm assuming our multi-part series on Perez Hilton may have caused this:

Hilton's snarky comments, insinuating that the King of Pop was faking his ailment, was too much for Jackson fans, especially after losing him moments later. The post, which has since been deleted, caused Hilton's more than 1.8 million followers Thursday to dwindle down to 1.1 million as of Tuesday night.

It Gets Better

I don't usually enjoy Gawker, but this posting can't be beat. Perez just can't help himself lately.

Pretty much reposting the entire thing here:

Today one of the biggest stars in the history of the world died. How did the internet's self-proclaimed "Queen of all Media" respond? By accusing Michael Jackson of faking the whole thing.

In the last hour Perez Hilton has taken down the photo shown here and amended his original post so he doesn't look as bad, but here's the text of what he originally posted.

We knew something like this would happen!!

Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance from his Holmby Hills home to a nearby Los Angeles hospital on Thursday afternoon!!

Supposedly, the singer went into cardiac arrest and the paramedics had to administer CPR!!!

His mother is even on the way to visit him!!!

We are dubious!!

Jacko pulled a similar stunt when he was getting ready for his big HBO special in ‘95 when he "collapsed" at rehearsal!

He was dragging his heels on that just like his upcoming 50 date London residency at the 02 Arena, of which he already postponed the first few dates!!!

Either he's lying or making himself sick, but we're curious to see if he's able to go on!!!

Get your money back, ticket holders!!!!

After Jackson was pronounced dead, Hilton took down the photo and edited the text down to these three sentences:

Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance from his Holmby Hills home to a nearby Los Angeles hospital on Thursday afternoon!!

The singer went into cardiac arrest and the paramedics had to administer CPR!!!

His mother is even on the way to visit him!!!

Meanwhile, the Matthew Shepard Foundation rejected Hilton's offer to donate whatever money he receives from a lawsuit against Black Eyed Peas manager Polo Molina. Here is the statement they released this afternoon:

The Matthew Shepard Foundation was surprised to learn this morning via media reports that blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) has announced he plans to donate, to our organization, the proceeds of a lawsuit he is contesting over an altercation which has been widely reported in recent days.

We had no advance notice or contact from Mr. Hilton or his representatives regarding this proposal, nor any communication since he posted this plan to his website.

We do not know the details of the lawsuit, whether it has been filed, the nature of his claims or the likely outcome. But because the lawsuit presumably involves the physical attack prompted by Mr. Hilton's admitted use of an anti-gay slur, the Foundation will be unable to accept any funds obtained in such a manner.

We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.

While we applaud Mr. Hilton's apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people's attention the consequences of hateful or inolerant language.

Judy Shepard
Chair, MSF Governing Board

How much longer before Hilton's advertisers begin to flee his hideously tarnished brand?

He Knows A Good Story When He Sees One

Perez continues to milk this story for everything it's worth. Now, he's suing. I guess he needs to maintain some sense of righteousness, even though most (read: 90%) of the Twitter and blog postings and celeb gossip sites I have visited have come down hard on him. Time is running out!