First a brief message from the elephant in the room before I move on to the "fluff" going on inside my head…rather, trying to go on inside my
head. Fluff is running around up there looking for room to grow and spill out
onto my computer screen. But after all that’s happened since the school
shootings in Parkland, Florida it’s a real struggle. The elephant will get this
and the next paragraph of rage and then I shall be a good little blogger and
get off the soap box. Those of us who’ve been tuned into the national debate since
14 kids and 3 teachers lost their lives to a military-style assault rifle in
the hands of a troubled teen don’t need to hear any more, and those who’ve been
tuned out from what’s been going on since Valentine’s Day---Well, bless your
heart, but I can’t do that.
Okay. Rant on: I’m sick of the gun toting conspiracy
theorists and alt-right “news” sources---even the president's son---spreading rumors that the students from Parkland
are “crisis actors” and the shooting rampage itself is a false flag, meaning a
staged play so the government can come take our guns away. Sorry, if you’re paranoia
enough to believe that, then maybe you shouldn’t own guns! And certainly you
shouldn’t own enough of them to hold off the Drug Cartel in your backyard! And I’m sick of people mocking, criticizing and dismissing those incredible
kids who got baptized-by-fire into the realm of activism. It’s despicable! That’s
just two of the side-car debates going on now along with the idea the president is pushing of arming our teachers. Jeez, what could possibility go wrong with that scenario? Rant off as
soon as I say that lawmakers better get their balls back from the
NRA and pass some sensible and meaningful gun control laws if they want to stay in office because the Never Again Movement is going to be a force to reckon with.
Fluff. What is it? I’m glad you asked. It’s the kind of topic
bloggers search for---often in vain---when trying to write something that won’t
offend anyone but won’t be as boring as brushing our teeth. Oh, we may say we’re
writing for ourselves and it doesn’t matter if no one reads what we write but
don’t believe it for a minute. Many of us bloggers live to find like-minded
cyber friends or at least cyber friends who can engage in fair and respectful
disagreements. We live to compare notes on what makes us laugh and cry, feel proud or insecure---what we think about as we navigate through our world. Fluff like that keeps the personal blogs community
turning. By the way, if you’re a blogger never mix up the meaning of lifestyle
blogs and personal blogs. I’ve made the mistake of using the terms interchangeable
and that doesn’t fly in blog indexes. A personal blog is digital storytelling
based on the blog author’s daily life and experiences. And lifestyle blogs are
based on a person’s interests in a particular topic like the food, fashion,
downsizing or whatever-floats-your-boat.
Raise your hand if you’re still reading. Good. A few of you
are still following my rambling and as a reward I’ll tell you a joke: “Why do
seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over a bay, they would be
bagels.” Our annual Gilda’s Club LaughFest starts soon so I’m getting ready to see
two weeks’ worth of local media coverage. If I was a drive-downtown-after-dark
kind of person I’d check out some of the 30 events spread out over the festival
featuring various genres of comedy and performers. My heartthrob, Travor Noah,
would be first on my list. Maria Bamford, Bert Kreisher, “Weird All” Yankovic and
others whose names I’ve never heard will also be doing stand-up acts, improv, humor
workshops and family friendly comedy. Even an exhibit of humorous portraits
will be in town.
My days of going to comedy clubs dwindled out after bell-bottoms
went out of fashion. (I still miss bell-bottoms!) But won’t you agree that our
humor also changes as we age? When we were kids we thought knock-knock jokes
were the cat’s meow. I spent my entire childhood and teen years laughing for
reasons I couldn’t explain. Then came the era of long-playing comedy records
and sitting around on Saturday nights listening to records like Inside Shelley Berman and The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, The Smothers
Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Redd Foxx and George Carlin---those were some of
the most popular vinyls when comedy 33 1⁄3 rpms were the in thing. I
even remember the Bill Cosby record with him joking about slipping ‘Spanish Fly’
(an aphrodisiac) into women’s drinks. I remember thinking, why is that funny? Well,
who’s laughing now, Bill?
Most humor gets dated or maybe it’s just that we get jaded as we age. The world we were born into is certainly not the same one we’ll be leaving behind one day. And for that reason maybe we don’t need to fear dementia as much as we need to embrace it. That’s a joke in case you couldn’t tell. Dark humor walks a fine line between laughter and tears. ©
Most humor gets dated or maybe it’s just that we get jaded as we age. The world we were born into is certainly not the same one we’ll be leaving behind one day. And for that reason maybe we don’t need to fear dementia as much as we need to embrace it. That’s a joke in case you couldn’t tell. Dark humor walks a fine line between laughter and tears. ©
