Human Garbage

Fired Hungarian camerawoman Petra Laszlo

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Szégyen - Shame

Mickey Mouse Thinking

So far, over the course of my life, I've been known to put my foot in it ...

When I was very young, my mom gave me a watch ... a Mickey Mouse watch with a pleather red band ... and I didn't like it.  I made some face, or remark, of displeasure upon receiving the gift and my mom was disappointed.  Her face fell.

I immediately wished I'd applied a filter ... and spent the rest of my childhood asking my mom, at random, inappropriate hours and often apropos of nothing, "Do you believe I like the watch?" - I sensed she was hurt that I didn't like it, quickly told her that I did ... then spent the next ten years or so trying to convince us both!

In high school, against all odds at the time in northern Wisconsin, I had a friend who was black.  I'd cart her around town, to and from school, we'd drink bottomless cups of coffee (or beer) together ... We danced the Cha-Cha one night in my white tuxedo!

So "Micki", as I'll call her here, and I had Spanish class together.  One day, during another interminable lesson by Señora Lulu, we started fighting over a pluma ...

I like to keep a pen behind both ears.  That's just how I roll!  So I can whip one out in a hurry when inspiration strikes ... or stave off attackers ... and Micki took one of them this day and started using it.  Blatantly reached behind my ear and nicked my Bic!!

We started tussling ... Micki took her shirt off, and was starting to pummel me with both fists when I blurted out something that ended, unfortunately, with the word "black" as a compound noun.  Like, "Oww!  Stop hitting me, Micki!  You black ... "

And then she REALLY hit me.

“What Did I Say??”, ©Jeff Glovsky

Years later, I was working on this show with the lovely actress Leila Martin.  She and her husband, or collaborator (writer/director), John, I think, were doing this cabaret tribute to Gertrude Lawrence ... and already disillusioned with the strange, internecine theater world I had gone to school to be a part of, I began recounting one day all the diva nutjobs I had thus far worked with (and/or dated or was lucky (or drunk) enough to 'get with' ;) ...

There was Luba, who lost a glove and burst into tears; Mary Kate, who lost a goldfish and burst into tears ... Scott and Debra, who used to call me "Biff" (don't ask) ... and all these people prancing around, overfull of themselves, obnoxiously so ... and this was well before our present day world of selfie whores, delusional "Idols" and narcissistic self-absorption.

Today, all the world really is a stage ... but this was just theater folk back then.

And I started opining to Leila Martin that every diva "has their little favorite" ... their little celeb célèbre that they celebrate ... imitating ... or in worse-case scenarios, becoming (or trying) ... backstage one day, while she was putting on make-up, at work at 'becoming' Gertrude Lawrence.

Completely clueless, yet compelled, I went on ... trashing the "conceit" of theater in general, theater people especially -- and most especially, "diva nutjobs" -- while indirectly trashing the performer who was paying me!  Neither Leila Martin nor John (Meyer) ever thanked me for my work on their lovingly crafted and reverent tribute ... nor spoke to me again during the run of that show.

It's in this spirit of occasionally speaking too much or too loudly, of saying wrong things at worst possible moments, and eventually regretting (or not) what you realize too late you may have been stupid in saying ... that I throw my support into the ring for Donald Trump in 2016.

Like him or not, Trump gets things done - and says things, unscripted, which he doesn't regret.  There are few more "presidential" traits I can think of, that would actually seem to be requirements for the job of president of the United States, than track record, accomplishment and a firm sense of commitment ... which is exactly the trait which spurs accomplishment and creates track record ... On and on.

(And Mom:  I really did like the watch :)

My Baggage Thanks You

I'm always amazed when individuals "in charge" -- those wearing clothing emblazoned with company logos ... In uniform, running the shows, ostensibly, and holding down forts in exchange for their paychecks -- engage that representative power to help ...

You'd think this is something that should go without saying ... and in Europe, across much of the airline, food service, banking, car rental, hotel and other hospitality sectors, it does.

