Politics

Stand-up

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

My family of origin has been upsetting me a lot since January. (I believe it’s unintentional, but still—not fun.) Thankfully, my own family are all doing well, except that my husband has been significantly challenged by his recoveries from two total knee replacements.

On top of that, I am personally upset by the shitshow in Washington. The absolute incompetence of the people running our country right now is downright frightening, as are the real impacts on all of our lives. My son inherited my mother’s gas guzzler SUV a few years ago when she upgraded and recently paid $75 to fill his tank. These prices are not sustainable for young people just starting out. And he and his roommates all sat down together to watch one of Trump’s incoherent updates on the war with Iran because they are worried about getting drafted.

Long way of saying, I could use a laugh. Maybe you could too.

Here are three stand-up comedy specials I’ve watched recently and truly enjoyed. I laughed out loud many, many times.

Marcello Hernández: American Boy (Netflix)

Julio Torres: Color Theories (HBO Max)

Ramy Youssef: In Love (HBO Max)

They happen to all be young men, but all grew up outside mainstream, straight, white American male culture. Their perspectives are unique and in many cases, hysterical. 🤣

Budapest 1987

~ MaryG ~ 32 Comments

I’ve posted a couple times about my trip to the Soviet Union in college. I was with a group of students and history professors. It was a big deal to go “behind the iron curtain” back then, so we prepped for this trip for many months—studying Russian history and learning how to behave in a communist country. (They didn’t want any of us to end up in a Siberian prison camp.)

In addition to stopping in Helsinki (Finland) on the way into the USSR, we stopped in Budapest (Hungary) on the way out. Back then, Hungary was firmly part of the Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc. And we happened to be there in the immediate aftermath of an epic snowstorm. Other than the snow and total paralysis of transportation on the streets, I remember kind people and one particularly delicious hot meal in a restaurant with some young musicians who gave us a cassette tape of their rock band.

In light of the recent good news that Hungarians dumped their far-right leader Viktor Orbán (a buddy of both Trump and Putin) on Sunday, I dug out my Budapest pics. Google describes Budapest in 1987 like this:

Budapest in 1987 was a city in late-communist Hungary characterized by economic scarcity, socialist architecture, and a quiet, daily struggle, yet it was on the cusp of major political change. The city experienced a historic, paralyzing snowstorm in January 1987 and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site that same year.

I’m not in any of these photos, but I took all of them. None are particularly good, but as a group, they give you the vibe.

Fun fact: Budapest is actually two cities—Buda and Pest. In this pic, I’m standing in Buda looking over the frozen Danube River towards Pest. The large domed building on the far side is the Hungarian Parliament in Pest. (Pronounced PESHT)
The famous Fisherman’s Bastion is a fairytale-like, Neo-Romanesque lookout built between 1895 and 1902.
An Aeroflot route map in a Budapest window. (We flew sketchy Aeroflot into Russia.)
My friend Lincoln standing in an alcove in Budapest.
My friend Rob playing a balalaika at the Budapest airport.
Walking was the only option for seeing anything at all while we were there! The city was paralyzed with snow and the authorities really couldn’t deal with it.
Two of our professors at the Budapest airport. The one on the right, Dr. James West, taught Russian history and was one of the best teachers I ever had. He’s one of the reasons I majored in History.

Speaking of wonderful history professors, be sure to listen to Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s letter from Tuesday that explains the connections between Viktor Orbán and the American right: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/restore-america-to-its-own-people?r=j2aww&utm_medium=ios

Sign of Spring

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments

Spring is springing here in Greater Boston. Hallelujah!

I took a shot at drawing and painting these purple crocuses in my neighborhood.
I tried a bunch of different techniques and colors. Some worked. Some didn’t.

I’m realizing now you really just have to paint a lot to truly improve. Watercolors require a great deal of trial and error. And now that good weather has returned, I’m not sure how much I’ll keep painting outside of the class I’m taking.

Honestly, I’m still not sure what my life is actually going to look like longterm in retirement. We are still in a transitional period. My husband’s knee surgeries have been such a huge feature of the past year. We don’t know how much he’ll continue to work once he’s fully recovered.

I feel like my retirement travel budget is not going to be as significant as I had hoped (thanks Trump) but who knows…maybe we’ll become road trip people.

