A shame about Lesley Gore — how the hell did this woman, whom I associate with the early ’60s girl-singer moment of sheath dresses and sprayed bouffants — come to be only 11 years old than me? Either I’m aging faster or she was the Lorde of her day.
I guess she was the Lorde of her day.
Something I did not know: She was a lesbian. No wonder she sounded so confident when it was Judy’s turn to cry. (Check out those Mondrian shifts on her background singers! I wonder if those were original YSL, or knockoffs. Either way: Specto-freakin’-tacular.)
You know who else was a lesbian ’60s girl singer? Dusty Springfield, although that link will take you to a piece about her life with this obnoxious lead:
Call me a crazy old physiognomist, but my theory is that you can always spot a lesbian by her big thrusting chin. Celebrity Eskimo Sandi Toksvig, Ellen DeGeneres, Jodie Foster, Clare Balding, Vita Sackville-West, God love them: there’s a touch of Desperate Dan in the jaw-bone area, no doubt the better to go bobbing for apples.
It is thus a tragedy that Dusty Springfield’s whole existence was blighted by her orientation, which explains ‘the silence and secrecy she extended over much of her life, and her self-loathing’. One glance at her chin should have revealed all — but the Sixties was not a fraction as liberated and swinging as people now assume.
Oh, blow me. Although the story isn’t terrible. I’ve been thinking of Dusty lately, ever since one of Kate’s homemade CD mixes revealed “Son of a Preacher Man.” I thought mainly she’d picked it up from “Pulp Fiction,” but she said it was for a friend who had decided this was the Best Song Ever, and made the entire car fall silent whenever it came on.
Well, it is a great song.
Some bloggage: My stories (and my partner Ted Roelofs’ stories) on what we’re calling “poverty in paradise,” i.e. the widening gap between the well-to-do and the left-behind, start running today in Bridge. Part one goes live around 6 a.m. EST, so if you’re reading this afterward, feel free to click on part one. Gracias.
I know I’m late to this, but I thought this piece on the online shaming that followed a single ill-advised tweet was very, very good.
Today I discovered it is, indeed, possible to get to an ISIS beheading video in three clicks. I don’t recommend it.
Have a great Tuesday, all y’all.
Dexter said on February 17, 2015 at 1:18 am
I’ll pass on all beheadings. I watched Nicholas Berg lose his mind years ago and then a couple more shortly after that and I then decided I’d never watch another one. The images are truly disturbing, and the vision gets burned into your brain and does not fade.
Somehow I knew Lesley Gore was a lesbian, but never heard a whisper even that Dusty was. My two faves by her are “Wishin’ and Hopin” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IXr5dZ9iAk&list=PLTzT4tQUEbD8j1MhekYAoHf35e10jNp95
There were three singers equal in my view…Dusty, Jackie DeShannon, and Dionne Warwick.
Lesley Gore and Petula Clark …meh. Petula Clark was amazing, though…when she really crashed the Bilboard charts with “Don’t Sleep In the Subway”, she was fifteen years older than the young invaders , generally speaking, that came from England in the 60s.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 1:22 am
I’m scared to death that I’m going to mistakenly click on one of those beheading videos. I do not want to see any of that.
I’m a big fan of Dusty, and my favorite Leslie Gore song is “You Don’t Own Me”, I know I’m not alone in that.
Jeff tmmo, I think you are the one who linked to that David Carr syllabus in the last thread, thank you for that, I’m reading all of the stories he had listed for his students to read. Really good stuff there.
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coozledad said on February 17, 2015 at 1:26 am
I’m still processing the Springfields and their offshoots. The Mamas and Papas are pretty obvious, and there’s Spanky and our Gang, some of whose members settled in Asheville. The Seekers, who were so damned white they had a kind of soul.
