935 Times to say "Liar"

Someone stopped reporting on starlets long enough to actually count up the number of times the president and his administration lied to the American people about going to war in Iraq.
Look here.

This was big news this week. Not new news, but big news. Unfortunately, a major Hollywood star died under mysterious circumstances, so that is eating up a lot of the reporting space. Convenient, that. He was sexy, but having our noses rubbed in the fact that Bush and his cronies lied almost a thousand times is not. The lowest denominator thinks with its gonads. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be journalists. And now, we get back to the important news about Lindsay Lohan wearing huge socks with her thigh hi boots...

Back in the Nazi heyday, Goebbels came up with a tactic that has served the Bush Administration well: If you tell your lies often enough and loud enough, even people who know better will despair and concede the point.

It may seem to the American public that it is not worth getting re-upset at the Bush Administration's transgressions against the American people, the environment, the Constitution, and our standing in the world. Impeachments are expensive. and take a lot of time. By the time we get through it all, George W's time will be through anyway. Let history judge the bastard, and leave our names out of it.

However, history WILL judge all of us culpable---journalists, citizens and corporations alike. My feeling is that later generations will think of us as the most selfish, stupid, and shortsighted people in the human epoch. So much for the American way.

I think we be used as a warning, not as an example to others in future generations.

For right now, if you don't have the wherewithall to make a stand, realize that our current president and his cabinet are still lying to us every day, and their legacy becomes ours, even if we just wait it out. If we do not go for impeachment, perhaps we should start a movement towards criminal prosecution after the fact. It is a crime to allow this administration to be the precident for future presidencies.

Adult Expectations

A conversation with my Mom when I turned 30:

Mom: Well, you're 30 now.

Me: Yep.

Mom: I guess it's time to cut your hair short.

Me: Huh??!!What??!! Why?

Mom: Because you are 30. (thinks a moment, considering things a bit) Well, maybe that was just how it was in my day. When you turned 30 you were supposed to cut your hair short. (throws hands in air a little) It looks fine. I guess you don't need to.

Me: Wow...Good...Wow.

Mom: It is silly, isn't it.

My parents were part of the generation that turned 30 just when baby boomers decided that anyone over 30 should not be trusted. They were the last generation where 30 was "old."

I am glad that a lot of the arbitrary rules of age are falling apart, slowly but surely. The whole "40 is the new 30" and/or "50 is the new 30" is not just baby boomer denial-- it is a mindset that has developed from longer life expectancies and better health care moving the starting point of middle age. Though no ones' years are guaranteed, reaching the age of 80, 90, or even 100 is extremely likely. What a waste of opportunity and life to act like you are 40 and waiting to die (an actual line from a recent Hollywood movie so whiny and bad I blocked the title) when potentially most of your life lies ahead you!

Also, in American society, young adult independence for the middle class seems to have been delayed for some into the late 20s, especially for people attaining advanced degrees or living in areas where finding a place to live on your own can cost a lot of money. Surely you can't be old if you just got your first apartment, bro!

I'm dipping into the 40s, and I will continue to wear longish hair because it suits my face shape. No spiky dikey-do for me. My mom is perfectly fine with this, though she did give me another priceless line reflecting the stereotype for the next decade--"Fat, 40 and flatulent." Erma Bombeck is who we have to thank for that one. I am not sure how prevalent that line got, but it stuck in my mom's mind. That cracks me up.

I am not saying it doesn't suck to get older, but it isn't that bad. I just ran my 4th marathon a few months ago. I will admit it is harder to stay in a size 8 than it used to be, and that is with size inflation. I am not giving up though. I feel sad and miserable when I am overweight. And yeah, there are some days I see myself in a mirror and shudder with horror, because I thought I looked better than that. Overhead florescent lighting is not my friend. And just because there is no justice, I still break out. As for flatulence, well, to quote the seminal children's book title, "everyone farts." It hasn't been a problem yet, pull my finger.

Vanity aside, progressing in age is not as horrible as it was made out to be. I am blessed with some great role models in my life, and I look forward to what is yet to come--even when I get up into the 70s and 80s.

