A light for Darfur

While George Clooney and Don Cheadle were in Rome collecting Men of Peace Awards for their efforts on behalf of Darfur, Jonah Burke was sitting quietly at his computer in Western Mass. A former Microsoft employee, Burke is the builder of the Darfur Wall, an affecting website that's raised $80,000 for Darfur relief organizations. "I thought the site might help get a more emotional reaction from people," said Burke, who's working on the project with Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor and expert on the Sudan. "I thought it'd be a more persuasive way to visualize the problem." There are 400,000 numbers on the online wall, each representing a person killed in Darfur. By donating $1 or more, visitors to darfurwall.org can light a number, turning it from dark gray to brilliant white. (The wall's first number was lit by Peter Burchhardt of Shenzhen, China.) "I was IMing with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, who said he really liked the site. . . . He used a lot of exclamation points," said Burke. The goal is to raise $400,000, lighting every number.

No one is more pleased about the box-office success of "I Am Legend" than Mark Protosevich, who wrote the original script 12 years ago. Back then, says the Provincetown-based screenwriter, Ridley Scott was set to direct and Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to star. "I worked on drafts all the way up until 2004 when Will Smith was on board," Protosevich told us. While the finished product, which has raked in $117 million so far, isn't exactly the story Protosevich penned, it does have his fingerprints. (His hero, for example, was also psychologically fragile and traveled with a dog.) Wondering why the writer lives in Provincetown? Protosevich said he pulled out of Hollywood to be with his girlfriend, artist Robena Malicoat, whose family has lived on the Cape for generations. "I fell in love with [the place] when I first walked on the dunes," he told us. It seems to be working for him. Since moving east, he's had both "I Am Legend" and "Poseiden" made into movies, and his script for "Thor," based on the Marvel comic book, is in play. "I'm really looking forward to getting on with that," he said.

Before bolting Boston, where he'd been filming "The Lonely Maiden," William H. Macy gave the staff of the Liberty Hotel a little gift. As a token of his appreciation - the actor was a regular at the Liberty while in town - Macy presented staffers with an original lock from the old Charles Street Jail. He'd been given the lock while on a tour of the North Bennett Street School a few weeks ago. (The Liberty's developers believed all of the old locks had been lost, but it turns out they'd just been sent to the school, where locksmithing is taught.) An avid woodworker himself, Macy mounted the lock on a wooden background so it can be hung at the Liberty.

Word is Donnie Wahlberg will be honored by the Tufts-New England Medical Center at its annual Rising Stars Gala on Feb. 7. (Eastern Bank CEO Richard Holbrook and Tufts-NEMC geneticist Dr. Diana Bianchi also will be honored.) The event's honorary chair is Celts captain Paul Pierce, which may explain why Wahlberg, who's a fanatical C's fan, is being feted. . . . Elisabeth Hasselbeck's headed back to "The View." On maternity leave since the birth of her second child in November, the BC alum will rejoin Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sherri Shepherd on the chat show Jan. 7.

Kevin Youkilis was the star of the show yesterday at the Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain. The Sox first baseman played Santa for the day, delivering presents donated by Stop & Shop and Hollister. Youk was accompanied by fiancee Enza Sambataro, CEO of the ballplayer's charity Hits for Kids, and her son, Mikey.

In case you hadn't noticed, the networks like to run a lot of heart-warming stories during the holidays. Just check out Monday's "Good Morning America." There's a segment about Caroline Kennedy's new book, "A Family Christmas," highlighting the cute correspondence between President Kennedy and a young Michigan girl concerned about Santa's safety in the era of nuclear weapons. "I share your concern about the atmospheric testing of the Soviet Union, not only for the North Pole but for countries throughout the world," JFK wrote to 8-year-old Michelle Rochon. "However, you must not worry about Santa Claus. I talked with him yesterday and he is fine. He will be making his rounds this Christmas." On Monday's "GMA," Caroline Kennedy meets Rochon, who is living in Florida. Ah, the holidays.

Paparazzi snapped Boston-bred actor Neal McDonough walking tall with his 7-month-old daughter Catherine Maggie the other day in LA. McDonough, who's married to Ruve Robertson, was last seen in the Sci Fi miniseries "Tin Man."

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