All of that comes down to Dusty, and that Bacharach /Beatles era when pop was smart enough. As I get older I bend to that stuff. I don’t think it’s nostalgia so much as the baseline of craft was very strong. No need to pine for it, though. Kids are rewriting it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKk-pawc2mo
God, those Everly/Lennon McCartney harmonies.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 1:31 am
Nancy your Bridge link doesn’t go directly to the piece, I noodled around the site and found it. http://bridgemi.com/2015/02/postcard-from-paradise-luxe-life-at-bay-harbor-reflects-changing-economy/
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MarkH said on February 17, 2015 at 2:00 am
Deborah, Nancy said the link goes live at 6:00 AM, 4:00 our time Tuesday.
I have yet to successfully link to raw ISIS beheading video, gave up. Not really inspired by Nancy’s three-click skills enough to look again.
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Sherri said on February 17, 2015 at 2:17 am
On the topic of singer/songwriters, I watched the rest of the SNL 40 show this evening, and Paul Simon closed out the show with a very nice rendition of “Still Crazy After All These Years.” It was quite a contrast with Paul McCartney’s performance earlier in the show; McCartney made me wince, while Simon still sounds quite good. Simon also looks much better. His face doesn’t look plastic, like Sir Paul’s does. Simon is the better songwriter, too, I would claim.
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Jolene said on February 17, 2015 at 2:17 am
Gore was, indeed, the Lorde of her day. Her biggest hits were all recorded before she graduated from high school.
With songs like “It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn to Cry” and the indelibly defiant 1964 single “You Don’t Own Me” — all recorded before she was 18 — Ms. Gore made herself the voice of teenage girls aggrieved by fickle boyfriends, moving quickly from tearful self-pity to fierce self-assertion.
From the NYT obit.
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Jolene said on February 17, 2015 at 2:22 am
Completely agree, Sherri. The last few times I’ve heard McCartney I’ve thought he ought to hang it up. Or, at least, not perform as a soloist. And I thought, too, that Paul Simon was terrific. A perfect performance of a great song, ideally suited for the moment.
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Joe kobiels said on February 17, 2015 at 3:24 am
Sitting on the tail gate of a pickup on a hot summer night at lake Gage hearing Lesli Gore sing California nights,drinking ice cold Bud, freaking heaven.
Pilot Joe
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Linda said on February 17, 2015 at 5:09 am
Pilot Joe, my favorite song of Gore’s was California Nights. As Ronnie Spector alluded to in a Gore obituary, she was so associated with the girl group sound that her fame never went past it. But she wrote music after that, including songs for the movie Fame, including All on My Own.
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ROGirl said on February 17, 2015 at 5:31 am
The comments to the Dusty Springfield article take the author to task for his ridiculousness:
“To give some examples of how ignorant and crass this review is. There’s no mention whatsoever of Dusty’s early success with the Springfields…Nothing about Dusty’s achievements musically and as a producer, or her longer term influence. Just celebrity gossip.It is staggering that someone has been paid to pen such a cheap, lazy, dishonest piece of journalism and that the Spectator has published it.”
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adrianne said on February 17, 2015 at 7:44 am
Nance, read your first piece on the two Michigans, very good, even left a comment there on Tom Moran, the guy who founded a welding training school when he couldn’t find qualified welders. That’s American ingenuity. Pilot Joe, love your memory of Leslie Gore!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 17, 2015 at 8:11 am
I’ll repost that absolutely breath-taking syllabus from David Carr’s class last fall. It’s a class we can all still take, even with a huge hole in the middle.
https://medium.com/press-play/press-play-4b26bed77b7d
Nancy, I can’t believe you would open by mocking the holy ad campaign. Saints and Tim Allen preserve us, lassie; oh my.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 17, 2015 at 8:13 am
Jolene, may I quietly suggest that Paul Simon’s voice wasn’t much better than Sir Paul’s, but they both just put it out there as is. Since I’m noticing a raggedness in my speech that’s not going away, I’m happy to support both of them in singing where they’re welcome.
But McCartney really should transpose. C’mon, guy, it’s not that hard. Give yourself a break.
