MAKING THE TURN PART II

MAKING THE TURN PART II Thank-you for the private thoughts and questions with all of the “what if’s” and “what about’s” in them…all valid questions. Some of them, I must confess, were unjustly omitted from Part I so I will attempt to answer those questions here............ or not. Either way I sit here with my cup of green tea and bowl of soup ready to tackle the issues. Not everything that happened this year has been horrible, many things have simply gotten to the point they can no longer be ignored. As repulsed as I am with “Reality TV” it has illustrated some positive issues this year like the fact that the Arts are a much needed aspect of our lives that needs to be promoted and encouraged more. This needs to be done not only as a society globally but as a species specifically. Shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and, begrudgingly, “Dancing with the Stars” has gotten us to renew our interest in that Art form again. “American Idol”, “X-Factor”, and “The Voice” has re-acquainted us with different musical styles and regardless of whether you went to PS25, Compton Junior High or Julliard, Rap may have finally seen its day and be forced to evolve into something other than angry bad poetry. It has also illustrated the language issues we’ve faced this year. People have lost the ability to speak, read or write without using some form of technological shorthand. Spelling, complete sentences or thoughts are lost on people these days (and God help us if they don’t have Spell check…not that they ever take the time to use it.). It only takes one episode of watching “Jersey Shore” to validate that English has become a lost language and common sense plus social etiquette haven’t been taught or promoted since the sixties. Watch any episode of “The Real Housewives of…” wherever and it sadly illustrates you can buy new body parts for every inch of you except a brain and a personality. As I stop and take a sip of my green tea I can remember when, not all that long ago, we could sit down with a cup of tea or coffee, a good book, have music calmly, quietly play in the background and maybe converse with the people around me and absorb the world at a leisurely pace. Now it’s Mocafrapahalfcaf gobbledygook at five bucks a pop with a Kindle or smart phone and the incessant thumpa-thumpa-buzz-buzz-click-click serenade of the “real world” at an impatiently breakneck speed…really? Literature has become formulaic and/or squealed to death. Nobody seems to know what good literature is this day…but they can smell a movie deal on the horizon as easily as yesterday’s fried fish dinner. It’s no wonder that, as much as I really like and admire the guy on a variety of levels, it appalls me that Stan Lee has become to be revered as some sort of literary and cinematic genius the past couple of years and this year has been no exception. Fine Art and Photography has become somewhat of a mixed bag this year. It was a banner year for auction houses to sell these works at record prices yet galleries have struggled to stay afloat (literally in New York…but that’s another issue). Some exciting things have come out of artists worldwide this year but the “Art World” in general is nervous about what the future brings and where to go next. Museum attendance is down. In an effort to find out why they’ve done survey after survey after survey only to discover they spend too much money doing surveys. New York was “shocked” because the Reality TV show “Gallery Girls” was ignored off the tube so they reacted like typical New Yorkers and renewed the show for another season and insisted we should all watch “this important show” because it’s as important as “Project Runway” (another show only an egotistical New Yorker could love). Speaking of New York…were you as fascinated as I was about the swift disaster response after “Super Storm Sandy”? They were re-building before the storm was actually over and every entertainment bozo with even a remote connection to the area was contributing money and doing “relief fund” shows for the area almost immediately. I found that to be a far cry from how New Orleans was handled during Katrina…and people say money doesn’t talk. Fashion comes and fashion goes but this year they seemed to have accidentally gotten real. You’re always going to find outlandish designs during fashion week, its tradition…much like Congress saying one thing and doing something else. There are always retro styles revisited or “re-interpreted” (another way of saying “I have nothing new to add”) but this year a lot of designers seemed to be creating things for different age brackets. They’re not trying to make a forty year old woman dress like an anorexic eighteen year old and they’re seemingly trying to help men embrace their age…not their shoe size. I hope the trend continues. Food has come to the forefront this year. People are trying to eat healthier and smarter. Some with more success than others but people are trying. I discovered I can’t eat food from certain fast food places no matter how “healthy” they make the food, I still get sick. Because of this, like many people these days, I’ve become very particular about what, where and how I eat. In some ways it has spawned a sort of culinary snobbery I hope doesn’t last long. It hasn’t gone to the extreme some have gone to but it has come close at times. What I have learned this year is “Be healthy, but be smart”. I refuse to spend twelve dollars for a wedge of cheese because it says “Imported” on it when I can buy the same thing for about four dollars. They both still smell like an old gym shoe so why pay extra for the privilege. I know someone who pays an obscene amount of money for olives with the pits still in them from a specialty store when the can go to the local store and buy “pitted” olives of equal (or better and fresher) quality for half the price at the “olive bar” there. Diet and exercise have found a purpose this year and I hope it continues from now on. It’s become more than embarrassing to be the fattest and dumbest society in the world. Some things didn’t change this year. Julian Assange is still alive and under house arrest in England. He wants the world to feel sorry for him now because he may have some terminal medical issue or another. I seldom, if ever, say things like this but…it couldn’t happen to a better person and I hope he goes quickly. We found out (once again) that the people we entrust to protect our interests around the world and gather information to do so are incompetent at it and can’t keep their dicks I their pants or their hands out of the cookie jars. This year people have grown tired of hearing denials, half truths, misquotes, accusations, false promises and backstabbing…around the dinner table. It got worse this year because it was an election year. That’s behind us now and we must get back to finding honest answers to our questions and solve our problems…not just talk about them. It’s time to take a step back and seek the truth in everything, maybe make a concession or two and figure out how to get along with each other again. An early Happy New Year from me to and yours.