Debra Spencer
Oprah Endorses The Ocean
Gazing steadily into the camera, she speaks from the heart. "The waves," she says, "are cleansing. The sand's a comfort, a blessing. And then, the sky!" Oprah advocates excursions to the beach. She devotes a series of shows to discussions of which beach is best. Coney Island? Malibu? West Palm Beach? All week, expert panels of oceanographers, marine biologists, the CEO of O'Neill's, Flea Virostko, and the current Cousteau engage in debate, with Oprah's studio audience chiming in. Slowly, the middle of the country empties. Americans abandon the heartland for the coast, causing massive absenteeism from work and a housing crisis of epic proportions. Department stores report a shortage of bathing suits.Oprah and her crew embark on visits to all the major aquariums. America learns to recognize the lantern fish, the deadly sea wasp, and a series of eerie jellies. Oprah visits an artist who turns sand into glass. "You see me," Oprah says, "through lenses that used to be sand." This makes her feel even more deeply connected to the ocean.
In Santa Cruz, California, a hundred thousand people arrive at Castle Beach with ice chests, barbecues, sand chairs, giant umbrellas, charcoal briquettes, hot dogs, flipflops, six-packs, boogie boards, and sunscreen. Panicked officials call in the National Guard. The city council meet downtown in emergency session. From the edge of East Cliff, news cameras from all major networks pan the overflowing trash cans.
Broadcasting now from her mansion in Montecito, Oprah concludes her endorsement of the ocean. She loves its repetition, its unpredictability, its sublime caress, its viciousness. "The sea is a precious resource," she tells her viewers. "It is the key to life on this planet." She ends her broadcast, saying that visiting the ocean is fundamental to the health of all human beings. "The beach will heal us," she tells us. "It's a good place to be alone."
Bio:
Debra Spencer invented her own alphabet when she was three. She wrote her first book in the second grade and went on to earn a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1972 and an MA from San Jose State University in 1988, where she won the Anne Lillis Memorial Scholarship for Poetry. In her desk she keeps a Bart Giammati baseball card, a fossilized shark's tooth, the tuning key to an Anglian harp, and a piece of the Berlin Wall. She works at Cabrillo College as a learning disabilities specialist, and sings with Community Music School of Santa Cruz.
