TV

Moral dissonance

~ MaryG ~ 31 Comments

What is one way you have grown this year?

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)

She is one of the good ones.

Skip it

~ MaryG ~ 25 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What are the biggest mistakes people make when visiting your country?
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I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but if I were you, I’d pass on visiting the US during the Trump administration. I really don’t think it’s safe for foreigners here at the moment. They’re even detaining the white ones.

I recommend going to Canada instead. It’s spectacular in the summer.

My family in beautiful Quebec City in July 2008

Beloved Community

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?
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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.

Semiquincentennial

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Go on a walk today and share a photo of something that catches your eye.
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This is the only American flag of any kind that I saw on my walk today, which is weird.

This was near the mailbox of a house that gives MAGA vibes.

I feel like Trump has ruined the nation’s big 250th birthday celebration. Nobody around here is in the mood. Between the fascist arch, the 1.8B slush fund for insurrectionists, skyrocketing fuel & healthcare prices, and the horrific reports from inside the immigrant detention centers, it’s hard to get hyped for the big party.

Related post:

Memories of the Bicentennial

Changed for Good

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s a show that had the perfect series finale?
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I have loved all five seasons of the series Hacks with Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder and I know the series finale is being released today. I will make a point of watching it as soon as possible so that I don’t accidentally read about it.

In the olden days, you had one shot at seeing the series finale. You had to watch it when it aired—or wait forever for the rerun to come out. Most people didn’t get VCRs until the later 1980s. (And even then, “taping” your show was an unreliable process.)

The series finale I remember being the biggest deal was M*A*S*H—the long running dramedy series set during the Korean War that followed the doctors and staff of a mobile army surgical hospital. The show ran for 11 years. I was a senior in high school when it ended in 1983.

Although I had not watched every episode along the way, I knew the main characters well. I’m pretty sure I sat and watched the finale in real time and probably shed a tear or two.

According to Google, the M*A*S*H finale, titled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” was 2.5 hours long and was one of the most-watched television broadcasts in U.S. history, drawing about 106 million viewers. In 1983, the total population of the US was 234 million people. So literally, half the country watched the M*A*S*H finale.

In case you’ve forgotten the very end (like I had), here’s when Hawkeye and BJ say goodbye.

Even though I haven’t seen the Hacks finale yet, I’m assuming there will be a similarity with M*A*S*H in that two people who have been through some major shit together will deeply understand that they’ve been changed for the better by the other person.

It’s like that song from the musical Wicked says:

Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

Sex and the City redux

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

I rewatched the first three seasons of Sex and the City while on my treadmill this winter. (The conclusion of the reboot—And Just Like That—prompted me to go back and relive some of the original.)

Now that treadmill season is thankfully over (we can walk outside here now), here are my random observations on the old show:

The women never ever reference their mothers. It’s like they didn’t have mothers.

Donald Trump is mentioned in the very first episode (which originally aired in 1998) and I decided to carry on rewatching it anyways.

Carrie had a zen teacher. (I had a zen teacher.)

Carrie and Charlotte did partner yoga. (I tried partner yoga once in the 90s and hated it. It put me off all yoga for years.)

When the women go to Connecticut for a baby shower, suburbia is like an uncomfortable foreign land to them with baffling things like “Invisible Fence.” (That one made me laugh, because we got both a dog and an Invisible Fence when we left the city.)

There was reference to having baby names picked out before you were even married or pregnant and “reserving” them with your friends. This was funny because I specifically remember my friend Gail reserving “Justine” when we were teenagers. Also, my friend Susan and I were pregnant at the same time and had a negotiation over the name “Henry” which we both liked. I “gave” it to her because it was her deceased father’s name. (It was also my deceased maternal grandfather’s name, so my son got it for his middle name.) For some reason, it was very important for GenX friends to not give their babies the same names.

There were pre-plane crash references to JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette, which was interesting because I’m pretty sure Sarah Jessica Parker dated JFK Jr at one point, although I don’t think that was mentioned in Love Story.

That feeling of taking pregnancy tests when you didn’t want to be pregnant—remember that?

Palm Pilots – such a big deal at the time

Smoking cigarettes – aaah

And when the worst thing about Rudy Giuliani was that he cracked down on smoking in NYC…

The guest stars:

Bradley Cooper (played a single, straight smoker)

Will Arnette

Jon Bonjovi

Alanis Morrisette

Vince Vaughn (adorable)

Matthew McConaughy (still no)

Hugh Hefner (soooo creepy, but so mainstream and acceptable in the 90s)

Carrie Fisher (RIP Carrie. Loved her.)