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beb said on February 17, 2015 at 8:25 am
One way the poor keep getting poorer is being robbed by “The Makers.” Case in point, Staples does not want to pay for employee health insurance nor do they want to have to pay the fine for not providing employee health insurance. So they are reducing employee hours to 25 per week, which falls below the government mandate. How is someone supposed to get ahead if all they get is 25 hours of work a week. The ACA set 30 hours as the definition of full-time employment, thinking no one would cut hours to less than that. And yet they have.
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nancy said on February 17, 2015 at 9:33 am
Thanks, Adrianne. Tom Moran is a hero, in my opinion.
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Kirk said on February 17, 2015 at 9:44 am
Dexter@1: Petula Clark crashed the charts with “Downtown” in 1964.
Anyone remember the big number near the end of the TAMI Show, with Lesley Gore as the featured singer and many of her famous co-performers as backup singers (Gerry Marsden, maybe Mick Jagger, several other worthy people I can’t recall at the moment)? She was treated as the big star. Teri Garr was a go-go dancer in that show, by the way.
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Julie Robinson said on February 17, 2015 at 10:00 am
Less than full time employment is status quo now, and will be as long as business owns Congress. Those in their twenties and even thirties are facing this, even the ones with college degrees, who now also have hefty student loans. How will they ever manage to marry, have families, buy houses? This isn’t so good as we boomers think about downsizing our homes.
We mused that McCartney should hire a tribute band to do the singing, but he loves him the spotlight. It was bad. Paul Simon, however, what a revelation. Art Garfunkel’s angel throat deserted him long ago, but Simon’s rather plainer sound hasn’t changed much.
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Charlotte said on February 17, 2015 at 10:05 am
Argh. The Isis stuff.I was at a dinner party last week when a documentary journo friend of ours decided he had to narrate the whole video of the guy they burned alive — in part because he was so horrified at the incredible production values. I excused myself for the bathroom, and then left when it was clear he wasn’t going to stop. Do Not Want those images in my head.
And all the issues in your Bridge series apply out here as well. I’ve spent most of my adult life in the resort areas of the West where seasonal employment, and trying to make a living catering to rich people is a perennial issue. Livingston was nearly destroyed when the railroad left in 1988, and while tourism and 2nd home owners keep the place afloat, it’s not the same as people having real jobs.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 10:40 am
Mark H, how embarrassing, I must have been really sleepy when I commented about Nancy’s Bridge link and I was even 100% sober.
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brian stouder said on February 17, 2015 at 10:51 am
…Unlike Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the last State of the Union address!
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 10:55 am
I didn’t realize until just now that today is Fat Tuesday, and I don’t know where in the hell to find paczki in Santa Fe.
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Sue said on February 17, 2015 at 11:07 am
I remember Billy Joel talking about how he had to modify his live performances to accommodate his aging voice. He was pretty upfront about it.
And when did Billy Joel’s work become a joke? He became pretty commercial I guess but he was never truly awful, was he? What am I missing?
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MarkH said on February 17, 2015 at 11:41 am
Actually, Deborah, you may have hit something prior to the rest of us. After I posted, I tried the link again, and two sections of the story popped up. This morning all of part 1 is there, of course.
Kirk – I thought Garr only danced on Hullabaloo in the US. But it turns out, her dance mentor David Winters got her on that and TAMI and Shindig, among others in the ’60s. She wasa utterly charming in her early TV series roles, such as in the Star Trek episode, ‘Assignment: Earth’. It turns out this was supposed to be a spin-off from Trek, but didn’t happen. Here’s a Sci-Fi Channel synopsis of how it almost happened, complete with clips including Garr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxkmLsnlIU0
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Off topic, well yesterday was President’s Day, so maybe just a day late: One of my favorite illustrator’s Maira Kalman has curated an exhibit about her favorite things at the Cooper Hewitt museum in NYC. Brian, you might like this video because Maira is a big fan of Lincoln and there are some beautiful Lincoln stories described eloquently. http://www.swiss-miss.com/2015/02/maira-kalman-my-favorite-things.html
As an aside, Maira Kalman was married to a famous graphic designer Tibor Kalman who died a while back. They had a graphic design company called M&Co. The watch I wear was designed by them http://twistedtime.com/projects-watch-tibor-kalman-10-one-4.html
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brian stouder said on February 17, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Deborah – that site looks intriguing and wonderful; I’ll watch the clip this evening
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Dorothy said on February 17, 2015 at 12:51 pm
I hears a disc jockey say, on my drive home from work ywst ready, that Sir Paul had performed until 1 am at a private party in a nightclub the night before the SNL bash. Not sure how to confirm that, but that’s what this guy reported. He used hat story to explain his raggedy voice.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 1:19 pm
I’m at the Santa Fe Baking Co, where the closest thing I can get to a paczki is a cherry turn-over. It is good though.