There is pride in a uniform "over there", still ... A sense of contributing to the common goals of a shared community as much as an overriding ... if not desire, than at least, obligation, to represent their company logos appropriately, and make an effort -- in a pleasant way -- to provide assistance, if and as needed, to other human beings.

In the States, this is often sorely lacking.  There is laziness.  Indolence.  Pushback.  Sore attitude.

All of the above being preferable, arguably, to stark indifference:  the apathetic numbness shown by employees too bored to give a shit.

Thus, happily, did I arrive to depart recently at one of New York's better known "third world" airports ...

For some reason, my flight was being "operated by" another airline - not the airline whose website I visited, and which collected my payment.

A different airline.

... Ergo, a different airport terminal than the one in front of which a taxi deposited me and my baggage.

To my further dismay, I realized I was already about 45 minutes from my scheduled departure; and walking (or running!) between hugely spaced, unconnected terminals at this particular third world airport would not be an option.

So I flailed around trying to find a ride for a minute ... then fumed as I heard a harried shuttle driver bark into a dispatcher's radio, "Ten minutes!  Be there in five to ten minutes!"

I waited.  I fumed.  A shuttle finally arrived, and I climbed aboard with a pilot or two ... a baggage handler ... and sped off toward the correct terminal ... which again, for some reason, did not belong to the airline I was supposedly flying!

Praying this wasn't some sort of mistake (or a sick prank ... Deceived again!) ... I climbed over the pilots, the baggage handler ... Did a lap dance with an elderly couple ... and leapt from the shuttle van.  Ran into the airport and up to the kiosk ... Swiped this, and entered that ...

NO!

My flight, by this point departing in only thirty minutes, was already closed.  As instructed on-screen, I went to 'see attendant' ..

To make a long story medium-length, this lovely lady loved her job.   Respected the uniform she wore, and the corporate logo she represented, and skillfully, helpfully, whisked me to the front of the security line ... Rock star-like bypassing the holiday throngs, with a hastily printed standby ticket for any random later flight (This lovely lady knew things! ;) ... so I was able to get to the gate and catch my flight.  Against the clock, and against all odds.

I'm on that flight now ... and as the sun sets above the clouds, it dawns:

We Americans ... Hectic, obnoxious, harried, demanding, rude, preferring to be left alone; inconveniencing others when we're inconvenienced (often through nobody's fault but our own) ...

Or I, in any case; ME, American ... get the service and treatment too often deserved.

"Freedom, Struggle", ©Jeff Glovsky

... Its Ugly Head

This unhappy fella

began whistling this

when he found himself riding the bus

with ... "THESE PEOPLE".

Racism

... comes in many colors.

It isn't always black and white.

To be honest, I question whether some of this, as reported, actually happened ("No Diet Coke for you"? Really?? Someone said that?  Was Pepsi okay? :).

Things are often embellished, blown out of proportion, (conveniently) misremembered or misheard ... and "The Internet", where the Tahera Ahmad / United Airlines discrimination story is the virus du jour, is simply not the barometer of truth that ... well, "The Internet" ... tries WAY.TOO.HARD to make us believe.

But the sad, New York asshole, above and below, whistling "America" from West Side Story as a Mexican (not Puerto Rican, mind you) family sat down on the bus beside him, IS truth.  You do exist, dude ... Saw and heard you behave that way!

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Message Service

Late to the party again ... as I was with the original Medium, a once excellent, now tired platform for written publication (and more importantly, reading / discovery) ...

Or, photographically speaking:  The shutter clicks, first impressions get made but reveal, develop themselves after processing ...

Anyway:

It was amazing to me, as I tuned in to take in the Bruce Jenner interview, how transparent the whole thing, and particularly, Bruce, was.  Not honest, mind you ... but transparent.

