Jade Goody

The Tate Britain yesterday, where we catch the boat to the Tate Modern with Shai, Ada and their boys. The Britain houses our treasures including the largest collection of JMW Turner who I personally cannot stand.

There have been three instances since arriving in the UK where I have been caught off guard by the mainstream, which is to say something happening within the wider British culture which I have missed or misunderstood. Two of them include Jade Goody, whose death from cancer this weekend at age-27 has caused a national outpouring while the third being Diana. Jade thrust herself into our national psyche when she appeared on Big Brother 3 in 2002 (the Queen's jubilation celebration year BTW); Big Brother for those somehow unawares was the first reality TV program in the UK showing 11 self-imprisoned co-eds ("housemates") bitching, loving and hating each other live, 24-7 - slowly thrown off the show by popular vote. There have been umpteen spin-offs since cheep, puerile entertainment. Jade was the target of ridicule for displaying a severe lack of general knowledge for a British native. Goody, for instance, thought that the English city of Cambridge was in London. On being told that Cambridge is in East Anglia she thought Africa and referred to it as "East Angular." My exposure to Big Brother occurred at the very ending when final contestants remained and I woke up blinkered to see the final hours played out in the national press whilst an estimated 45 million viewers tuned. There are 61 million of us here. Goody went on to write books, launch a diet and remain in the press's eye - perfect for the wired-all-the-time-short-attention-span-titillate-me era. She made a brief comeback on BB 5 when accused of racism for attacking "Shilpa Pashwa whoever you fucking are" - Shilpa being the most famous movie star in Ballywood. Riots ensued. Then perversely on Indias Big Brother in August '08 where Jade trying to make amends, she learned of her cervical cancer on the show. Ever since, she has opened her life to the media in order to put aside enough money for her two boys to go to private school and be taken care of. For Jade, who came from nothing and described as "Diana, but from the wrong side of the track", the rise a Cinderella story of rags to riches .. listening to an interview of her from 2007 I admit to being struck by her pluck - she noted the '02 BB was a vacation from her sick mother and abusive boy-friend. Ultimately, she raises awareness of cancer and becomes a roll model - anybody can pull themselves together and out. Jade did it.