WAEstate

  There were many dark ironies shrouding the Enron scandal of the early 2000s and its founder and CEO, Ken Lay. The energy company, based out of Houston Texas, claimed nearly $101 billion in earnings. However, in reality, Enron was participating in one of the largest cases of corporate fraud in American history. Almost overnight, the company went from one of the most well respected and prosperous businesses in the nation to a bankrupt stain on corporate history. Thousands of … [Read more...]

In 2018, over 50 years after the tragic death of NASA astronaut, Ed White, White’s two children, Bonnie and Ed III wrote a commentary piece for The Dallas Morning News about their father. With eloquence, they reflected on their father’s death, “What's been harder has been watching how people forget. Everyone remembers the landing, the triumph. But people tend to forget the cost. Maybe because it's easier that way. It's a shame. Because it's the failures, the tragedies, that truly define … [Read more...]

Fanny Brice (1891-1951) [comedian, singer, and actress] When Fanny Brice sat down to compose her autobiography, she told the writer, “I lived the way I want to live and never did what people said I had to do.” Fanny Brice, born Fania Borach, is a comedic legend who went about her life with audacious tenacity. Her head-strong mindset didn’t always pay off and her life was a mix of stupendous successes and heavy heart breaks. None the less, Brice was determined that the world was her stage. … [Read more...]

  Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016) [musician] In 1982, Prince released a song dubbed, 1999. In it, he expressed the following sentiment, “But life is just a party, and parties weren’t meant to last.” Prince Rogers Nelson is an American musical legend known for his avant-garde approach to music. Rolling Stone magazine once named Prince the 27th greatest artist of all time. The Los Angeles Times described Prince as, “among the most versatile and restlessly experimental pop artists of … [Read more...]

  “Death is very often referred to as a good career move.” The source of this disconcerting quote could not have known at the time that he was prophesying his own tragic legacy. Charles Hardin Holley, more famously known as Buddy Holly, was a man remembered for two things. The first was his role as an American Rock and Roll Legend known for pioneering the genre. The second was the way he died. As Don McLean put it, the day Holly met his demise was “the day the music died.” Early … [Read more...]