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Scout said on February 17, 2015 at 1:35 pm
Neither my partner nor I have a jutting jaw. Generalities like that are stupid and completely uncalled for.
The public shaming of Jessica Sacco was disheartening to read. I was especially angry with the Gawker dude who felt no remorse for ruining her life. What a douche.
I was at a party Saturday and danced to both Son of a Preacher Man and It’s My Party. There was a wide variety of current and vintage music, but the 60’s oldies got people up and moving.
Paul McCarney was fabulous as a Beatle and really good as a Wing, but I have never been drawn to his later solo stuff.
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Dexter said on February 17, 2015 at 2:16 pm
Kirk…I have a dvd of the TAMI show right in front of me, still in plastic…it was a gift from a music-guru pal; I will play it tonight.
“Downtown”..right. It was on the radio a couple times every hour for weeks, months maybe…I got sick of it.
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Dexter said on February 17, 2015 at 2:54 pm
Old dogs having surgery = risky business. Our 13 year old Jack Russell baby had a large ruptured tumor removed today and she made it through OK. I was steeling myself for the worst, but we got another reprieve. Still have an hour and a half before we can collect her at the doggie hospital. 🙂 I’ll spare you all the gory details, but when that thing popped, we had a bloody mess here in the house…Carla Lee found an excellent chemical to remove blood from carpeting, thankfully. The vet had hoped the dog could live her lifespan out without that thing exploding…no dice. Pogo the Labbie is missing her friend already.
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Sherri said on February 17, 2015 at 3:34 pm
It will be entertaining to see how many marks Pono finds for their magic PonoPlayer: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/02/ponoplayer_review_neil_young_s_new_streaming_device_sounds_no_better_than.html
Okay, “marks” probably isn’t completely fair. Neil Young probably believes what he’s saying; he’s just deluded. The people who used to mark up their CD’s with green sharpies believed they were hearing a difference, too.
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Dave said on February 17, 2015 at 4:21 pm
Neil has played amplified rock n’ roll since a mid-teen in a continuous series of bands and solo. That doesn’t even include all the loud music he surely must have been exposed to. Think what that’s done to his ears and I ask you, can he tell the difference?
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Jolene said on February 17, 2015 at 4:26 pm
Neely Tucker, of the Washington Post, has gone after the story on the “new” Harper Lee novel.
His analysis suggests the whole thing is as phony as you probably thought it was. But, unless this story and others like it cause many orders to be cancelled, someone is going to make a lot of money off the reputation of an old lady who doesn’t appear to be well enough to know what’s happening.
One more demonstration, as if we needed one, of the limitlessness, of greed.
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Tim said on February 17, 2015 at 4:49 pm
For another example of Two Michigans, drive down to St. Joseph and visit its genteel, comfortable downtown. Then cross the St. Joseph River into Benton Harbor, and you’ll be in the city that I thought, originally, makes downtown Gary, Ind. (or East St. Louis, Ill.), look prosperous. Part of Benton Harbor near the river has been gentrified in recent years, but you don’t have to go far to see desperate poverty.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 4:54 pm
East St. Louis? Look prosperous? You have to be kidding?
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Jolene said on February 17, 2015 at 4:59 pm
Yesterday, Joe K. wondered whether Chevy Chase was suffering from dementia. I thought he just looked old and out of shape. But Sue, who said, she thought he behaved oddly because he knew he was not among friends. According to this article from the Post, he has been pissing people off for years, and there are lots of folks who are not thrilled about having him around. For all the show is gossip you could want, follow the Gawker link in this piece and subsequent links in the Gawker piece.
