Category: Culture

SO LONG TIM. ALL THE NICE THINGS WE’VE BEEN SAYING ABOUT YOU WERE TRUE – AND IT’S NOT FAIR – NOT AT ALL

Russert1_2
I worked at NBC News, at the TODAY SHOW for nine years, and for much of that time, I was lucky enough to work with Tim Russert.  The picture on the left was one of the few I could find that showed that great, mischievous expression that meant we were going to have fun so even if it’s not a DC kind of photo, it’s the one I like best.

I first met Tim when he still worked with Mario Cuomo., on the Democratic Convention floor in 1984 when Cuomo electrified the crowd and I chased Tim, whom I’d never met, half way out to the parking lot to get a promise that the Governor would be on the show the next day.  He was psyched, hyped and way too busy but he was also adorable and very sweet as we worked to get  things organized.

So when he came to NBC and went to work on getting the Vatican to let us come and do a week of shows in Rome, including time with the Pope, I watched Tim play it out.  He worked with Cardinal Kroll in Philadelphia and with one of his colleagues who worked in the Vatican and somehow we got our on-the-air mass with Pope John Paul II and a Philadelphia Catholic school boys choir sang on the TODAY SHOW.  Who but Tim would have made that happen?

There’s not much I can say that hasn’t been said; I couldn’t write sooner because my kids were visiting for the weekend and I wasn’t being very bloggy.  But as the news broke, my younger son called from the airport. He was really sad.  I’d forgotten how lovely Tim was to Dan, who was around 6 when they met.  Treated him like a cool guy, gave him an NBC baseball cap that I think he still has, teased him guy to guy.  When I went over to deliver our bassinet after Luke arrived Dan came along and this new daddy still had time for a bit of a conversation with a six year old. AND to show us a tape of Willard Scott announcing Luke’s birth on the show.

All week people have been talking about Tim’s love of politics.  That was true; and he mined every subtle message and decision for meaning and impact. But he had another quality that was even more valuable in a journalist: a contagious enthusiasm for living that made each story part of a grand adventure.  He brought everyone in his orbit along with him — sharing energy and laughter, competition that was fierce but never mean and a real belief in both the fun and the importance of journalism in a democracy.

I moved to LA and we mostly lost touch – although he did send a Meet the Press baseball cap in response to a note I sent him.  It made me feel remembered – as it was meant to.  It was the kind of gesture that’s been in the stories people have been telling all week — it’s just that this one’s mine.  And since I’m not one of the rock stars who have been telling these stories all week, just someone he worked with, I’m hoping it will demonstrate the genuine niceness of this guy.  Really.

There’s a wake tomorrow and I’m going to try to go.  I’m betting that there will be a mob scene there but I’d just like to show respect for a moment or two.   I’ve seen so many of us writing about this very sad thing; I’ll say a bit of a goodbye for all of us.

IN MY MIND I’M GOIN’ TO CAROLINA – KITTY HAWK, ACTUALLY

Top_of_dune_cropped_kite_up_rick__2We bought the kite for the four-year-old in this picture, in his father’s arms*   We’re right outside Kitty Hawk and all of us are climbing the dune to watch the ("Oh my, it looks just like the very first airplane!") kite take to the air in the same sorts of breezes that aided the real plane 105 years ago in a spot near here.  We’ve been here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for 4 days and have established a lazy rhythm, somewhat altered by Wednesday’s wanderings not only to a "kids day" at a local kite store but also to the very scene of the Wright Brothers’ flight.

Our young friend has been beyond excited.  The kite store was festooned with models suspended above our heads.  The first airplane!  A biplane!  Jets and propellers and passenger planes and military planes and photos and puzzle boxes with still more.  Small children, particularly, it seems, small boys, love airplanes (and dinosaurs) and our young companion is no exception.  It’s wonderful to to watch him explode with joy at the small pleasure of a store display.  And then to cross the highway to the dunes and see his own new possession take to the air.  Oh – and to reassure him that the aspiring hang-gliding students one dune beyond will not fly over and tangle themselves in our kite strings.

