dailyprompt

Lunch with Cesar

~ MaryG ~ Leave a comment

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

In 2016, I had lunch with Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, and his pit bull Junior.

I was getting my lunch at a food truck in Boston’s Christian Science Plaza when I noticed someone asking for a pic with the guy in front of me. I soon figured out it was Cesar Millan, as we had watched his show, Dog Whisperer, many times when we had Teddy.

We sat near each other on a bench and chatted while we ate our lunches. Junior sat at Cesar’s side. Junior is a large and terrifying looking American Pit Bull with wicked eyes, but he was wearing a service dog vest and I figured there was absolutely no way that the Dog Whisperer’s dog would bite me. Theoretically he’s the best trained dog in America. So I relaxed.

I found Cesar to be a very open and warm person. He told me he grew up on his grandfather’s farm in Mexico with lots of dogs. They were very poor. He came to the USA looking for a better life, crossing over the border illegally. He said, “I was a wetback.” Once in LA, he became a sought-after celebrity dog walker, which eventually led to a story in The Los Angeles Times. This eventually led to his wildly successful TV show, which ran on the National Geographic channel from 2004 – 2011.

In 2016, when I met him, he had fallen on somewhat hard times. A wildly expensive divorce and some unscrupulous management had cost him a lot. He was in Boston to do a live stage version of his show in a second-rate venue north of the city. He had a good attitude about it though. He seemed to believe that everything happens for a reason. He had learned to be careful who you trust.

When I got back to the office after lunch, my coworker Tracy, who had declined my invitation to go to the food trucks, was incredulous. She couldn’t believe she had missed the opportunity to meet Cesar Millan! It was pretty funny.

Cesar Millan and me in Boston in July 2016 — just a couple of GenXers hanging out 😉

Cricket

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

What is good about having a pet?

I’m not a big animal lover. I mean, I love the animal kingdom, especially the giraffes, but I don’t love having animals in the house.

I’ve had pets over the years. We grew up with a husky that we adopted when my mother’s tennis partner moved to Dallas, where it was deemed too hot for a cold weather breed. His name was Bunky. He was OK.

Then, when I was young and single, I agreed to take a really cute kitten from my sister’s cat’s litter. Kimba was beautiful, like Kimba the White Lion, but so so bad. I’ll never forget the time he jumped up on my refrigerator in my tiny studio apartment and nudged the antique toaster off of it. The toaster was plugged in and an arc of blue sparks flew through the air as the cord separated from the appliance.

Then, in 1993, I married a cat person. He had his own sweet little black cat named Sticky (Stick for short). He named her Sticky because she stuck to things, like curtains and pant legs. Sticky and Kimba learned to live together, but were never really friends.

Then, when my daughter was five and an only child, we got a dog. Teddy was a purebred Sheltie. He was nuts. The mailman was afraid of him. He ripped up our outdoor furniture. My daughter loved him, but then we had another child. I just did not trust this dog around the baby. One day, I accidentally stepped on Teddy’s tail while he was sleeping and he bit my foot — right through my canvas sneaker. That was it. I didn’t think it was safe to keep him any longer, so we gave him to a Sheltie rescue organization. That was rough.

This brings me to my last and best pet Cricket. Cricket was a moon-faced, greenish grey striped kitty that we adopted from a shelter in Lowell when the kids were both in grade school. They really loved her and so did my husband. She would sit in his lap at night and I could just see that stroking her was probably lowering his blood pressure. There were clear benefits for him.

It was tough when she needed to be put down during COVID after we’d spent a fortune on veterinary surgery to try to correct a problem with her back. I had to make the final decision to end her life because my husband loved her too much. She was a good pet. Our sweet Cricket.

A portrait of Cricket that hangs on our wall: a thoughtful gift from my daughter to my husband

Coach bag anyone?

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).

In 2014, I spontaneously purchased a $400 Coach bag. It was a few days before my birthday when I saw a hot pink, pebbled leather, satchel-style slouchy purse in the Coach store in Boston’s Prudential Center.