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Jolene said on February 17, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Incomplete sentence above. Should read: But Sue, who said she thought he behaved oddly because he knew he was not among friends, may have been right.
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Deggjr said on February 17, 2015 at 5:19 pm
I saw Chevy Chase on the Today show a couple of weeks ago and wondered the same thing as Pilot Joe, dementia? Not a clinician so what do I know (it takes a Dr. Bill Frist to diagnose from a video) but something seemed off.
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Dorothy said on February 17, 2015 at 5:22 pm
My entry above was done at lunch time on my iPhone – I promise I was not drunk. Just hurrying. Trying to multi task and get a row or two of knitting done on my first sweater. Don’t have access to a computer yet at my new job since I’m in training. And even then, time to “play” will be very limited. THis job just might cause me to lose my mind, there is SO SO much to learn.
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alex said on February 17, 2015 at 5:32 pm
This article from November echoes the one linked above regarding Chevy Chase being an egomaniacal jerk who had a special talent for alienating people. He tried to upstage Richard Pryor while Pryor was being interviewed by Johnny Carson and got his ass handed back to him.
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MarkH said on February 17, 2015 at 6:26 pm
Are some of you just discovering that Chase is an ‘egomaniacal jerk’? There are stories out there going back 35 years nailing him on this, as the links above attest. He peter-principaled himself into oblivion long ago as far as I can tell, ‘Vacation’ movies notwithstanding. Although, like our late friend Prospero, I really liked Fletch and watch it occasionally.
Funny that Pryor had to deal with Chase that way on the Carson show, since it was after their famous ‘word-association’ skit on SNL. Here’s the Carson episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax9EMogZTIA
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Sherri said on February 17, 2015 at 7:23 pm
I was surprised to learn that there had been 11 SNL movies, then I looked them up. There really are only 2 SNL movies; nothing after The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World should have been made. I remember finding Wayne’s World surprisingly funny, but that was clearly at the limits for SNL’s ability to stretch a sketch into a movie.
The Blues Brothers was a good movie. Blues Brothers 2000 is like Go Set A Watchman: a demonstration of the limitlessness of greed.
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Deborah said on February 17, 2015 at 7:42 pm
Wikipedia says Chevy Chase comes from a prominent New York family. Maybe he’s always been a rich snob who looks down his nose at the dirty masses? I’ve never been impressed with his brand of humor anyway.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 17, 2015 at 10:41 pm
Tim refers, in a sense, to: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/kotlowitz-river.html
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Sherri said on February 18, 2015 at 12:38 am
I’m glad to see more attention being paid to inequality, but I would implore journalists to pay at least as much attention to wealth inequality as income inequality. Wealth is a bigger difference than income, both to inequality and to generational poverty. Maybe if we had a more robust discussion of wealth inequality, we could have more reasonable discussions about capital gains taxes and estate taxes.
I see things like the recent map put out to show what income it would take to put you in the 1% in each state, and certainly, anybody in the 1% in income in any state is well off. But there’s a huge difference in the 1% in income and the 1% in wealth.
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Dexter said on February 18, 2015 at 12:42 am
the epitome of despair…as Tom says: …”when you’re east of east Saint Louis…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_eR0IVSOhY
After watching the Kentucky Wildcats dismantle Tennessee and the clod-kickin’ Spartans hand the Wolverines their collective ass in basketball, I watched a fine show called “Reel Injun”, a documentary of American Indians in film over the years. Netflix streaming. It’s very good.
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Dexter said on February 18, 2015 at 1:53 am
The doc on bridge jumpers in San Francisco is one depressing way to spend time. I am just 23 minutes in and I needed a break.
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beb said on February 18, 2015 at 8:14 am
I wonder how many people have been dissuaded from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge because they got too queasy from its height?
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Bitter Scribe said on February 18, 2015 at 10:25 am
Beb: Having known someone (a business colleague whom I liked very much) who jumped, the answer for me is “not enough.”
