091 Reality TV Politics

The Political Campaign as Reality TV

Polite people should never discuss their politics, their money, or their religion said my grandmother many years ago. I do wonder what she would think of today’s media coverage of the upcoming presidential election. Appalled, I think! And appalled and embarrassed that I am writing this blog!

[Interesting sidebar: And, if you have been following political coverage--the many, many hours of political coverage--you may have heard also that Sarah Palin is slated to preside over a new reality court show to premiere next year. It is being put together by the TV executives who founded Judge Judy! OH, GOOD GRIEF!]

Okay, you may well disagree with my unsubstantiated analysis, but here it is!

• The 2016 presidential elections feel like a reality show! Donald Trump is the leader in this as he was already a reality TV star with his own show, The Apprentice, (and Trump is also getting a reality boost from second wife Marla Maples on Dancing with the Stars.)

• Fewer TV ads and more news shows with talking heads! I have quit watching the news on TV and simply check the top stories on Google and AOL. I do not want to listen to the pundits--liberal, conservative, moderate, socialist, or otherwise--tell me what I should think about Trump, Hillary, or Bernie anymore. 

• The candidates are like “product placement” for their own campaign chests! A firm which tracks media spending, mediaQuant, issued the following information this week: Trump has spent about $10 million on TV ads, but has benefitted from nearly $2 BILLION (yes, BILLION) in free media coverage. Sounds a bit Kardashian to me! 

• Hillary, on the other hand, has spent $28 million in paid ads and benefitted from about $765 million in free media attention. Is it about the hair? Or about who riles up the most people? 

• Who is benefitting from all this? Personally, (old statistics geek that I am) I think the TV industry – i.e. the news media – has gotten the most “bang for their bucks” or ROI (return on investment). MSNBC news ratings has risen 20%, CNN’s up 170%, and good old conservative Fox is up 40%. (I REALLY, REALLY miss Jon Stewart!!) Obviously, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between candidates and news organizations during elections. The New Yorker’s (my favorite magazine) reporter wrote, way back in 1987, that viewers are going “for style over substance, entertainment over news.” (Even news reporters are better looking than they used to be. I respected Walter Cronkite but he was not a hot, sexy guy.)

• Politics appears to be increasingly about fame! A quick review of early presidents shows that having a noted name certainly helped win votes. Washington, Jackson, Taylor, Grant, Ike were military heroes. Jefferson had the Declaration of Independence on his bio. The Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bushes, known family names who were well-established in political circles. And Ronald Reagan – being a movie star didn’t hurt. And in 2016, the two most likely to go head to head are not only names, but magazine covers, and newsmakers in their own right without debates and campaigns to run. 

• I am truly not excited about anybody. Bernie Sanders seems to be a cool, old guy. A pragmatic liberal who was an INDEPENDENT until last May. An activist in college (oh, my, the scandal of those 1960s), and a junior senator who caucuses with the Democrats. I am not sure just where his appeal comes from. Maybe those activist days.

• Hillary was a stoic and decent first lady, a SMART woman, and a not bad secretary of state, but she lacks charisma and she’s not been too smart about some email.

• THE DONALD--along with his ubiquitous present, is the American voting public aware he does not always make good decisions: four bankruptcies and five failed business plans that I can think of off the top of my head: Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump TV Network, Trump Vodka, and his own Trump Mortgage Company, along with a number of discrimination suits, not all of which are settled! 

        Nope, can’t vote Trump! Where’s the substance?

• Bloomberg--oh, Bloomberg--I wish you had thrown your hat in the ring!

Glenne      

090 Blooming

Blooming time in Winchester

Parades, fireworks, celebrities, and much, much more briefly dominate this small town of 20-some thousand where we live. The reason the town turns into a teeming caldron of excitement and anticipation in the spring is to celebrate the arrival of the annual apple blossoms.

The community puts on an amazing show, and this year is the 89th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. The many volunteers pull it all together for two weeks of activities that rival any festival in any small town throughout the country.

The excitement never seems to wane. Hues of pink and green, whether in nature, apparel, or decorating, dominate the color palette of the area.

We have lived in the midst of it all for more than 40 years with our house facing the Handley High School campus on the edge of the designated parade route and the location where the fireworks are launched.

It never ceases to amaze us how our quiet neighborhood becomes a teeming hot bed of activity --- two parades, two foot races, street vendors, food concessions of every sort, musical performances, and more. I can actually walk across the street from my house and buy a funnel cake – how many of you can ever do that!



Our children are true Apple Blossom Festival advocates – born in the 1970s in Winchester, they grew up going to festivals. Good friends of the family lived in a house on the parade route on North Washington Street, so we were immediately drafted into the blooming way of life when we moved to the area in the late 1960s. We learned how to get around, what groups to look for in the parades, and how to police our children through the food and toy concessions. Needless to say, our children and now their children partake in the festivities as often as they can with an enthusiastic zeal.

On Friday afternoon, we can sit on our front porch and cheer on youngsters for the one-mile run, and on Saturday morning, we can encourage adults on the longer trek through town. It is certainly a change of pace from the mundane of the normal weekend routine.