Both my parents and my in-laws are still doing great and each set is steadfastly making their own rules about what "acting their age" is. My in-laws retired almost 19 years ago, and then they got busy. They volunteer, garden on a large scale and travel the world. They are far busier than they were when they were working, and they are a lot of fun to be with. Had they followed their parents' expectations and activities of old age, by age 50 they were supposed to sit around, not exercise, complain a lot and not expect too much. They have been fortunate to be keeping their good health, but a lot of that has to do with a great attitude.

My parents are also keeping good health and great attitudes. They often get mistaken for being a couple decades younger than they are. My dad is still working, and does not tell his co-workers how old he is or how old his kids are--they think he is somewhere in his mid 50s, which would make it so my older brother was fathered sometime when my dad was around 11. My mom retired a few years ago and had a few health issues, but she is a whiz with a computer and recently taught herself web design. She never stops wanting to learn new things.

My voice teacher is in their age range, and she can still hit high Fs on a good day, high Ds with regularity, and she regularly performs operatic works of extreme difficulty while simultaneously playing the accompaniment on piano in house concerts. Hear her at www.myspace.com/psmithskarry.

A recent study mentioned that people with good role models and healthy attitudes towards aging live on average 7 1/2 years longer than those who do not. I cannot remember where I saw this study, and will probably amend this when I find it. Intuitively, it makes sense.

Merchandising a Cause

I noticed last year that the Gap promotion that was supposed to be so noble, the (RED) line of shirts, hats etc., went super fast to the ultra bargain bins. Not surprising, since it was oh so stylishly unctuous when it was first introduced. So inspi(RED) because it was crossing corporate lines--and I have no idea what it was supposed to support. I don't think most of the people buying the products did either. I have no idea why they went with a product line that could get ti(RED) so easily.

I just looked at the Gap's site. There are still (RED) products, but without the annoying parenthesis on them. Ah, it is for a nebulous AIDS organization. Well, that is a good cause. We all need to feel we are doing something, even nebulously.

I am all for showing support for causes dear to the heart, such as research for cancer, AIDS, animal welfare, the environment--but when a cause gets used as nothing more than a veiled reason to shill merchandise, that turns me off completely.

A particularly annoying example of this is the "pinkitization" of breast cancer awareness. It is out of control. Please, merchandisers are selling everything from antennae toppers to towels to gum with the pink ribbon symbol, or just plain pink anything. Companies make their labels pink, thinking it will make them a quicker buck and if they feel like it, they can toss a few coins to research for the tax write off. There is pink OVERLOAD and it is revolting in so many ways. Pink labels on Campbell's chicken noodle soup is the latest worst offender--I can't stay away from it fast enough -- the soup may be fine, but I can't help but imagine it having a bubblegum aftertaste. Making people send in the labels for the money to be donated is a sure way to make sure that not too much of their merchandising dollar actually goes to the research they are supposed to support.

Ty, the beanie baby company, sells pink bears and donates some of the proceeds to cancer research. They also gave out pink teddy bears to women who had been just diagnosed with breast cancer. I suppose it is meant to make them feel better, but to me it just seems like a really condescending thing to do. How many women look at these things thinking, WTF, am I a child now? What am I supposed to do with this cancer bear? Is this my new friend when my friends are too busy buying pink shit to be with me? Maybe give it to my kid and say, "I went to the hospital, and all you get is a pink reminder that your mommy is sick, so take it out on it, not me."

I guess I get really revolted with the whole Breast Cancer Pink Bandwagon because 1. who knows how much of the money is really going where it should unless tied to a reputable organization, and 2. when it comes right down to it, I HATE the color pink and I always have! Being the sort of person who has a pair of breasts, I hope I never get breast cancer, I really do-- partly because I am afraid of being that sick, but also because I really, really, really viscerally loathe pink! Being surrounded by people thinking they are supporting me by wearing a pink hat and shirt and shorts and buying pink doilies and googaws for me would be a special kind of hell.