Kitty_hawk_better
Nearby is the official Wright Brothers National Memorial; we went there, too.  It’s remarkable to see, this plain, very effective museum, marking with simple stones the small distances that set off the revolution that enabled us to move from a flight of 120 feet to the landing of a man on the moon in just 66 years.  Remarkable too to go with this wonderful, ecstatic 4-year-old and his family and wonder, 66 years from now, what their world will be.  How much farther will we have flown and whose ingenuity and inspired curiosity will have taken us there?  Perhaps our young friend will lead his own airborne, or space-borne, leap forward.  One of the great gifts of sharing days like this with little kids is the reminder of all the possibilities to come, no matter how tough or grim the future may appear.  Another, of course, is that it’s just plain wonderful to spend time with gifted parents and their spectacular, curious, eager and lively kids.

Tonight we pack up the food and the clothes and the toys and prepare to drive back to Washington in time for a dinner honoring, among others, my husband and me.  Both of the wonderful kite-flying families who joined us here are returning early, surrendering part of their precious beach time, in order to be there with us for the event.  And our kids are coming – the biggest treat possible.  So right now, at 4:30 on a Thursday morning, I’m just sitting in a deserted living room in a North Carolina beach house, counting the blessings of family and friends and every happy memory past, current or still to come — and wishing, for those children of ours, and our dear friends here, the same pile of wonderful moments we’ve known and hope to know.  Good morning to you, too. 

*As always, I won’t share his name or anyone’s identifiable photo to respect their privacy.

FORTY YEARS AGO IN 1968: BOBBY KENNEDY AND WHAT CAME AFTER

Rfk_bw_2By the time Robert Kennedy decided to run for President, in March of 1968, just days after Eugene McCarthy’s great New Hampshire primary showing  demonstrated President Lyndon Johnson’s weakness and the real unpopularity of the Vietnam war, I was already neck-deep in McCarthy’s campaign.  I’d been involved since the summer before, in what, before McCarthy agreed to run, we called Dump Johnson.  When Allard Lowenstein (himself assassinated in 2000), recruited us for it at the 1967 National Student Association (NSA) meeting, he’d  say "You can’t beat somebody (LBJ) with nobody."  So he had worked very hard to get Bobby to run, but he refused. 

It was Gene McCarthy who agreed to stand for all of us against the Johnson administration and the war.  After NSA I organized the Smith campus.  We were among the first students to go each weekend to New Hampshire to work for McCarthy and against the war.  So when Kennedy announced, just days after our great New Hampshire triumph, that he would also run, we were devastated, and angry. 

Over the months of campaigning though, I came to have enormous respect for Senator Kennedy and his campaign.  There was no way to watch him without feeling the power of his connection with all kinds of Americans and his compassion, poetry and sense of justice.  This moment, just as an inner city Indianapolis neighborhood learned of the death of Martin Luther King, is typical of him at his best:
 

By June the campaign was tense; such an important issue and the two Senators were running against one another as well as (and sometimes, it seemed, instead of) the war.  Kennedy won Indiana.  McCarthy won Oregon.  We moved south to Los Angeles(one of many places I saw for the first time from a campaign bus) criss-crossing the state from Chico to San Francisco and back to LA.  Just before the midnight after the primary, as June 4, 1968, election day, became June 5, we knew we’d lost, so we went to Senator’s concession in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton and then back upstairs to mourn.  We weren’t even watching the rest of coverage.  Suddenly, running through the halls of the staff floor of the hotel, one of McCarthy’s closest advisors shouted "Turn on the TV!  They’ve done it again!" 

Continue reading FORTY YEARS AGO IN 1968: BOBBY KENNEDY AND WHAT CAME AFTER

BLOGGING BOOMERS BLOG CARNIVAL – JUNE 2: VACATIONS, GAS PRICES, MOMS AND HEALTH

I_remember_jfk_2
Blogging Boomers are back at I Remember JFK this week.  You can read about everything from saving gas by figuring out the "walkability" of your next apartment, to child-free vacations to prostate cancer.  All it smart, unique and useful.  Stop on by.

WEDDINGS, INDY, CARRIE BRADSHAW AND ME (SPOILER ALERT – BIG HINTS ABOUT SATC ENDING)

Sex_and_the_city
I went to see Sex and the City tonight with a group of women in their 20’s, much younger than Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda.  I’m older than all of them.  They liked it, thought it was disorganized, or OK, or so-so or good.  I loved it. 