Since, the fireworks are on the school campus, directly in front of our house, our grandkids tell everyone to come by and see our fireworks!

But before you know it, it is over ---trash has been miraculously picked up, crowds are gone, traffic has disappeared, and the street is back to normal . . . until next year.

It is bittersweet – it was nice to have the distraction, but we know it can’t go on forever. What a glorious break, especially after a harsh winter, and a great welcoming of spring and warmer weather. This once a year spectacle is something we all eagerly anticipate!

Festival-loving Frances      

089 Thanks, Richard & Oscar

Getting to Know You

                    Getting to Know All About You

I have recently seen a television commercial that uses a familiar show tune from The King and I.

For me, Instant Ear Worm!

But with a twist.

I had listened to the cast album so many,many times (many, many years ago) that I now run through the entire show in my head over and over again--from "I Whistle a Happy Tune" to "Hello, Young Lovers" to "We Kiss in a Shadow" to "Something Wonderful" to, of course, "Shall We Dance?" 

My favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals appeared on Broadway from 1943 to 1951 with the movie versions, which was what I saw, from 1955 to 1958. I watched them during my pre-teen years. We owned the cast albums for Oklahoma, South Pacific, and The King and I, and maybe a few others.

They influenced me in many way. There was a message of tolerance in the musicals. For instance, from South Pacific:

I think many of the romantic ballads gave an unrealistic view of romantic love that worked very well in the pre-teen world. I remember walking down the street where the boy with whom I was fixated lived --just in case I might see Him or lingering by his locker, looking about for Him! "You fly down a street on the chance that you meet, and you meet, not merely by chance." Actually, Lerner and Loewe in My My Fair Lady captured adolescent love most accurately:

I have often walked down this street before,

But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.

All at once am I several stories high,
Knowing I'm on the street where you live.

   

                  Even more unrealistic

Some enchanted evening

When you find your true love,

When you feel her call you

Across a crowded room,

Then fly to her side,

And make her your own

Or all through your life you

May dream all alone.

At that age, I did not appreciate how romantic mature love can be:

He will not always say what you would have him say.

But, now and then he'll say something wonderful.

The thoughtless things he'll do will hurt and worry you,

Then, all at once he'll do something wonderful.

Then there are times when one of those great songs just pop into your head:

Who hasn't walked outside and thought:

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Oh, what a beautiful day!

I hear it over and over again--how this or that is the greatest, earth-changing invention. Often a certain ditty comes to me:

Everything's up to date in Kansas City.

They gone about as fer as they can go.

They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high--

About as high as a buildin' orta grow.

Everything's like a dream in Kansas City.

It's better than a magic lantern show.

You can turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat.

With every kind of comfort every house is all complete.

You could walk the privees in the rain and never wet your feet!

They've gone about as fer as they can go.

It seems the songs from Oklahoma provide good comic relief. When I am being "convinced" to volunteer for something I really don't want to do:

I'm just a girl who cain't say 'no'
I'm in a terrible fix!
I always say 'Come on, let's go' just when I aughta say 'Nix.'

Although it is a bit to schmaltzy for me, I cried buckets when hearing it in Carousel, and I imagine it has given many people comfort:




Whatever your favorite and however these songs come to you--

Thank you, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Your songs Walk On.

                                                   Trish

088 This drug?

Do I Really Want To Take This Drug?

Do you have one of the many viruses prevalent right now? OR is it a virus? Is it an infection that could really use antibiotic help? Do you have some chronic medical problem that requires prescription meds on a daily basis? 

If your answer is YES to any of these questions, do NOT listen to the mild-voiced narrators on drug ads on TV who lists all the problems that could arise from the advertised wonder drug while the ad runs. 

You may never want to take drugs again!

So, I repeat: is the cure worse than the problem? This blog is meant to be “tongue-in-check” humor, yet the contraindications of well-advertised drugs are true and are scary.

  
With many, many, many viewings of said TV ads, it is easy to become a bit paranoid . . . or if you are comedian, (like Steve Martin or Jeff Foxworthy--Google their monologues), you may have created a whole comedy routine on medication side effects.

Here is some basic information, dear readers.

Medicine (pharmaceutical drug) is the use of a legal drug to treat or cure an illness. A note (prescription) from your doctor is required.

There are also OTC drugs (over the counter) which you may choose yourself. Penicillin is not one of them. (Sadly!)

Dosage is also important. This tells you how much to take. If you take too much, it is called an overdose. An overdose can damage your liver or kill you.



Indication is the reason why the medicine is given. Some drugs have more than one indication - e.g. acetaminophen is for both pain and fever.

Contraindication is why a drug should not be given. Almost all drugs have contraindications. These contraindications are also called “side effects” and we do not want these. 

Read your prescription bottle and any accompanying information. 

Read the warning labels. 

Ask your doctor about side effects.

If I were really clever or quick enough at memorizing, I would try to make this list into a song with a familiar tune. Please let me know what music would work! 

And isn’t it ironic that constipation and diarrhea are on the same list!

Stay well! Glenne