So it’s Wednesday night and you’re flipping around the TV channels looking for something–anything!–worth watching, and there on cable access channel four is Republican mayoral contender, Tony Libri. Ah, let’s see what Libri’s talking about tonight. Is it economic development? Neighborhood revitalization? How to solve all the problems at the police department?
No. As it turns out, Libri isn’t talking so much as he is asking questions. He’s playing talk show host for the American Cancer Society’s program, Informing You, which really lives up to its name. The executive producer of the show is Ray Cooke, director of the city’s Department of Public Health and a contributor to various campaigns. This particular segment was taped, edited, and scheduled long before Libri announced his candidacy, Cooke says.
And we believe him. Otherwise, we’d have to wonder about strategy.
On this segment, Libri, whose first wife died of cancer, is interviewing a doctor named Jan Rakinic. Her specialty is colorectal surgery. Or, as she specifies, matters related to “the colon, the rectum, or the anus.”
Libri valiantly dives right in, bravely asking the questions enquiring minds want to know, inventing creative euphemisms on the fly. He asks about hemorrhoids, constipation, and, most importantly, cancer.
“When I get an annual physical evaluation every year, am I to assume that my colon is going to be checked, that colon cancer is going to be looked for?” Libri asks. “Is that what the doctor’s doing when he’s . . . up there?”
Dr. Rakinic responds with something about a “gloved finger” that brings up a mental image candidates don’t usually conjure until after they’ve been elected.
The discussion moves on to the topic of colonoscopy–Dr. Rakinic’s favorite procedure because it’s “fun, like a game!”–and Libri asks whether it’s the kind of test patients dread. Dr. Rakinic responds that the worst part is the preparation, which involves flushing the colon.
“Everybody has their own favorite purgative,” Dr. Rakinic says.
“Oh, I’ll bet you’re fun at parties!” Libri responds.
Getting down to basics, Libri asks the doc to explain just how this “fascinating part of the body” works.
“Well, the colon doesn’t have a lot of function . . . ” she says. And Libri interrupts with a self-deprecating joke:
“See, if I had to be a body part, that would be me–I don’t have a whole lot of function!”
This article appears in May 8-14, 2003.
