What an amazing and miraculous year we’ve had here at Buzz in Chicago! First we went to Las Vegas for the Cinevegas film festival where I got to interview great stars on the red carpet like Robert Duvall, Viggo Mortensen, Dwayne Johnson, Jane Lynch, Rainn Wilson and Emma Stone (click for video coverage). Then in June we got to interview and hang out with Kevin Costner and his band, Modern West, at the House of Blues at Kevin’s invitation, which was totally magical. Interviewing great musicians like Ingwie Malmsteen, Brian Welch of Korn and Keaton Simons and seeing them work their musical magic on stage was also incredible.

But the most magical thing we got to cover this year has got to be being in Chicago when our country elected Barack Obama, our first African American president.

Now, when I use the word magical I mean it in the true sense of the word. The Greeks may have gained their root word for magic from the Indo-European root word MAGH (meaning to be able, to have the power to act). The root Magi refers to the Magi Priests, best known for using astrology and astronomy to follow an unusually bright star to the birth of Jesus. The dictionary offers many definitions including, “a mysterious quality of enchantment; possessing distinctive qualities that produce unaccountable or baffling effects”, and an “extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source”.

I would never have guessed - never even thought to pray for - a more perfect Democratic candidate than Barack Obama. After all these years with the richest, whitest Republicans ever dominating our country, I did not even imagine that there would exist a candidate whose name is Obama, which rhymes with Osama, Harvard educated with Midwestern roots, has a white mother and a smile that can warm and inspire an entire room – who could take it all the way and get elected as the first African American president. I mean, the chance of that boggles the mind. Really, Barack Obama is a “one in six billion” chance, almost too good to be true.

Is it just me who sees this? Is Barack Obama’s very existence really magical in some sense? It reminds me of the scene from the movie “The Matrix” where people keep telling Neo that he is “The One” - the one prophesized to have the powers to stop the war. It is not just important that Neo actually is the one; Neo needs to believe he is the one. Not only that, because of all the requisite dangers and responsibilities that go along with the position - it is  absolutely essential that he also want to be the one. Barack Obama has always had the presence and the demeanor that seems to say, “Yes, I know I’m the one.”

All I can say is that Obama’s victory gives me hope and renewed faith in our country and in fate and destiny in general. What is the chance of a Barack Obama being born in our lifetime - at the perfect time to achieve this position? To quote Fred Astaire from the classic film “The Gay Divorcee”- (which I watched with my mom and her friends over the holidays) “Chance is the fool’s name for fate.”

Now lest you think I’m taking this lightly, please know that my family was devastated in several ways by Republican policies that took away the funding for the disabled and their dependents, funding for college, and worst of all - by the long moratorium on stem cell research and treatment. Then the Gore/Bush recount fiasco made me feel totally helpless as a citizen to ever change these things for anyone else. Now that Obama has been voted in, I’m watching the horizon for new and unimagined changes in these areas politically and in my own life.

I’ve been looking for “The One” romantically in my life too, the one I can fall in love with. I had kind of begun to despair that I might not ever find him or him me. Now, I feel for the first time in ages that he might just still be out there, “Magi”cally designed and perfect for me in more ways than I had ever imagined! I can’t wait to hear him sing - like Fred Astaire sang to Ginger Rogers, “Night and day, you are the one. Only you beneath the moon or under the sun!”

Meet Me in Chicago!

Be sure to check out our video coverage of hip-hop artist Common’s Barack Obama Election Night party at www.BuzzNews.TV and all of the other great celebrity video interviews we did this year on “The Greenroom with Kim Katz.” Also, in our recent articles, read about William Petersen’s return to Steppenwolf and Chicago theatre and a wonderful production of “Meet Me in St. Louis” by The Drury Lane Theatre Company.

Kim Katz’ Private Home Videos!

I promised to keep updating my personal Youtube channel with video of my family and friends, but it has been an entire season since I last updated it - so I have taken six months worth of video and photos and condensed it to about thirty minutes of pure family fun. Check it out at my Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/kimkatzbuzznews where I am posting all my private home footage in five parts over the next few weeks, enjoy!

Wishing all my kitty kats a magical New Year!

Kimberly Katz