Bruce Jenner's a winner:  One of the most celebrated athletes of all time, he is also all business.  Like Sharon Osbourne, Paris Hilton ... his most recent (ex?)wife, Kardashian matriarch Kris (Jenner) ... this reads, and palpably emanates from him.

ate Wheaties

No matter what's up with his hair or face, or what he decides to step out in, Bruce Jenner is not a fool.  If YOU were Bruce Jenner -- accustomed to achieving, to getting things done, building empires, endorsing and, overall, WINNING -- and you were offered x amount to become the (perfect) spokesperson for an undersung, misunderstood and still maligned in 2015 minority ... a previously unrecognized third gender; by most accounts, one of the last communities vulnerable to being targeted by overt intolerance and societal hatred in our third millennium ...

You'd be foolish to lose the opportunity.

Bruce Jenner is not a loser.  More than up to the task, he accepted the gig and signed on to de-victimize, in fact, humanize, the struggle ... and his own (transparent, disingenuous, some might argue, alleged) "transformation", from man to woman, began.

I was put off by this.  Not by the cause:  I support freedom of expression and oppose subjugation ... and not by the undertaking:  Who better to speak out for subjugated societal "victims", then one of the world's most well-known victors?

No, I was put off by Diane Sawyer ... and especially, the orchestrated attempts at manipulation:  the "crying", the tissues, the ponytail coming down, why, exactly on cue!  The pretzel logic verging on imbecility ("Are you a lesbian?") ... The appearance appearing so TV-typical -- so tightly scripted -- that it became, in my mind, little more than a reality show episode, or an infomercial:  no longer to be taken seriously ... thereby harming the cause, I thought, more than it helped.

And Bruce Jenner's appearance, to me -- in my instant assessment as I tuned in to gawk at this reality show episode -- was not one of "confusion" ... nor was it of a brave or confident "woman".  Maybe I just tuned into the wrong channel, and was watching a different interview from everybody else ... Was I watching outtakes?  Some footage that wasn't supposed to have aired?

For what I caught when I tuned in, was a very much in charge of things, secure with himself and with being in charge, paid spokesperson:  an odd-looking guy playing up to the camera, declaratively stating that it's okay to feel, and to be, who you are.

And this is a good and powerful, on-point message, which should be imparted and widely absorbed ... I just think a better actor could have been hired to put it across.

Two Nations, Under God?

It's been a long year ...

Last May, in the wake of the Donald Sterling nonsense, I commented -- rather vehemently -- about the old fella's 'mistreatment' at the hands of certain "hating and seething" "thought police" ... "angry, directionless ministers beseeching ... already converted choirs" that Sterling was worse than just a crusty curmudgeon, left up to his neck in societal sea change.

I empathized with Donald Sterling  - not unlike my own 'old man', a creature from another era; many decades and learning curves behind the new prevailing winds of (surface) tolerance and color-blindness.

„Die Augen voller Heimtücke und der Mund in böser Freude aufgeworfen"... WHAT?!

In Germany, which has its own shameful past to get past, there was this, a cartoon caricature à la Charlie Hebdo, but in one of Deutschland's more respected publications ... As a loose analogy, let's imagine if this howler from The Onion made it onto the New York Times' print pages:

So understandably, Germany, then die Außenwelt, grew a little on edge when Der Spiegel called out Süddeutsche Zeitung's disturbing depiction of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, by chiding, „Jüdische Hakennasen-Krake greift sich die Datenwelt?" ... which roughly translates to, 'Jewish hook-nosed octopus grabs the data world?'

Is that what you're saying with your cartoon, Süddeutsche???

... prompting a not-quite-heartfelt tweet of apology from SZ, and a bemused sanitation of the original offending / offensive representation:

Facebook swallows ...

*

Back in the U.S., beneath the low-hanging clouds of Treyvon Martin (and increasingly noxious fumes of his killer), there was the late summer incident in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to civil unrest throughout the fall ... but this was an incident which, though tragic, unnecessary and poorly handled, was not, initially, black and white ... and, I argued, should not have been less cut and dried than a simple case of bad against good, right from wrong, law and order.

Simpl(isticall)y speaking, what happened in Ferguson either exposed still lingering racial divides in the U.S., or tried its damnedest to undo many decades of racial and societal progress made.  I desperately wanted to believe the latter ... that we, as a nation, had come so far;

that despite Ferguson, those race-baiting and flailing were just trying to fan flames which, for the most part in the second decade of the third millennium, were refusing to do anything other than smolder ...