As I tried to explain why, I got strangely emotional, struggling to describe how Samantha’s 50th birthday, the remarkable relationship shared by these four friends, the happy endings and the fairy tale aura, just made me happy.  It’s tough to measure the impact of experience on a life perspective, or the different perspective of those just beginning to accumulate those experiences; good friends who are young adults newly married or newly parents – still far from my place as the mother of grown sons.

Crystal_skull_2
This, the film’s opening weekend, saw it push Indiana Jones out of first place.  I’ve complained a great deal about the latest Indy movie.  My husband emailed our older son that the movie "sucked."  He responded that he had loved, it, that it was just "one big comic book."  Clearly, he felt the same way I’d felt about the girls of Sex and the City. As he put it, with his usual wisdom "I guess everything is a matter of perspective."

Continue reading WEDDINGS, INDY, CARRIE BRADSHAW AND ME (SPOILER ALERT – BIG HINTS ABOUT SATC ENDING)

CHARMED, AGAIN. AND PROBABLY NOT FOR THE LAST TIME

Charmed_may_2008NOTICE:  YOU MAY NEED INSULIN TO READ THIS – IT IS REALLY SAPPY — CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

Right now, I’m crying.  Not just teary, crying.  Right now, the third time I’ve been to this moment.  It’s so embarrassing that until I complete this post I don’t even know if I’ll ever let you see it.  Why such emotion on a sunny day so close to my birthday?  Over a television show?  The final epsiode of one that went off the air in 2006.  One that’s about witches?

If, like me, you never paid much attention to CHARMED, appearing on the now-defunct and youth-oriented WB – about three sisters who are witches and who have witchy powers including, when acting together with the “power of three”, to best Ultimate Evil (I know, I know), let me tell you a bit about them.  I’ve written about them before – when I first found them two years ago and again almost a year ago, after a wedding whose ritual reminded me of theirs, even though in theirs families gather from across the divide between living and dead.  As I wrote then:

On my favorite guilty pleasure, Charmed, rituals of birth and marriage are attended not only by those who share the lives and loves of the Halliwell sisters (yeah they’re witches and their story spent 8 TV seasons enchanting us all) but also by those who came before. They summon, “through space and time”  all members of “the Halliwell line.”  Surrounded by these translucent figures of past
generations, today’s Halliwells celebrate marriages and new arrivals. Those fully and those ephemerally present conclude together “blessed be.”

What does this have to do with Jewish weddings — or any other terrestrial weddings for that matter?  A lot.  Eight years on the air, the longest running show with female leads, it dealt often with travel through time and space and dominions never imagined.  But when really important events arose, all the magic was supplanted by a single, simple spell that basically –well — brought the family together.

I just looked the show up on Wikipedia and discovered that it went off the air on my 60th birthday – having run from October 7, 1998 to May 21, 2006.  My
husband, when he’s in psychiatrist mode, talks about “anniversary reactions” – when we experience deep feelings but can’t quite figure out where they come from.  Sometimes, they have to do with the occurrence of anniversaries we haven’t even noticed have arrived.  In this case, though, I didn’t know the year the show ended, much less the date.  In fact, I was in Paris with my family to celebrate this 60th birthday landmark on that day and didn’t even notice the demise of the long-running  series.  In fact, I first discovered it, in re-runs, airing as I worked in my office.  I used it to keep me company (believe it or not, it’s on four hours a day – two in the morning and two in the afternoon.)  Didn’t know a thing about the show or its success.

I got an earful from one of my sons when I asked though, who claimed that the show caused plenty of  fights with his (then) girlfriend.  Apparently, it was on at the same time as the Simpsons and every week was a negotiation.

But for me it’s somehow more than that.  These three sisters, and their powers, are deeply moving.  Their battles and solidarity, their humor and courage, their conviction that they could literally save the world from evil (p.s., they did) all resonated in a very weird way.  Still do.

Hence the tears.  The final episode, as the post-show future unfolds, feels like my own life.  Endings.  Loving farewells.  The (hopefully) gratification of recognizing a life at least partially well-lived.  The kids and their kids and an idyllic togetherness among sisters and their husbands and their children and their destiny.  A lot to hope for and, I guess, as my own life moves forward, something to cry about.

