"Do The Voodoo, Like The Voodoo Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                                "Did you ever happen to hear of voodoo?"
                                                   --Marlene Dietrich, "Hot Voodoo," from
                                                 the film "Blonde Venus" (1938).

                                       Girls, you know I am not sacrilegious, but I just LOVE voodoo.  It brought me one of my greatest stage triumphs, when, back in 1988, and still weighing in my 130's--yes, girls!!!!!!--I performed the song, "Hot Voodoo," stripping out of an ape suit, down to a pair of blue skivvies, while I sang the song!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Of course, it stopped the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         However, it did not get me fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Today, there is the case of Steven Petit, a guidance counselor, who during July was fired from his position at the It Takes A Village Academy, a high school in Brooklyn.

                                           A letter, which circulated around July 8, and written by the school's principal, said "his position" was no longer necessary.

                                           Petit is 55, and Haitian born.  That is enough discrimination right there. But how about religious freedom?  He insists, and I agree, the firring was due to his cultural background and interests. He maintains he is a Christian, but also a Voodoo Ambassador.  There are still people out there who think Voodoo is sticking pins in dolls, and catatonic, wide eyed Black people walking around, acting like zombies!!!!!!!!!!

                                           Now, I have traveled among the Voodoo Community in New Orleans, no less.  I have always been intrigued by its artistry, the colors and designs.  Mother Miriam, the priestess I visited, is a practicing nurse in one of the hospitals there, and no one is firing her!!!!!!!!!!
I even had a Voodoo altar in my former apartment in Woodside.  I needed something to get through that experience--living in Woodside, living in Queens--and look what I brought me!  But I did not practice any ceremonies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             This principal needs to  get with the times. Voodoo isn't any more or less threatening than Santeria.  If anyone wishes to practice either in privacy, they should be given that right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fight for your rights, Mr. Petit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              "Tom toms put me into a sort of who-do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"