And Thanks for That

On the way home from work in separate cars yesterday (I KNOW, Howard!), Biggy and I were talking on the phone. During the course of the conversation, he mentioned a couple of things in the news that I was completely unaware of--the devastating storms in central Florida, for instance. I defended my ignorance of the matters, saying I'd recently re-read an old interview with poet Sharon Olds, who stated she seldom read or watched the news.

The news is depressing, after all, and--thinking here like a true narcissist--the majority of it doesn't affect my own daily life. It usually just makes me feel hopeless or helpless. Or else it makes me mad. There's enough within shouting distance that makes me mad; why should I seek out more?

I get what I need of the news from Jon Stewart and devote my reading time to everything I can get get my hands on regarding design, poetry, creativity, and whatever physics I can comprehend. Still, I was a bit chagrined by the conversation, so I went to CNN this morning to catch up on current events.

I learned about Seattle's E-Gate, the port cops who've been trading racist and pornographic emails on the taxpayers' time and equipment. I imagined being a Seattle woman stopped by a cop who's just watched a video of two women defacating on each other (which was the example CNN chose).

Then I read about the apparently widespread practice in Russia of gagging babies with tape. That made me want to adopt ten Russian babies, because if any baby should have ever been gagged, it was Georgia, and I never resorted to that.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, both stories made me mad.

I got caught up on the weather, etc., and finally, in entertainment, read about Farrah Fawcett's successful cancer treatment. She's beaten the cancer, was given a clean bill of health and, now 60, is looking forward to returning to work in the next couple of months.

Here's the last paragraph of the article, though, the newsiest news yet, the clincher, the kind of information we can always count on from the world's backstabbers. Hey, I gots no love for my former husband, but even I would never...

Fawcett did not disclose the kind of cancer she was treated for. Her ex, Ryan O'Neal, told People magazine she was being treated for anal cancer.