 

BLOGGING BOOMERS BLOG CARNIVAL #67 – WHAT THE COOL BOOMERS ARE SAYIN’

Where_we_blogThis message is coming to you from Don’t Gel Too Soon blogging HQ (pictured to your left.)  I am fortunate to participate in a Blogging Boomers Carnival – and this week — week number 67, I’m the host(ess.)
You’ll find links and descriptions of posts by all my fellow Carnivalites; they’re a diverse, talented group, so knock yourself out.

Gloria Steinem used to say her greatest fear was ending up a bag lady.  For many of the rest of us, it’s ending up in a house full of old newspapers and unmatched socks.  Rhea Becker at The Boomer Chronicles has some interesting information on hoarding.

Is popular culture your thing?  I Remember JFK’s Ron Enderland has a nice piece about changes in TV as the 70s rolled around, and a show called Hee Haw (you had to be there.)  It’s a great slice of media history with a personal touch.

Those two glamor queens at Fabulous After 40, Deborah Boland and JoJami Tyler are all about great spring outfits (and shoes!)  Who says over 40 has to mean out of style?

On a more serious note, John Agno over at So Babyboomer, tell us that "Companies and government agencies have long anticipated the "retirement brain drain"—-the tidal wave of Baby Boomers starting to leave the workforce.  Will the
place whereyou work continue to thrive when Baby Boomers retire and take their
knowledge with them?

**For some reason, this post by the great Janet Wendy of GenPlus just arrived – even though she sent it last week!  So be sure and read it!  In honor of Earth Day/Month/Year, she focuses on how we can have a brighter planet by taking a cue from www.BrighterPlanet.com and their carbon offset visa card.  Their site is a must-visit and read for any responsible earthling.

And from Ann Harrison at Contemporary Retirement, tips on ways to thrive on a more personal level: How are your first aid skills?  Would you know what to do if
someone severed a finger?  How about a sprained ankle – would you apply heat or
a cold pack?  If you’re not sure, head over to Contemporary Retirement and
discover the top 10 first aid mistakes.

If you want to give some first aid to your relationships with others, stop at The Midlife Crisis Queen’s blog and learn How to be an Adult in Relationships.

Finally, from Wesley Hein, LifeTwo:  Things
you can do to start "Aging Backwards" that cost little or no money, according to
looking young expert Jackie Silver…

My own post, appearing just below this one, is about the Clinton-Obama race and its relationship to 1968.

Hope you’ve enjoyed all these great ideas as much as I have….


NOTE: This post was set in advance to automatically go up Sunday afternoon and was created well before the closing days of Passover.

ONE IN A MILLION – EVEN IN THIS GREAT NEW GENERATION: JEN LEMEN GOES TO RWANDA

Betty_friedan_bw_2
Stick with me on this — there’s a something of an introduction required.

I’ve met many remarkable women in my life.  Many.  I participated in and then covered the Women’s Movement of the 70’s and 80’s, known at least a little bit  Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem,  members of the Our Bodies, Ourselves co-op, women in the House and Senate and Civil Rights Movement and peace movement and McCarthy campaign. Early pioneers in broadcast journalism, the women who sued the New York Times for equal pay and work, the women who led Choice activities for decades, presidents of NOW and NARAL; heroines of Ms Magazine and the Women’s Media Center — and once, Patti Smith.  You get the idea.  Somehow, for many my age, those are THE leaders of women’s empowerment.  That’s all she wrote. 

Nope.

There’s an entire new tribe now, and they are remarkable.  Of course, the women of BlogHer lead the pack – their (our?) mutual respect, gifted voices and astonishing growth are a very exciting part of the 21st Century — and one member of this tribe is about to embark on a remarkable journey. 

Jenlemennew
Her name is Jen Lemen.  She’s going to Rwanda.  I can’t begin to describe the project; read it here.  But since I’m going to ask you to take part, you should know about Jen.  If I can figure out how to tell you.  The first time I heard her name, at last year’s BlogHer, it was being evoked from the stage by one of the founders of BlogHers Act, Cooper Munroe, in a closing discussion of the new effort to support women’s health.  Jen had, in thanks and encouragement for Cooper’s (and her partner Emily’s) vision, presented her with a bracelet that said "Isn’t it amazing what one woman and her friends can do…"  It’s so typical of Jen that she would find the one gift to move this human dynamo so deeply.  And now, the words on that bracelet are true of Jen herself.