That the United States had, in fact, made progress; had come a long way in terms of race and tolerance ... and that apart from the amplified and emotionalized series of events sprung last summer, it could not be argued that progress had not been made ...

I still believe this.

Even in the most recent obscenity, the cold-blooded, shot in the back killing of black Walter Scott by white (southern) ex-cop Michael Slager, there is the overriding question of law and order ... If I, myself white, got out of a car at a traffic stop and ran away, defying a police officer's first request to remain in the car; then fighting to relieve that cop of a weapon, before running away again ... Would I be shot too?

Would, or could, you?

The question of why Walter L. Scott was running ... just what he was thinking ... remains not only unanswered (though it's been suggested he fled because he owed child support), but largely unasked; certainly not dissected nor addressed in the media or public discourse at large.

Regardless, "black lives" (all lives) certainly matter.  This goes, or should go, without needing to say.

Despite this ^ ^ ^

I still want to believe ...

Cos and Effect

Bill Cosby knew ...

Back in the day, on early stages, he would regale groovy audiences with tales of making girls like "Crazy Mary" go, "lhaaaahhhh", by slipping them some Spanish Fly.

Psychologically speaking, in that 3-minute comedy bit, are an analyst's wet dream ... a cornucopia of clues to the planting of seeds, and behaviors formed.

(He) has done this before.  In the past, he has probably even got some; like a dog that's been trained, poor cat just keeps on sniffing ...

No one else back then, back in the "innocent" yet heady days of drug overuse and casual sex, and the anecdotal public airings of pecadilloes by certain "underground", counter-culture and/or simply "Youth", as opposed to "Establishment" (established), voices ... was doing bits about Spanish Fly:  an alleged aphrodisiac, ancient Molly, if you will, which used to be advertised in the back of the "men's magazines" I would furtively jerk to ... but sadly, can actually lead to meloid poisoning, among other unpleasantness, in both women and men.

Still, some twenty years after the routine debuted, there was Bill Cosby again, baring soul and airing laundry, in the guise of publicity for his 1991 book, "Childhood".  Transcript from an interview with Larry King:

BILL COSBY: Spanish Fly was the thing that all boys from age 11 on up to death — We will still be searching for Spanish Fly.

LARRY KING: [laughs] That’s right.

COSBY: And what was the old- The old story was, if you took a little drop — It was on the head of a-

KING: Pin.

COSBY: -pin! And you put it in a drink-

KING: That’s right. Drop it in her Coca-cola — It don’t matter.

COSBY: It doesn’t make any difference. And the girl would drink it and-

KING: And she’s yours (emphasis mine).

If liquor's indeed quicker, as I've sometimes known it is ...

Writers write about what they know.  The basis of comedy is reality; there's truth in humor.

Bill Cosby knew.  And maybe he's been trying to let us know ... about patterns established.

Behaviors formed.

Is it ... ?

Head, Refrain

On my musical LinkedIn recently, there was a question about jazz.  Specifically, whether or not the recent attention and flurry of words about the genre were helping to keep jazz "marginalized".

And Jeff Jumps In (Too):

I don't think Jazz is marginalized so much, as simply ignored by most. Much of this, unfortunately, has to do with overriding truths in the Justin Moyer Washington Post piece: a lot of jazz music today is perceived as "elevator music" (in the same way Classical is cast off as "stuffy" or "fusty") ... There continues to be an overreliance on the tried and true, but increasingly tired, "American songbook" comprising "standards" ... and along these lines, too much jazz is performed lazily, going through motions without any e-motion: smiling blankly, pausing significantly, "This next song...". Or the predicable 'insert bass solo here' live jazz moment.

Beyond this, there is the ridiculously furious circling of wagons whenever attention IS brought to Jazz. "Kenny G" mutterings, for example, if anyone inside gets too popular ... or admonishments, in no uncertain terms, to 'leave jazz alone!!' if anyone outside comes to play. Witness the Django Gold / "Sonny Rollins" New Yorker debacle (on which, incidentally, I also blew).