What it all comes down to is this--once again, our society is geared to making buying something seem like actually doing something. Sending money to worthy causes and getting the word out is laudable, but if you don't need a bit of swag, send all the money to the cause, and keep their costs down. Be smart about what swag you do buy--get it only from organizations that really are committed to their cause, and have been audited and shown that the money is indeed going to where it should.

Hooray for a Smoke Free Illinois!

Ah, what I have always wanted--to be able to knock back a brew with my friends without compromising my lungs with someone else's carcinogen of choice.

I was living in California when they went smoke free years and years ago. I got so used to being able to just enjoy the smell of people sweating off alcohol and not smoking, that when we moved back to the midwest, smoke-filled bars in Chicago would make me ill.

I gradually acclimated to spending small amounts of time in smoky bars just to be somewhat social, but I never reached the point of being able to ignore it like I did when I went to college in Ohio.

What about the smokers though? They are human too. This addiction is no fun, and perniciously hard to overcome. Some will be motivated to quit, especially in the winter. But the hard core addicts will still be out there in the cold, practicing for the day when they are smoking through little tubes in their neck and trying to remember that they shouldn't light up when the oxygen tank is on. It is really sad to see.

Patches can help. Therapy can help. Sucking on candy can help. Getting tired of looking like a pathetic loser in the cold rain and snow can help, and also deter youngsters from thinking this behavior is somehow cool and grown up.

Tobacco growers also want you to remember smokeless tobacco products. On the plus side, smokeless tobacco products can deliver nicotine efficiently and without endangering people around you. Cancer deaths for people who use smokeless tobacco products exclusively are significantly lower, but still higher than the folks who quit altogether. In Sweden, the use of snus, little attractive packets of wet snuff, have become socially acceptable and significantly lowered tobacco related cancer deaths in that population. However, Sweden is not a country known for smiling too much. (See www.tobaccoharmreduction.org for exciting information and studies regarding smokeless tobacco, funded by smokeless tobacco companies.)

Hipsters will probably not be embracing this smokeless tobacco option any time soon. It is the exact opposite of why one begins to smoke in the first place--sexiness. There is nothing sexy about spitting juice or black gums--it doesn't matter how thoughtful you look or how much eye contact you put out when you do it.

Perhaps the tobacco industry should put more energy into figuring out how to make a palatable liquid tobacco product. Tobacco shooters! Then once again, the hipster world can be the tobacco industry's oyster.

In the mean time, I am going to go meet with my friends, and enjoy a beer without further compromising my lung function.

New Year's Resolutions

Mary Schmich in the Chicago Tribune posed the question, why does making a resolution always mean buying new stuff in our materialistic society? I think this is a valid question, and also a trap that I often fall into myself. Being a better person than you were the year before is always the goal of a resolution. Spending money can help you toward your goal, or it can be just pushing the "easy" button, looking like a step forward, but really just adding to your 'stuff' collection.

This past year, it was not too horrible, and some of the spending went to a good cause. Last year's resolution was to do another marathon and get in shape. The main expense was time, but I also wanted to encourage myself by getting some new running gear, and to keep motivation, I signed up with the Leukemia Society's Team in Training. This organization has a fund raising minimum, with which I did get some support from friends, and then footed the remainder of the amount--which was several hundred dollars. It was a worthwhile resolution, I did run a marathon (Chicago, which was a hot debacle this year). Since I was not allowed to finish because of the race being called off due to heat and lack of water, I feel I must train for another marathon at some future time.

This year, my resolutions are to market myself better for voiceover and theatrical work, get going on informational interviews for a corporate position for later this year, and the ongoing getting in better shape and losing that stubborn 10 lbs I hate so much. These are the resolutions that are going to cost me something monetarily.

I have also decided that I will make non-monetary resolutions this year. I will be kinder to those I am not fond of. I will volunteer more at my children's schools. I will be a better listener. I will reach out to my elderly neighbors. I will be more patient with my preadolescent son. I will think before opening my mouth to say something caustic that might hurt others, even if it gets a laugh. I will write more often, and keep ahead of all birthday greetings this year.

Which set will make me a better person than I was the year before?