An artist, a doula, a poet and a gifted parent and friend, she helps people.  For her it’s like breathing.  And that’s why she’s going to Rwanda. One of her friends, who lived through more than any of us will even think about much less experience, comes from Rwanda.  She kept telling Jen she  wished she could see it.  But it’s expensive to do that.  Then, suddenly, from another friend, an invitation fell almost literally out of the sky.  Jen and her family decided she had to accept.  Since we’re talking about Jen Lemen and her equally determined friend Odette, the trip included a mission beyond tolerating an endless flight across most of the planet.  And what a mission it is!  A wonderful book, written by Odette and illustrated by Jen — a graphic way to help girls learn to read and believe in what we know they can do.  She’s also working with HopeRevo to deliver messages of hope along with the books.

Odette_and_jens_daughter

I know, I know.  Messages of hope?  Sounds too pre-modern for this post-post modern world.  But with Jen, you have to see it to believe it and once you do, you’re hooked.  By the way, that’s Odette with Jen’s daughter Madeline giving us a Girl Power salute — and if you look carefully in the background you will see the proud mommy and friend taking the photo.

If this sounds too corny for you – just take a deep breath and believe me.  Jen is going to see Odette’s kids.  She is going to deliver these books to help young girls learn to read.  She is going to spread messages of hope.  She is also probably going to do so much more than that that it defies even speculation here. 

Now, since she’s raised enough money and is definitely going, think of this:  with more money they can print more books.  It’s a pretty painless way to help the young girls of Africa who are so often neglected.  OH and every year of education of a girl in Africa raises the family standard of living exponentially;  when we help Jen help the girls, we’re also helping their families.  So — become a publisher – help underwrite the book and the trip and all that Jen will bring on behalf of and in honor of her friend Odette and her daughters and the girls who surround them.  It will just take a second.   Start right here!

NEW FRIENDS ON MY OLD TURF: MOMMY BLOGGERS VISIT KATIE AT CBS NEWS

Katie_shakes_hands
What are the odds?  I spent what would have been my prime mommy-blogging years, before the Interweb was anyone’s darling, working at CBS News at 524 West 57th St.  Now, some of my sweet, funny mommy blogging friends went through the same door I used every day for 7 years to meet with Katie Couric.  Here’s what happened:

Pretty cool, huh?  My 9 years at TODAY never crossed with Katie and clearly my CBS years were the "Place to Be" years, well before hers but it sure was fun to see the girlfriends sashay on in and charm her to pieces.  But then, that’s what they do.

Blogger roll call for The Visit – drawn from original host SV(Silicon Valley) Moms:

THE STORY ELANA (3 years old) TOLD ME AT THE BEACH

Goldilocks
The three bears went for a walk and there was a little girl and her name was Goldilocks from all the dolls and they went for walk and they walked and walked (dancing walk demonstrated here) and then she sit on one of the chairs and it was too hard.  And then she tried the medium one and it was too slowwww and then she found the baby one and she rocked and rocked and rocked and she fell down and the chair broke.  And her tushie got hurt so she needed to go in bed     And she walked and walked up the stairs and then they did something and then she ate her porridge and then she "this bed was too hard" and then "that bed was medium" and "this bed was just right." And the three bears went home and said "who has been eating my porridge?"  And the Poppa said (very loud deep voice, with facial expressions to match) "WHO’S BEEN EATING MY PORRIDGE?"  Then Poppa Bear said "WHO’S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?" and then Baby Bear said "THERE SHE IS NOW!!!"  and  she left her shoes and ran away.  And she also…..

Dad can I go outside???

(NOTE:  Elana woke up early Sunday and she and I were visiting and looking out at the ocean while I worked on my computer.  As Elana was leaning over my laptop in great interest her father came upstairs and suggested she "tell Cindy a story and maybe she’ll put it on her blog."  So she did.  And I did.)