Frankly, I think I could've pulled that one off better than Django ... but I get what he was trying to do. Too many refuse to.

As long as Jazz remains disinterested in making an effort or expanding its appeal, it's going to keep being d(ism)issed ... Not "marginalized", because nobody's marginalizing Jazz except insiders - the jazz community itself.

"L'Esprit de Jazz", ©Jeff Glovsky

Robin Williams: Froze in Time

We tend to remember the where and when ...

When John Lennon died, I myself was in the death throes of childhood ... Lying awake, trying to sleep at my appointed bed time of 10:30pm (just upped from 10, to kick off my new teenage maturity!), I overheard Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football saying, "Remember this is just a ... game, no matter who wins or loses" ... which I thought, at the time, was odd for Howard.

And then:  "John Lennon ... in New York City ... shot twice in the back".

... I was having a bed-in when John Lennon died.

A couple of months later, when Ronald Reagan was shot, I remember being asked by an 8th grade classmate, this albino Finnish kid who used to say I "walked with a stick up my ass", if I'd heard the news.  We'd just come out of a dust-up several days prior, complete with punches thrown and headlocks, so I was surprised when he asked me -- passing each other in front of our school en route to classes in different buildings -- if I'd heard, and my opinion.

As he and his clique sauntered past, not really waiting for a response from me, but pleased with the knowledge that they'd told me the news and not vice versa ... I felt strangely appreciative.  First of all, not to be in a headlock that day.  Mainly, though, because he did ask my opinion ... a thing, at the time, I was unused to giving.  I felt proud, in a way, sort of smug ... vaguely validated.  I walked into class with that stick up my ass ... A national tragedy making me smile.

No inappropriate warm, fuzzy feelings, though, greeted the news about Robin Williams.

When my brother sent me an SMS, I was thinking about Robin.  His name had been "trending" all day online, but I hadn't bothered to click and see why ... Still, it made me conscious of the guy again, and I was thinking about bits from Reality... What a Concept when my brother texted.

"Robin williams dead of suicide. :-/ "

Those terse five words (plus the emoji), transmitted electronically, stopped me cold.  Literally froze me in place, staring down at my phone ... waiting for the timed follow-up:  the ;-) or the :-) or the "JK, bitch!"

None of which followed.  My bro wasn't joking.  Robin Williams killed himself.

Being "hip to", as I was, the comedian Robin -- and far less into Mrs. Doubtfire, or any of the treacly, scripted and comparatively muted screen incarnations (even Mork and the Genie paled, I thought, in comparison to Robin Williams live on stage, when he wasn't trying to pander to ratings or box office) -- "knowing" and preferring that younger version, there was no way suicide would've crossed that mind!

Literally frozen ... still disbelieving ...

Keeping things hidden, at bay, so well then ...

Robin Williams 1951 - 1979 (2014)

Losing me, and himself, as our lives / work wore on.

May Robin Williams Rest in Peace. 

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 Suicide.org

Samaritans.org

Genie is not "free"
  
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"If you're that depressed, reach out to someone." - Robin Williams

(as Lance Clayton, World's Greatest Dad)

News at 11

Via some mid-summer bleakness in Salon, here are "10 examples of 'European exceptionalism' and areas in which Europe is way ahead of the United States."

1. Lower Incarceration Rates
2. Less Violent Crime Than the U.S.

3. Better Sex Education Programs, Healthier Sexual Attitudes

    [3.5. Better Sex]

4. Anti-GMO Movement Much More Widespread

5. Saner Approaches to Abortion

    [5.5. Better Sex]
6. More Vacation Time

7. Universal Healthcare

8. Greater Life Expectancy
9. Mass Transit Systems
10. Europeans More Likely to Speak Foreign Languages
    [10.5. Better Sex]

10 things America does so much worse than Europe

ADD THIS:
11. News / Journalism

... sucks in the United States.

'Twas ever thus.

We should be ashamed.

What Can I Say?

Goodreads, anyone?

I didn't like it.