I’m trying to focus on Good Things today:

  1. It’s 73 degrees F and sunny here 😎
  2. I have a screen porch, which I just cleaned.
  3. Hungary dumped Trump & Putin’s buddy Viktor Orbán.
  4. I get to see my cutie 🥰 tomorrow.
  5. Dessert – last night I had the genius idea to sprinkle flaked coconut on two Salted Caramel Mochi from Trader Joe’s. So good.

Project Hail Mary

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

We went out! For the first time since total knee replacement #2 on March 16, we went to a movie. Thanks to reclining theater seats, my husband was able to elevate his leg enough to make it through a 2+ hour film. He did have to take an oxy about halfway through, but still…he made it…and mostly enjoyed it.

For those who haven’t heard, Project Hail Mary is a blockbuster, feel good, space odyssey, based on the book by Andy Weir, which I have not read.

Here are a few thoughts:

The theater was full of people, including many families. This made the movie going experience more fun. We happened to go to a Saturday matinee the day after the Artemis 2 crew returned safely to earth. The poignancy of the film’s main message (nobody wants to be alone) was enhanced by the good vibes that our stellar astronauts evoked. As eloquent Artemis astronaut Christina Koch told the world upon her return: Planet Earth: You. Are. A. Crew.

Ryan Gosling is charming! We knew this already from Barbie, LaLa Land and other films. But this is his most charming role yet. He’s cute, he’s humble, he’s funny, he’s adorable. Give me Ryan Gosling any day of the week over Matthew McConaughey, Mark Wahlberg or any of the Chrises.

At 2 hours and 36 minutes, the film is a bit too long. I had to leave once to pee during the film and I had already left to pee during the final preview. (I should’ve been able to make it through the whole film.) The boys next to me also had to leave to pee once. But honestly, all films seem too long to me these days. Filmmakers need to edit better. If your average 60-year old woman and 10-year old boy can’t make it through the whole film without peeing, cut some stuff.

But all in all, I give it a thumbs up. It’s a good way to build on the warm vibes the astronauts gave us. Goodness knows, we need all the positivity we can get in light of the total shit show in the White House.

Was this a great crew or what?

Petty suburban drama

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

This story on Instagram about a tax-payer funded Army helicopter hovering at very low altitude outside Kid Rock’s home in Tennessee (presumably to entertain him) reminded me of something my across-the-street neighbor did about ten years ago.

My neighbor Eric, a large and pompous French-speaking Canadian, somehow convinced a helicopter pilot to “drop in” to our neighborhood so Eric could wave to his kids from the sky. We had absolutely no warning that this was going to happen. I was just sitting in my family room one day when the sound of a helicopter became alarmingly loud. I looked out my kitchen window and there was a freaking helicopter hovering just above a tree in our side yard. It scared the shit out of me. I ran to the basement because I guess it seemed safer there. My husband and son ran to the front window and saw Eric’s long-suffering Parisian wife and their two little kids waving to “Papa” from their driveway.

I was so mad. That helicopter scared me half to death. I could not imagine what was happening. You really don’t understand how loud those things are until one is hovering just above your head. What if it had clipped a tree and crashed? How stupid!

I called the police non-emergency line and told them what had happened. They said they had no jurisdiction over the skies, but that it sounded “not right.” They sent over a squad car and some cop had a chat with know-it-all Eric. I don’t know if the pilot ever got into any kind of trouble. (He should have.)

Eric never apologized for scaring me so badly and that was effectively the end of our relationship with The Frenchies across the street. I never spoke to either of them again and only wave if absolutely necessary. We watch from afar as they continue to make questionable “improvements” to their home, including bricking over the entire back half of their property, which we now refer to as Versailles.

That sure is some petty, suburban drama, right?

Oh, and a few years later, when Eric emailed us about putting a basketball hoop in the turnaround (which is public property abutting our yard), my husband was inclined to not object but I told Eric to put his hoop in his own driveway like everyone else. The nerve of that guy!

MAGA “musician” Kid Rock getting a special visit at his home from a US Army helicopter. Our tax dollars at work. 😡

NO KINGS 3: Proof of Attendance

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Even though I was very cold and took no pictures, evidence of my attendance at NoKings3 has emerged. The best part is that my poster received very prominent placement when I accidentally left it right in front of the speakers’ podium.

My state representative, a moderate Democrat, finally decided to show up at an anti-Trump protest. My district has a good amount of Republicans, so Jim’s been searching for his balls for quite awhile, but he gave a good and rousing speech in front of my very ANTI-Trump poster on Saturday. I consider this a win.

