What’s a book, movie, or TV show that you wish you could experience again for the first time?
I’ve written before about seeing Star Wars and the big movie musicals of the late 70s over and over again. Grease in particular was so fun to see on the big screen for the first time. The “teenagers” in the movie were a few years older than me and they made high school look like, well…a Hollywood musical. What could be better? And it’s hard to explain just how appealing young John Travolta was back in the day.
I had a poster similar to this in my bedroom (though mine was in color).
OK, I looked it up and Travolta was actually 24 when he played Danny Zuko. And Jeff Conaway, who played Kenickie, was 28. (So I was a 13-year old lusting after grown men twice my age.)
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?
One thing I know about happiness is that it’s fleeting. There’s really no such thing as “happily ever after.” Things will change. They always do.
Here in the United States, millions had a happy day yesterday. New Yorkers reached a state of high ecstasy celebrating their championship basketball team—the Knicks. And we all got to see our inspirational former leader—America’s first Black President—Barack Obama open the new, magnificent Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. All of our living presidents and their wives were there, except the Incompetent Orange Fascist currently occupying Our White House. He was not invited. There were speeches and incredible musical performances by everyone from Jennifer Hudson to Eddie Vedder.
We got reminded of how far we’ve come and what the future could be, if we don’t give up. Michelle Obama’s speech was so beautiful it made me cry. Check it out here.
Combined with all the World Cup joy in Boston and beyond (thank you Tartan Army) and the successful Artemis 2 voyage earlier this year, I’m reminded that Americans can be happy again.
Also, I just read that the correct guy won the special election in the UK yesterday, which is also great news.
Read President Obama’s speech here. For me, the opening of the Obama Presidential Center was the real celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
NYT Cooking’s Salmon with Avocado and Cilantro salad. This is part of my eat more salad to lose weight quest. Unfortunately I followed it up with a big bowl of freshly baked peanut butter cookies and vanilla ice cream.
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?
I was just saying to Molly, my church’s Music Director, I wish I could touch all ten of my fingertips to hers and have her piano skills transfer to my hands.
She can play anything—beautifully. She can sight read any piece of sheet music (from classical to pop) and play it perfectly the first time.
She accompanied me on my recent solo performance of a Broadway song and she made it so much better.
I took about six years of piano lessons, but I never got good. Anything I learned to play took hours and hours of practice.
Molly started playing at age 9 and never stopped, She got a B.M. in Piano Performance from Butler University and then an M.M. Collaborative Piano from Boston University. She said going through Conservatory-type training was brutal, but that was when she achieved true mastery.
I’d like the mastery, with none of the work.
I’d play for myself, play for others, maybe join an ensemble, and definitely plop down on those public piano benches and bring joy to the people.
I’ve grown physically fatter this year. I’m not saying I’m fat, but I’m not thin.
The year started out with a very upsetting situation caused by my family of origin. I lost weight over it. Some people might call that the upside (I wouldn’t), but I didn’t mind being down five pounds.
Now it’s all back – and a little more.
I’ve thought about trying those new weight loss drugs, but I hear they take away your appetite and that doesn’t appeal to me at all. I love food, especially dessert.
So, I’m trying to cut back on portion size and eat more salads. I’ve also been swimming laps almost every day, now that the outdoor pool is open for the season.
I always feel guilty complaining about eating too much when hundreds of millions of people, including tens of millions of children, around the world don’t have enough food.
What’s the name for that feeling?
Food guilt…privilege guilt…moral dissonance?
If you don’t have young kids or grandkids, you might not know Miss Rachel. Rachel Griffin Accurso is a wildly popular American educator and YouTube creator whose gentle, research-based songs and videos teach toddlers language, social skills, and emotional development. Miss Rachel uses her massive platform to speak out against child hunger and mistreatment, including in Gaza, Sudan and US immigrant detention centers.
Follow her on social media: @msrachelforlittles (Instagram)
What is something you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self?
You are not responsible for your sister’s problems. That’s on them. Distance yourself from the dysfunction—now. Pay attention to your own feelings.
Lose the Catholic Guilt. In fact, just bag the Catholic Church church now. You were never really Catholic. You’re a Unitarian Universalist.
I know you think you couldn’t dislike any politician more than Ronald Reagan, but someone so sickening will arise in 30 years, you’re not going to believe it. Pay attention to the seeds of that catastrophe being planted now. Fight them. Observe and use your privilege.
“Welfare Queens” aren’t real.
They’re gonna legalize weed right around the same time as the catastrophe, which will be helpful. Yup, you can just walk in and buy it! And you won’t have to worry that it’s laced with anything.
I’m not sure which countries have the most spontaneous public singing and/or dancing—Brazil? Ghana?—but I wish we did more of that here.
I wish it would just happen in the grocery store and other ordinary places. For example, when it’s someone’s birthday in a restaurant, I think everyone should pause and help sing the birthday song.
During the closing credits of the movie The Sheep Detectives, which we saw in a full theater a couple weeks ago, they played I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. The woman next to me started singing, so of course I joined her, then she stood up and started dancing too. Her kids did not seem at all embarrassed. It was great.
More of that please.
New Orleans gets it. They’ve got more people making music and dancing in the streets than any other US city I’ve ever visited.