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Joe K said on February 18, 2015 at 10:57 am
Just got back from Marquette Mich, I’m a telling you it was cold up in da U.P. Don’t cha know. -4 blowing wind, my last 5 trips have been twice to Syracuse N.Y. 1- to Rochester N.Y, last night to Marquette,and last week I thought maybe I’d catch a little break going to Norfolk Virginia, but no, it was snowing. But coming over the navel yards I could see one new carrier being built and two getting refurbished. Them boats is BIG.
Pilot Joe
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 11:23 am
Joe, what kind of things do you deliver? People? Freight? Could you include a link that shows the kind of plane/s you fly? Do you always fly the same plane or different ones?
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2015 at 11:37 am
Well, yesterday morning as the house awoke, and the young folks got ready for school, and I got ready for work, the house was notably cool. The thermostat indicated we were at 61, and the heat was not happening. We took a look at the furnace (we have baseboard heat, wherein the furnace heats water which is then pumped through the house) and saw that it was trying to do its job, but nothing was happening. So, 2 hours later, the repairman was done installing a new little pump, and the house began to slowly warm up again…but that was a sobering experience, altogether.
Aside from that, here’s a warming article from the Sunday paper, about how To Kill a Mockingbird is utilized in classroom instruction…
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/-Mockingbird–still-offers-insights-into-our-past—and-future-5027361
and there is a photo, and it is of Shelby’s class at Wayne New Tech.
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/-Mockingbird–still-offers-insights-into-our-past—and-future-5027361
But, Shelby opted out of the photo, as they were sort of crowded…but I think she kind of likes the fellow toward the back, on the right…or at least, I like him!
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2015 at 11:39 am
(sorry about the double link!)
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MichaelG said on February 18, 2015 at 11:39 am
Sorry if I seem a little self-absorbed.
There is a very old Chinese restaurant in Sacramento called Frank Fat’s. It’s on L St. near the Capitol. Fat’s is an upscale place with a famous bar that attracts legislators and lobbyists. It’s been owned by the same family for many, many years and has several branches in the area. Yesterday, before a scheduled Dr.’s appointment, T and I were having lunch at the Roseville branch. They have had a promotion going on called Fat Tuesday. They have ten various specialty items that are available for $10 each. After the bubbly, smiling waitress gave us the card which describes the promotion, I, in another of my hopeless attempts to be amusing, pointed out to her that the day was in fact, Fat Tuesday.
“Yes,” she said, “ we have this every Tuesday.”
“No,” I said, “I mean the real Fat Tuesday, you know, Carnival, Mardi Gras, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.”
I looked at T who was struggling to conceal her mirth. Then back to the kid. The blank look on her face was priceless. She had heard of none of them.
The appointment was with a thoracic surgeon. I will be having my last round of chemo today and tomorrow and then there will be an operation to remove a couple of thingies from my left lung. The operation will probably take place on April 10 or 13, right after I come back from Spain. The chemo-therapy I have had has apparently worked to a good degree and the hope is that the operation will put an end to things and that I should be OK for some time to come. It’s a hope, anyway. So I’ve got my toes crossed.
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2015 at 11:48 am
Michael – fingers, toes, eyes, wires, and tees – all crossed!
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Basset said on February 18, 2015 at 11:54 am
Got the call that our office would be closed just as I was pulling into the parking lot – nice and quiet today, getting a lot done.
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Judybusy said on February 18, 2015 at 11:56 am
MichaelG-funny story! I hope all goes well in the health world. So happy you are returning to Spain!
So, these days I’m listening to podcasts, including the TED Radio Hour, wherein NPR has a theme and weaves together a few different TED talks and has brief interviews with the speakers. I really liked one about the classroom, where I learned about the Kahn Academy, which is free online videos to help you learn math, and John Hunter, an amazing teacher who created and has used the World Peace Game with his fourth graders since 1978. I have been unable to successfully do HTML of late so I will leave the googling to you if you’re so inclined!