My poster was there during all the speeches, so it’s in a lot of pictures on Facebook.

“Sing as loud as you can” was the instruction from the music organizer.
This is my minister sitting in the chair with a brace on her leg. She is GenX and she is awesome. The world would be a better place if everyone had a minister like her.
It actually is a pretty good poster—one of my best. I just wish I didn’t have to keep making them.

Love Story

~ MaryG ~ 26 Comments

I attended the local NoKings3 protest yesterday and it was very cold. I helped lead the singing, but took no photos. I feel like there were not as many people as there were at NoKings2 in October and the energy was not as good. There were very few young people. Honestly, I’m feeling like it’s a very dark time for the country (and by extension, the world), even though my family and I are in no physical danger. I hope that others found yesterday energizing. From the innocent children currently being held in ICE detention centers, to the working people who can’t afford healthcare AND food, to the families of the marines currently being sent to the Middle East, there is so much anxiety, suffering, and uncertainty right now.

In other news…(lame transition!)

I feel like I would be a remiss GenXer, if I did not comment on a certain TV show that demanded watching.

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, created by Ryan Murphy, premiered in February on FX and Hulu became a streaming hit immediately. The nine-episode series stars two unknowns (Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly) as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and JFK, Jr.

If she was alive today, Carolyn would be my age exactly: 60.

I’m not going to re-tell the whole story, but I’ll just say that Ryan Murphy had to make up a LOT of stuff to create this series. All of the private moments and conversations depicted in the series are obviously unknown. But he linked in enough of the public moments and iconic photos I remember that it all seemed rather believable to me.

In my twenties, nobody was more “hunkified” by People and other magazines than JFK, Jr. And living in Massachusetts (Kennedy country), we’d have the occasional sighting or close encounter. My father (a pilot) once saw him come into the hangar after landing his plane at a small airport. My friend Katherine was at a wedding with him once. (Her sister-in-law was a classmate of his at Brown.)

So naturally, the woman he chose to marry at long last was of tremendous interest! And she was soooo cool and pretty—NYC hipness just emanated from her. Her sleek, shift wedding dress was so iconic that it’s still influencing bridal fashions to this day.

THE iconic wedding photo that all of us GenX women studied with great interest.
My nephew and his bride in 2022. She said Carolyn Bessette’s wedding look was her inspiration.

With Love Story, I came to understand the horribly sad side of her loss of anonymity. She was too famous to do literally anything. One scene I found very moving is when Carolyn learns that Princess Diana has died following a high speed car crash caused by paparazzi. The parallels to her own life were obvious and she goes into a deep depression. JFK, Jr had been living under a microscope his whole life, so he remains relatively unaffected, making Carolyn feel even more alone.

Now, who knows if that actually happened or not, but if I was upset for days about Princess Diana, it seems very likely that Carolyn would have been too.

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg (President Kennedy’s only other child) who tragically just lost her own adult daughter to cancer, is capably played by Grace Gummer. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the actress looked enough like Caroline. (Grace Gummer is the daughter of Meryl Streep, so I kept thinking about how much she looks like her mother and didn’t totally buy her as Caroline.)

Being from Massachusetts, I know a lot about the Kennedy clan and all their many tragedies. I even read the memoir “What Remains” by Carole Radziwill—the widow of JFK Jr’s best friend and cousin Anthony Radziwill. My husband, on the other hand, can’t keep all the Carols straight and doesn’t really care about the Kennedys.

So there you have it. I think Love Story is more of a woman thing. The mysterious, chic, tragic Carolyn Bessette made real, human.

Do I feel guilty about all the living people who are portrayed without their permission? A little. The actress Daryl Hannah (JFK Jr’s last girlfriend before Carolyn) is pissed over her rather unflattering portrayal in the series. And of course, I wonder how Caroline feels about the portrayal. Did she even watch it? We will probably never know because Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is a private, stoic, non-whiny person. A class act. The best kind of Kennedy.

Fortunately, Carolyn Bessette’s mother (who lost not one but TWO daughters in the tragic plane crash) is already dead, so this portrayal can’t hurt her further. But still, there’s one living Bessette sister still out there somewhere. You wonder how she feels.

Sadly, Carolyn Bessette gave herself over to the public domain the minute she married the American Prince, much like Princess Diana. Maybe our GenX “Princess Bride” fantasy should finally just be put to rest.