The color was totally impractical, but I liked it and wanted it. So I bought it. I considered it a birthday present to myself.

I used it a few times and that was it. The color is great, but it hardly goes with anything. And overall, the bag is just too big.

I still have it, receipt and all. I guess I should figure out how to sell things on eBay.

Smartless

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

What podcasts are you listening to?

I’m not a big podcast listener, but I discovered “Smartless” on a long car ride a couple of years ago and have enjoyed quite a few episodes.

It’s basically three GenX guys — Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes — talking and laughing. They bring on a special guest for each episode who is a surprise to two of the three hosts.

As you might imagine, they’re very well-connected and are able to bring in some pretty amazing guests. I listened to them talk with Paul Simon recently — a true living legend — and they somehow managed to show him great respect, while eliciting some wonderful personal stories and occasionally breaking into bits of his iconic songs.

Arnett is Canadian and is the most typically male of the three. He’s got a deep voice and you get the impression he definitely knows how to change a tire. Bateman is a rare bird — a Hollywood child star who became a successful adult actor. Best known for playing Jack on Will & Grace, Hayes is gay and so very talented and funny. He’s also a concert-level pianist and Broadway star.

I’m not sure if I’d like the podcast as much without Hayes. He adds a perspective that the other two don’t have. I can’t help but think back to high school when a guy like Hayes—clearly gay—would’ve been mercilessly bullied by guys like Arnett and Bateman. They never would’ve hung out together in the 80s. It’s nice to see how straight men have evolved.

The podcast is so successful that they went on tour with a stage version of it, which is now a documentary you can watch on Max.

I Hate Funeral Homes

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

What was your favorite subject in school?

My favorite subject in school was English.

I always liked reading, and writing was OK too. As a senior in high school, I took a class called Humanities, which looked at different periods through literature, art, and music. It was co-taught by a team of three teachers.

The class was only for seniors and everyone had to do a final project. We did them in groups. My two best friends and I wrote and performed a play entitled “I Hate Funeral Homes.” As best I can remember, it was about three high school friends meeting up at their 15th reunion. So we were 18-year olds pretending to be 33-year olds, which seemed very old at the time. We had each taken different paths in our lives since high school—one of us was married, one divorced, and one was something else I can’t remember.

One of the themes of the play was how people don’t really listen to each other. Instead, they’re always thinking about what they’ll say next. So the lines were a series of non-sequiturs starting with “I Hate Funeral Homes.”

I don’t remember much else about the play except my costume, which was a black taffeta pantsuit. I was supposed to be the rich one. It was my first pantsuit, but not my last.

So, yeah, English was my favorite subject in school, but writing and performing a play with my best friends is my favorite memory.

The cast of “I Hate Funeral Homes” celebrating our 50th birthdays together in New Orleans

I Can Swim Day

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

Facebook is always inventing holidays, like “National Daughters Day” or “National Sons Day.” They tend to make me feel annoyed. It’s like why would I randomly post a photo of my son, who doesn’t even have a Facebook? Everyone loves their kids — we know this. No extra holiday needed.

I think a lot of people need a lift these days, so what would make most people feel better? Hmmmmm… thinking….this is hard

I liked Obama’s “National Day of Service” idea, but I’ve honestly never participated in it. Earth Day is good too. Remember “Hands Across America” day? Another nice idea, but I don’t think it actually worked.

How about creating a national “I Can Swim” day? One thing I really hate reading about every summer is drownings. It’s so sad. Every kid in America should learn to swim. All barriers (cost, access to lessons, etc) should be removed. Every school district in America should have a public pool.

Maybe every kid (or adult) who passes the “I Can Swim” national test during a given year, gets celebrated on “I Can Swim” day with cake, balloons, presents and a big splash party at the community pool?