I have also listened to NPR’S Invisibilia, but the women that host it sound like 14-year-olds complete with occasional squealing, using the word “like” far too often, and that end-of-sentence rise intonation. I think I will tolerate it, because they get into some interesting stuff. Has anyone else heard it?
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Connie said on February 18, 2015 at 11:57 am
MichaelG until I was 18 I had never heard of any of those things either. I grew up in a totally calvinist Protestant region. I learned about Ash Wednesday when I asked why all those students were coming to the cafeteria for dinner with dirt on their faces.
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 12:27 pm
JudyBusy, I listened to an Invisibilia segment that was actually on This American Life a week or so ago, about a blind guy who uses clicks to navigate. Actually it was how the brain interprets the clicks in almost a visual way, or something like that. Anyway, the segment was very interesting, but Ira Glass, in his introduction to the segment mentioned that the two hosts of Invisibilia sound very much alike and sometimes that’s confusing. I haven’t listened to any of Invisibilia since then because I don’t think of it very often, but I should.
MichaelG, I will be thinking good thoughts for you regarding your upcoming surgery and I’m definitely eager to hear your reports on your next trip to Spain. And speaking of talking to someone who has no clue what you’re talking about: yesterday I called the Chicago elections office because I was confused about my absentee ballot for the next election (it occurs on the 24th and I won’t be returning to Chicago until the 28th). When I told the guy I was calling from New Mexico and that I will be here during the election, I could tell that he had no idea that New Mexico was a state. He kept thinking it had something to do with Mexico. Which believe it or not is not that rare. I have a friend in St. Louis who years ago when I said I was getting married in New Mexico, thought it was part of Mexico. I am always flabbergasted that people can go through life being so clueless.
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Jolene said on February 18, 2015 at 12:43 pm
Deborah, I have something like the same experience when I tell people I live on Eisenhower Avenue. When I have to give my address, either the person proceeds to write it down immediately or they wait expectantly for me to spell it. In those cases, I can tell that the person often has no idea that he or she is writing the name of a former president and the commander of the Allied Forces during WWII. Sometimes I ask people if they have heard of Eisenhower, and the answer is no.
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Sherri said on February 18, 2015 at 12:44 pm
I’ve been enjoying Invisibilia. One of the two hosts was a producer on This American Life, the other was a producer on Radiolab, and their voices are very similar. I’ve also been listening to Gastropod. We seem to be in the golden age of podcasts, probably thanks to the success of Serial.
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Joe kobiels said on February 18, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Deborah,
We are a on demand charter service. I fly both boxes and people. Last night was 2 mechanics and parts for Republic airlines. Friday I’m flying 2 business men to Caro Michigan. Last week was human tissue to Norfolk. I fly 2 different types of Cessna’s goggle c-310r model and c-421c model I also help out a friend on a king air
200.
Pilot Joe
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Suzanne said on February 18, 2015 at 12:49 pm
I listened to Invisibilia once & enjoyed. It was about a woman who was super sensitive to other people, I guess you’d say. If someone near her got hugged, she could almost feel it. Very interesting.
Clueless people, yes. One of my kids recounted an incident in an honors class in high school during which one of the “smart” upperclassmen was shocked to discover that England is an island. Shocked!!
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coozledad said on February 18, 2015 at 1:29 pm
one of the “smart” upperclassmen was shocked to discover that England is an island. Shocked!!
I had a conversation with a guy who didn’t know the Romans conquered Britain.
“They must not have been there very long.”
“Nah. Only 400 years or so.”
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Sherri said on February 18, 2015 at 3:22 pm
I have an idea. We should pay Congress members with Electronic Benefits Cards (which have fees, of course!), and then restrict what they can buy with them! Only goods made in America, of course, and let’s see, we want them to take their jobs seriously, so no alcohol, and we’re paying for their health insurance, so no cigarettes, and only foods that are heart healthy. No more of this ridiculous commuting back and forth to their districts all the time during sessions, so no plane tickets during sessions. I’m sure we can come up with more.
