Weekend musings
Back in Hoboken after a fun Thanksgiving weekend, during which a new Game Plan column ran: One Life Coach’s Gratitude List.
What an enjoyable few days away. Thanksgiving was about plenty of good food and really relaxing with family. Friday was filled with early rising, Black Friday bargains and reconnecting with friends for lunch. No crowds or madness, just bustle and Christmas carols as a backdrop.
And then there was the 30th reunion of the Steinert High class of ‘79. I hadn’t attended a reunion since the fifth, so it was fun, but also shocking and weird. Random thoughts/observations:
~ People told me I’d find that the women overall held up better than the men. While that may be true, I quickly attributed that to my gender’s judicious use of hair dye. There wasn’t a woman in the place with gray hair. There’s a whole sociological commentary in there somewhere.
~ Also struck by this — a lot of the people I thought were worldly (whatever I thought that meant back then) and sophisticated don’t seem at all in that category now.
~ Total hoot dancing to Rapper’s Delight (yeah, Sugar Hill Gang). Not only did I go to school in the disco era, but we were experiencing the birth of rap back then as well. And, of course, there was the classic rock. Two hundred 40-somethings singing every word to Paradise by the Dashboard Light in a Hilton ballroom was quite the experience.
The holidays are officially kicked off.
Quotable
Commenting on his controversial performance on the American Music Awards:
I’m not a babysitter, I’m a performer.
–Adam Lambert on CBS’ Early Show
Bargains and grace
My cousin Kim emailed with a suggested column topic for Thanksgiving and it spoke to me, although I had to give it a bit of a ‘Nancy’ twist. So, in that spirit, How About Some Gratitude for Retailers?
Oprah’s ‘Media Equation’
Leave it to The New York Times’ David Carr to write a spot-on piece about Oprah Winfrey instead of the usual drivel about how she brainwashes American women:
A Triumph of Avoiding the Traps
My fave passage:
And let’s not forget that just when tabloid television was beginning to crest and threatened to tip over into a sea of cross-dressing Nazis, she pulled back, saying that she could build a bigger audience on uplift than on baser instincts — and the critics scoffed. So she began proselytizing good books, nagging herself about her own weight and, most of all, listened to her audience. And the money kept rolling in bigger and bigger waves.
‘Christian’
The following brought to mind something Dennis Miller said about Jim Bakker many years ago to the effect of, “Even God is looking down and going, ‘I can’t believe this asshole is on my team.’”
Free Republic — Life Coaching Carrie Prejean
Thanks, BlogHer
Have to give a shout-out to Maria Niles, who included a link to my Game Plan column on Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Bright-Sided, in her BlogHer.com post titled, Bright Sided: When Positive Thinking Becomes a Tool of Repression.
My fave line in the post: How do you strike a balance between positive empowerment and allowing yourself to legitimately wallow in the occasional comfort of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s?
Indeed.
Transfixed
The Kite Runner. On my must-read list for a long time. Never got to it.
Inadvertently came across the film on TMC. Hmmmm, let’s see if it holds my attention. Felt like I didn’t breathe for two hours.
Exquisite.
Our youth
There has been a bit of a trend happening the last month or so in Game Plan. America’s youth as a topic keeps emerging.
Because of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top Fund being embraced by both parties and that fact being publicized and because films like Precious and Ten9Eight have come onto my radar, an invitation to “Two Legal Minds: A Conversation on America’s Youth” perked up my ears. I had the pleasure of speaking with Karen Mathis, the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and Michael A. Corriero, the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City in that forum. The result is Investing in Mentoring Youth.
My oh my
Lou Dobbs introduced on The Daily Show with a mariachi band.
No, you didn’t, Jon Stewart.
Quotable
Surmising why three quarters of the thousands of people at her book signings were women:
Inside every woman is a little Jenna Jameson.
–Jenna Jameson on The Oprah Winfrey Show
