What Now?
That Kind’ve Summer
“The world is beautiful because of you.”
“You are the reason for joy in the world.”
OK, thanks.
Clearly brightening up our days, these and about a dozen more cheery messages, chalked on the bridge going into Balboa Park, are ours with which to resonate. Yay, they mean ME! Who IS this chalker?
I call it a guy; just doesn’t seem like a girl thing to do.
Anyway, it’s good news. “He” could’ve chosen Syria, Turkey, Brazil, Myanmar, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, etc. to sidewalk-chalk about and been pretty dramatic, so thanks, whoever you are, for looking on the bright side.
So inspired am I, that instead of re-sending Anthony Wiener to the woodshed for his audacity in running for Mayor of New York and, before any ink dried on his misdeeds, reinventing himself as a business consultant, I instead now decide on admiration for his guts and gumption. Doesn’t he know that nearly every word, tweet to be written about him for the next umpteen years will note in detail his silly indiscretions? We are one forgiving society.
One misguided entity has packed it in: Exodus International, which for nearly four decades has had as its mission various psychotherapy and prayer techniques intended to re-program, re-orient gays into straight folk. In closing down the organization, they’ve even officially apologized for “the pain and hurt … shame and guilt …” their efforts put homosexuals through. Terminating a misguided mission with sincere remorse constitutes good news.
I could be a little miffed at San Diego’s media for being one-upped by the New York Times, breaking the news of Jack O’Brien’s new autobiography, ”Jack Be Nimble.” Reviewed at length by Benedict Nightingale, I concede that New Yorkers might think Jack belongs to them, too, but hey, we had him first. In any case, the good news is that we might get another shot, since this volume takes his career only to about 1969; our media could have a shot at breaking the first announcement of his sequel.
The brightest side of the season was the “Mother Goose Party” at Normal Heights Elementary School. Hail teachers Elsa Leon and Irma Limon! Guiding several dozen tots through a funny, exuberant production of the Mother’s various poems could totally compensate for the daily-news state of the world. I‘ll figure you do remember how “Baa-Baa Black Sheep,” “Jack Be Nimble,” Humpty-Dumpty,” and various other kiddie dittie songs go. The singin’, swingin’, adorably costumed tots were pretty delicious reminders of how we at least start out sweet and simple. Among my favorites: the “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” break-dancer, and the ensemble/choreography of “To Market, To Market, to Buy a Fat Pig.” I refuse to contemplate whether, in our nuevo-cultural world, the kids of fifty years hence will know Ms. Goose.
I know you’re as sad as I am when you see a forlorn, un-used telephone kiosk. Calls from the few tattered left-overs have declined by over 85 percent in the past five years. But The Economist reports that some have found new life, as “gadget-charging stations, cash machines, tourist information centers” and more; some are fitted with defibrillators. There’s even a competition for redesigning these big guys, called “Reinvent Payphones.”
Human ingenuity wins again. It’s been that kind of summer; the world is beautiful because of…us.
Category: Education, Life Style