In other words, let’s treat them like poor people: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/02/17/the_wic_potato_report_a_symptom_of_the_bureaucratic_nightmare_that_is_america.html
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Judybusy said on February 18, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Deborah, that’s amazing that people don’t know NM is a state. Really. Didn’t we all have to learn the states and capitals in 4th or 5th grade?
Thanks Deborah, Suzanne and Sherri for your Invisibilia comments. The content is very interesting, so I will just put up with their delivery. I don’t mind that they sound almost exactly alike; I just tune into the fascinating stuff they’re covering.
I don’t think I knew Britain was invaded by Rome till I was in my early 20s, when I heard about Adrian’s Wall. Speaking of Britain, is anyone else excited that Wolf Hall is coming to PBS? I just read it and am now delving into Bring up the Bodies. My Brit friends gave the TV production great reviews.
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Judybusy said on February 18, 2015 at 3:36 pm
Sherri, read your article after I posted. This cracked me up “Delivering CSA-style boxes of kale, sweet potatoes, and black beans would eliminate the risk that WIC recipients spend their vouchers on kind-of-but-not-really healthy foods.” We’ve lamented here about the lack of cooking skills among the populace. So, I don’t see this as a realistic solution. Besides, what if the woman don’t care for kale–it’s till really paternalistic. However, I loved the next idea, of providing nutrition (and I would add easy cooking classes) to recipients. But I’m uncomfortable mandating them to get benefits. So, perhaps pay the women more to attend these classes, and then no strings attached to benefit?
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Sherry, funny!
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Sorry, I meant Sherri.
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 3:56 pm
NPR had a piece about people who don’t know NM is a state http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12512979
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Julie Robinson said on February 18, 2015 at 4:00 pm
Gah! Slate makes a common mistake: food stamps are not WIC; they are completely different programs.
My sister has worked for WIC for over 25 years and manages a very busy office in West Palm Beach. Her office offers all kinds of educational opportunities (many peer-led) and she has also put together several cookbooks with recipes utilizing WIC foods. The office staff puts together prizes for attendance out-of-pocket, since they aren’t allowed to spend so much as $2 for special paper.
Every year her staff is cut and no one gets a raise, while their health insurance premiums rise and client numbers multiply. Most clients have jobs; many as domestics or gardeners for the wealthy of WPB.
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adrianne said on February 18, 2015 at 4:28 pm
Hey, Brian, just came across the latest power ploy by Pence, this one aimed at the state school superintendent, a woman and a Democrat: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/mike-pences-latest-education-power-play-115288.html?ml=tl_2_b
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2015 at 4:38 pm
Adrianne – I would have LOVED to have been in Indianapolis yesterday, if only to join the crowd of protesters against this ridiculous power-grab by our jerknut Governor and his rubber-stamp legislature.
I hope hope hope hope hope Glenda Ritz runs for governor against our Bobby Knight look-alike governor (‘who was a radio lip-flapper, afterall’ – to paraphrase David Long, the main tool in the Indiana state house) – because I think she’d maybe whip him.
If you cab BELIEVE my rightwing friends (which of course you cannot), they’re angry, too, at this usurpation.
Let’s give them a put-up-or-shut-up moment, eh?
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beb said on February 18, 2015 at 5:11 pm
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
OIM (only in Michigan)
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/02/woman_who_fatally_shot_herself.html
She shot herself while adjusting her bra-holster! Also, she was a delegate to the Republican party.
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Kirk said on February 18, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Gawd’s (and Darwin’s) will
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Wim said on February 18, 2015 at 5:33 pm
Today is my twenty-sixth wedding anniversary.
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Sherri said on February 18, 2015 at 6:06 pm
Congratulations, Wim!
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Deborah said on February 18, 2015 at 6:49 pm
Congrats Wim, may you have many more!
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2015 at 9:27 pm
Congratulations, Wim; and here’s hoping the weather is cooperating, wherever you live, so that you and yours can go to dinner (or whatever) at your favorite place
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 18, 2015 at 10:29 pm
Blessings and my best wishes to you, MichaelG. Be well!
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