Yes, I’m liking this idea. Make “I Can Swim Day” as big of a deal as all the other growing up holidays like First Communion, Quinceañera or Bat/Bar Mitzvah. I can say with certainty that learning to swim has provided me with far more lifelong joy and safety than whatever I was made to memorize for my First Communion.

Swim team cheer, 2010

Down with paywalls

~ MaryG ~ Leave a comment

What are your favorite websites?

It’s weird how we spend most of our time on apps now, rather than websites. I barely use my personal laptop anymore. Two apps I look at a lot are Instagram and Jetpack. I love reading other bloggers’ answers to the WordPress daily prompt on Jet. Keep ‘em coming!

I mostly go to websites for news and interesting articles by great journalists. I look at The New York Times website quite frequently. And nothing beats The Atlantic for interesting articles by great writers.

It’s very frustrating that both websites have paywalls. As a subscriber, I wish I could share more articles with friends, but unless you send it as “a gift article” (which is inconvenient), people who aren’t subscribers can’t read it.

Great journalism should be free to all!

Power couples

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

What historical event fascinates you the most?

I am fascinated by all the events portrayed in Episode 8 of Impeachment: American Crime Story.

From Hillary’s “Stand by Your Man” interview following Gennifer Flowers’ press conference, to poor Monica Lewinsky’s merciless questioning by Ken Starr’s team of horndogs, to a super awkward dinner at Vernon Jordan’s house on Martha’s Vineyard, this episode covers a LOT. So many moments where you can only imagine what was actually said in private. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

Edie Falco as Hillary “takes off her Bill-size blinders and confronts the brutally unfair situation in which she finds herself: The public face of her husband’s lies. When she finally lets rip, it’s clear why the role needs Falco. “You are chaos. You are mayhem,” she screams as she pegs him with a bouquet of fresh flowers. “You lit our life on fire,” she adds tearily. How do you play an outrageously angry and resentful woman who already knows that she won’t leave? That she can’t? Falco injects pathos into a decision popularly regarded as calculating. Vulture

I do love a power couple! So many consequences flow from their actions and emotions. (I think Al Gore might’ve won the 2000 election, if it wasn’t for this mess.)

Catherine the Great & Potemkin, Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, Eleanor & FDR are other power couples I’ve enjoyed thinking about. And I love TV shows about them.

Edie Falco and Clive Owen as Bill and Hillary Clinton in Impeachment: American Crime Story.

This guy

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

This pertains to Americans only.

I really think every adult, 18 and over, should be able to name both of their US senators, their governor, and their representative in the House.

It scares me that so many people don’t know really basic stuff. I feel like 2024 is a year that everyone actually needs to pay attention. Depending on what happens in these upcoming elections, things could take a terrible turn, from which I don’t think we’ll recover in my lifetime.

I guess it would be just too much to expect people to be able to name the Speaker of the House, in addition to the President and the Vice President (which most people know). I mean, he’s only second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president.

This guy, who wants to ban all abortions without exception — to the point of criminalization with prison sentences — is Speaker of the House.

Most people can name these two. Her first name is pronounced: COMMA-LA. Not that hard!

Book Magic

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What does it mean to be a kid at heart?

As kids, my neighborhood friends and I would play elaborate games of pretend. One game was “Little House on the Prairie,” based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We would turn my friend Carolyn’s bed into a pioneer wagon and pretend we were heading west. Calamities would befall us, especially stagecoach robbers. We were always getting attacked.

Here’s a Halloween photo from that time period that I happened to pull out yesterday. I was a cowboy that year. Thinking back, that would certainly fit with my “Little House on the Prairie” obsession.

Halloween, 1973

The magic of books that transported you to a world that you wanted to recreate and inhabit is something that “kid at heart” conjures.

“Little Women” is another book that we liked to act out. We would pretend we were playwrights and write & perform mini-plays.

I remember being so excited when my son built himself a tree perch in which to read “The Swiss Family Robinson.” I knew he was feeling that book magic.

My son reading “The Swiss Family Robinson” in a tree, with the remnants of a brilliant sunset in the background, November 2010