The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 69

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1996 The Palm Beach Post SECTION COMING UP Visit Civil War battlegrounds, the Virginia Military Institute and other sites on a backroads tour of the Shenandoah Valley. SUNDAY IN TRAVEL INSIDE FAMILIES Friendships offer a network of support before and after children become part of your life. PAGE 3E Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and Lake Communities 4 ACCENT 5 1 Mother's Day means peace on earth, not pieces of candy There is no doubt that many mothers live out a gospel of unconditional love in a wonderfully unique role. And there is no question they deserve our thanks and appreciation. But Mother's Day was intended for their children and the world.

Mother's Day began in 1870 in the midst of the Franco-Prussian war, according to a National Public Radio broadcast in 1993. It began because Julia Ward Howe, Mother's Day is a sham. The holiday given to flowers, cards and visits with our mothers is not about mothers at all. It's about struggle and peace and justice. But we've forgotten that and converted the day into the sentimental claptrap promoted by Hallmark cards and FTD florists.

That happens to lots of our holidays and institutions, including the Fourth of July and the church. the author of the great Civil War anthem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, got mad. She decided to turn the world upside down and protest the horror of war that killed the sons of mothers. She rented a hall in London and gave a speech. "Arise, women of the day.

We women of one country will be too tender to those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. Stop war." She pleaded with those in power in the name of mothers from all countries to stop killing their children. Howe returned to this country and, in 1872, unilaterally declared the second day of June to be dedicated to peace. She named it Mother's Day. For many years, she held a Mother's Day peace meeting in Boston.

Some 45 years later, in 1915, President Woodrow Wilson made it a national Please see GUSHEE4E Steve Gushee religion I 7 By GARY SCHWAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Can cows fly? More to the point, can a movie fly whose best actor is a tornado, and whose only claim to lasting distinction is that it may be the noisiest film ever made? The answer is yes. It's impossible to number the cliches that paralyze the plot of Twister, this year's attempt at blockbuster summer fare for pinheads with pin money. Yet the movie soars when tornadoes send cows, homes, people, and a screwy-looking sci- entific contraption spinning into the ether. And the Oscar for Best Special Effects goes to And the Oscar for Deadest Screenplay goes to Twister. Accepting the award in disguise are executive producer Steven Spielberg and co-screenwriter Michael Crich-ton.

Yep, those guys. An amusing HI p-J1 7 Baywatch star Pamela Anderson Lee reveals more of her falent in the campy Barb Wire. Twister RATED PG-13 (mild expletives) touch is that the tornadoes marauding Oklahoma resemble in outline the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. immmm And they play the same role villains Pam, but a 4babe' is i i what you are In her hew movie Barb Wire, Pamela Anderson Lee plays a hard-ass, pouty, leather-clad bounty hunter. In case you I dozed off during the flick, or plan to skip it, here are some interestingtort Wire facts: What Barb hates most: I being called "babe." Number of times Barb called 3 What happened to the guys who called Barb each suffered quick and gruel-some deaths.

Best murder weapon: heels. Second best murder I weapon: dart-shooting cigala fettes. Number of times Barb's l'. breasts moved: 0. Number of times Barb out of black leather the entire movie.

Best tough girl line while 7 digging her deadly pumps into bad guy's groin: "You're going soft on me." Best stunt: swinging down from the top of a build-' ing on a cable. What Barb said while swinging down the cable: "Ever see Batman?" Number of times Barb got wet: 2 (dancing in a Flash-rfance-inspired striptease number and taking a bath in a see-through tub.) Number of times Barb does a wheelie on her Triumph motorcycle: 2 Dumbest name for a bad guy: Big Fatso. (I'm serious) KEVIN D. THOMPSON far more interesting than the cardboard humanoids they terrorize. But, then, Twister isn't really a movie.

It's virtual reality disguised as a movie. And it will be coming soon to an amusement park near you. Twister is based on the exploits of real-life "storm chasers" who roam the Midwest in an effort to best-guess where the swift, unpredictable storms may strike. Two teams of scientists are on the prowl during a summer day whose freak weather patterns promise to create a sky full of devastating tornadoes. You can tell the corporate-sponsored bad guys by their snotty looks and caravan of identical Darth Vadar trucks.

You can tell the "public-interest" good guys by their Animal House cool and trucks that look like the losers of a Demolition Derby. Both groups are toting a sensor device that might provide valuable information on tornado activity. (Of course, the bad guys stole the idea from the good guys.) Now, if only someone could figure out how to get a whirlwind to sit still long enough so that the machine can be shoved up its funnel. If anybody can sow this wind, it's Bill and Jo (Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt), a married couple of Please see 'TWISTER'6E I i I fv I vt Vi 'rr SL 5 k-w: Persuading famous folks to paint is colorful way to canvass for charity The paint is flowing on the Prominent People Potential painters on Adolfo's list include dance spot, is going South Beach with "Reality 1 It UT.t Oprah Winfrey, Mikhail Gorbachev, Sean Connery and Luciano Pavarotti. Disco Inferno is about 'Stayin' Alive' I I I Vj I V'i Food and music will sizzle Saturday night in the hotter-than-Hades Armory Art Center.

For its Disco Inferno, the Comprehensive AIDS Program has lined up deejays, dance instructors, impressionists and a dozen restaurants. Tickets are $20 in advance (call 687-3400), and John Travolta, Donna Summer or Village People loo- Painter Project. Two celebrity artists already have completed their paintings, and Adolfo, the artist who hatched the idea, is well on his way to finding 48 more. The project could mean big bucks for the Adam Walsh Children's Fund, which will sell 100 signed and numbered prints of each painting and eventually the originals. Donald Trump, who will chair the project, and John Walsh, who founded the Children's Fund, unveiled their paintings last week at Mar-a-Lago.

They are now on display at the Children's Fund offices in Lake Park. Trump's painting is abstract, but when asked about his artistic potential, he's a realist. "You don't want to buy any," he said of his painting, then added, "I thought it came out nicely, and I hope someone pays a lot of money for it to help a good charity." In Germany this week, Adolfo, who owns a Worth Avenue gallery, made his pitch to tennis ace Boris Becker. Next stop: Rio de Janeiro to asist soccer legend Pele with his painting. luesaays not just a gay club, manager Carlos Garcia said.

"This is the place where everybody can have a good time." Salvation Army thrift store dresses up The Salvation Army, which just about invented thrift stores, is going upscale. Its first Unique Boutique opens Saturday at 52 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach with artwork, jewelry, designer clothing and collectibles. Most is new, some "gently used." Benefit on the beach is a 'Good' thing People party in Palm Beach all the time, but not many party on the beach itself legally, that is. But everything will be aboveboard Saturday at the "Barefoot on the Beach" benefit for Good Samaritan and St Mary's Children's Hospital.

The party begins at 7 p.m. at The Breakers beach with sand castles, conch and music by Capt. Harry and the Surfrlders. A raffle winner gets a Sea Doo watercraft with trailer. For tickets call 650-6272.

Thom Smith kalikes will receive bonus raffle tickets. Another bonus: free admission to the after-party at Enigma in West Palm Beach. Enigma, which has becomethe hot late-night Donald Trump (left) unveils his painting Mar-a-Lago as artist Adolfo and child advocate John Walsh look on..