Rockingham ... Brentwood .... Mezzaluna ... "the white Bronco" ... "ugly-ass Bruno Magli shoes" .... Kato ... Ito ... It's all coming back. The vocabulary that was unique to us 20 years ago. The OJ Simpson trial was our national obsession. I'm watching a documentary about his crime and his two trials, and just hearing those phrases reminds me. I knew the facts of the case. I knew the timeline.
Twenty years ago I was working out by O'Hare airport and from my office window I could see the hotel where OJ was staying when the police notified him of his ex-wife's murder. I recall being surprised when I heard broadcasters refer to the nearby "field" where OJ was suspected of ditching the murder weapon. It was just a narrow, overgrown vacant lot. A tawdry and ugly patch by the highway.
"Tawdry and ugly" pretty much sums up this entire sad saga.
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| I use their photos here, not his |
Yet it continues to fascinate me because of all the issues it raises. Race and gender. The nature of celebrity. The cruel vagaries of fate that put the Goldman family on a collision course with "the Juice." Memories of the abusive relationship I endured. The powerful, toxic mix of passion and codependence and sex and violence. If that relationship hadn't ended when it did, I wonder if I would have eventually met a similar fate. How karma finally caught up with Simpson and landed him in a Nevada prison.
In a way, it was the first reality show any of us ever saw. Fittingly, it was the Simpson case that introduced the word "Kardashian" to our vernacular.
Well, the OJ Fever we all had finally broke and we all went on with our lives. But Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown haven't had these past 20 years. I am sorry for that, and say a little prayer for them.