One of the great joys of being a grandma is singing with my granddaughter. And she can really carry a tune at age ONE, which is amazing to me. It turns out she likes a lot of the same songs her mother did thirty years ago. The all-time favorite is Baby Beluga by Raffi. This song will always make me smile.
From Claude:
Raffi Cavoukian, known simply as Raffi, is one of the most beloved children’s musicians of all time. Born in Egypt in 1948 and raised in Canada, he transformed children’s music with his 1976 debut album Singable Songs for the Very Young and went on to create iconic songs like “Baby Beluga,” “Banana Phone,” and “Shake My Sillies Out.” What set him apart was his genuine respect for young audiences — his music was engaging and wholesome without ever being condescending. Generations of children have grown up with his songs, and beyond music, he has been a dedicated advocate for child welfare and environmental stewardship.
I can accompany some nursery rhymes—like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star—on toy piano.
In the spirit of trying new things in this new phase of my life (aka Retired Grandma), I performed a full length solo song in a “Café Musicale” fundraiser at my church last night. It was set up like a cabaret with lots of round tables and a decorated central buffet with desserts & apps and twinkling lights and candles. There was a variety of acts, including a couple of bands, duos, trios and two other soloists (one of whom was a professional).
I sang Anthem from the 80s musical Chess. In the show it’s sung by a Soviet chess player who is thinking of defecting. When I heard it recently, it resonated with me in a new way given all that Americans are experiencing with a wannabe dictator in office. I had a fantastic professional accompanist on piano.
I think it went well. I wasn’t overly nervous and I got warm applause and some very heartfelt comments afterwards.
So, as my 60th year is about to wrap up next week, I can truthfully say I’ve already tried some new things in this new decade.
I took watercolor classes and started painting again, successfully performed a solo for a room full of people, and registered for week long Dance Camp.
Oh, and as an update on that art show (where I was disappointed that my painting was hung so high), I found out last night that it was moved and placed at eye level. The organizers apologized for where it was hung originally and said it was one of their favorite pieces in the show! It’s going to travel with the rest of the pieces to a real art museum in October.
Proof of performance. I’m not a professional singer so I’m not going to upload the video of me singing, but it’s a very moving song. You can listen to “Anthem” from the Original 1988 Broadway Cast Album here. The show was recently revived and is currently playing on Broadway.
Undoubtedly the best thing about being 60 has been spending time with my granddaughter. The second best thing has been engaging more in my foundational love of the arts. Painting, singing, dancing and writing this blog have all been so fun and important to me this past year.
As GenXers will remember the old public service announcement: You Gotta Have Art!
I grew up on Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Free to Be You and Me, Zoom and Schoolhouse Rock. Even the rigid old Catholic Church (my nemesis) got a makeover in the 70s as a result of Vatican II. (Think felt banners and folk music). Also, I was a Camp Fire Girl, which was much more “hippie granola” than Girl Scouts.
Camping with the Camp Fire Girls in 1975
Granted Reagan and AIDS in the 80s put a dark tint on my rose-colored glasses, I still somehow believed we were headed toward a more perfect union where the “general welfare” was the goal.
Kids who grew up in the 70s have the Preamble to the Constitution lodged in their brains forever thanks to Schoolhouse Rock!
The election of Barack Obama in 2008 brought those old feelings back. Justice, equality, peace, happiness, community seemed achievable.
MLK’s vision of the Beloved Community resonated strongly with many 70s kids who also loved Sesame Street and other PBS shows promoting those ideals.
I now feel as if I was living in a highly privileged bubble, which has been unequivocally popped.
I’d like to stay positive for the sake of my kids and grandkids, but I just don’t know if we’re going to see anything like that in my lifetime.
We’ve gone so very far in the other direction.
A UFC Fighting Cage being erected at the White House in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday—kinda just says it all.
I remember walking around in the airport in Paris—Charles De Gaulle—in December 1985. I was waiting for my flight back to Boston after my semester abroad in Rome. I was listening to my Sony Walkman, which had the songs that had been the soundtrack for the entire semester—Take on Me by A-Ha, Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, 99 Luftballons by the German band Nena.
I was hungover. I was sad. It was the end. Back to America. I knew it was going to be culture shock. So many things had happened that semester—some good, some bad—but all of it was new and exciting. I had traveled through Europe with friends, had a fling with a fellow student who was studying in France, been semi-stalked by an Italian guy, smoked hash and saw Sting perform live, been chased down the street by a very angry nun who was mad I’d let my friend use my roommate’s bed in the convent, been subjected to my first public masturbator (aka “The Jerk”), ordered entire meals in Italian, been awakened on a train by a French security guard who didn’t like my friend’s Filipino passport, got all my clothes destroyed by an Italian laundromat, and seen the most magnificent art and wonders of western civilization from the Mona Lisa to the Colosseum to Pompeii to the Vatican.
Walking through that airport felt like the last scene in a movie—a very 80s movie.
Here I am in Rome in 1985 with my short 80s hair and my friend Scott who was in my program with me. Scott was my close friend Carla’s boyfriend, but she was studying in cold old England for some reason. Girl Code obviously eliminated any chance of a fling with Scott, but he was so cute, right? Look at those legs.
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