There was definitely some dated and cringy stuff, especially around socio-economic class. But let’s face it, all of that inequality has just gotten worse.

Maybe I’ll go back and watch seasons 4-6 next winter. Or maybe not.

Great American Bitch

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments

Of course I watched Suffs on public television (PBS’ “Great Performances”) last night. I’ve had it on my calendar for months, and I saw about 25 ads for it on social media yesterday, and a friend called to remind me about it.

Created by Tony Award winner Shaina Taub, this musical recorded from Broadway tells the story of the American suffragist movement and the remarkable friendships, heartbreak, and action that brought women together—or, in some cases, tore them apart.

It’s going to air again tonight at 8pm on PBS. Watch it or record it, if you can.

I will never again call them Suffragettes. They were suffragists.

Hopefully all the Tradwife influencers will decide to take a break from serving their husbands and tune in.

Watch my favorite number from Act I here: Great American Bitch

UPDATE: SUFFS is now available to watch on YouTube.

Astronaut

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?

Given the success and inspirational nature of the Artemis 2 mission, I’d have to go Astronaut.

I wouldn’t want to do any of the preparation or training (I’m prone to vertigo) but just beam me up, Scotty, to a window seat, for one day so I can see the coolest views ever.

It would have to be a day when very little is required of the crew, because I’m not good at incapable of running science experiments or flying aircraft. I could probably handle photography duty for one day and also I’d be good at the PR stuff. I could call Houston and talk to the media from space with great enthusiasm.

Photo of the lunar flyby captured by the Artemis 2 astronauts

Can you imagine how mind blowing it would be to see that for real?

April showers

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

One thing about being older is that you have so very many snippets of songs, poems, sayings and jingles floating around in your head. Literally decades worth of popular culture is lodged in the ole memory. Half the time, you can’t remember why or from where you know something.

Apparently “April Showers Bring May Flowers” is a saying from England that dates back to at least the 1550s. Imagine. That saying has been kicking around the English-speaking world for over 450 years.

The flowers that bloom in the spring,

tra-la.

OK, just Googled and that’s from The Mikado, which makes sense. I was in that show in high school (embarrassingly, in full yellowface). Gilbert & Sullivan are responsible for a great deal of brain clutter in older people who like musical theater.

Springtime for Hitler and GER-MA-NY

I wish that one from The Producers would leave me, but it just won’t. Must be lodged too deep in the grey matter.

Spring in general has more songs, poems, and sayings than all the other seasons combined. Don’t you think?

What pops into your head when you experience the miracle of spring where you are?

Thoughts on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

I was planning to watch the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night. I watched a lot of the pre-game, red carpet stuff on C-SPAN. The reporter kept asking people who they were wearing and it became so awkward that the anchor finally told him to stop. “This is Washington. Nobody has any idea who they’re wearing.”

I was wondering if maybe Trump was going to somehow manage to be charming in his speech. Highly unlikely, but still. And if he was going to be vile and awful to the press (as usual), I wanted to see him embarrass himself until I couldn’t stand it anymore and then go to bed.

After the chaos was unleashed, my first thought was that they’d obviously cancel the event. People in the room (including multiple pregnant women) had plunged to the floor and everyone was shaken. The fact that Trump wanted to carry on (“the show must go on”) seemed to be just another example of his complete disregard for others.

When he then held a press conference at 10:30pm and all the reporters showed up in their formalwear, I felt badly for them. If you had had a night like that, wouldn’t you want to just go home and go to bed? But no…they had to go back to the White House and listen to Dear Leader blather on about his ballroom and lie about all “the love” in the room. (Quiet, Piggy!)

Reporters are people too and I feel badly for them, especially the female ones. Trump treats them like shit. I felt especially bad for the WHCA President & Host Weijia Jiang who tearfully announced that Trump was insisting she reschedule the event within 30 days. (The Commander Commands and the People—especially the Women—Must Obey.)

And then, I just had to go online and see what people were saying. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the entire country thought the event was staged. That was all I saw in the comments.

I’ve never been prone to conspiracy theories. (Typically, I mentally dismiss people who raise them.) But…maybe.

Could the whole thing have been staged? And if it was, why?

Our government is flailing, people. I grew up in this country and I’ve never felt like this about it before. The on again off again trip to Pakistan is just the latest example. What the hell are they doing? Do they even know??

We have now entered the Twilight Zone. That’s how I feel. Cue the music.

Honestly, the TV show Twilight Zone was a bit before my time. It’s more of a Boomer thing. I never actually watched it. But culturally, it has been referred to so often that I have a sense of it.