Is This Real Life or Is It…Fantasy?

I probably didn’t need that semester in Jungian theory back in college to figure out the dream I woke up to this morning.

In the dream, we were looking for a small house to buy off a rocky coast somewhere, probably Ireland since that part is true.

Our realtor sent us out to this little abandoned clapboard bungalow, down a gravel road right at the water’s edge, at the base of a large green mountain.

While we wait for the realtor to arrive, we have a look around. The house has seen better days and looks like a strong wind could result in a pile of scattered matchsticks. A shutter, hanging from a lone nail off the side of the house, whacks against the window with every wave from the incoming tide. The shack is so close to the sea that the water is now lapping at its edge.

The realtor arrives and he is either Beto O’Rourke or Bobby Kennedy. Beto/Bobby swears the house is sea worthy, reasoning that the seller wouldn’t have placed it for sale if water was an issue. We hope Beto/Bobby has another source of income if this house-selling gig doesn’t work out.

We ask who lives in the house next door, the only other dwelling as far as our eyes could see. Identical to the one we were looking at, but on higher ground. Beto/Bobby says the old man next door is Bernie Sanders and that he’s been living there for years. He rents the place and the owners want to sell, but they can’t get him to leave.

Make of that what you will.

How Far Have Women Really Come?

You know, this thing with Bill Cosby is niggling at me, even though there are bigger, more important stories out there.

Maybe, it’s because I see, perhaps for the first time in any big way, what sexism is all about. I knew women made 30% less than men on the dollar. And sure, I have felt that inequality at times through my career when fellow (male) directors were making twice what I made, because, as it was explained to me, they have a family to support.

But, it is only recently that I see that kind of genderism in nearly every facet of life. From silly comments like “you run like a girl,” to the fact that women are often brought in as CEOs of a company only after those organizations are deemed beyond saving. And, more disturbing, they are blamed for its failure. Writer and blogger Ezra Klein wrote eloquently (and spot on) about this phenomena – I’ll find the link and post it.

What I don’t understand is why the media feels they have to bend over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt to Bill Cosby. Prior to Tiger Woods admitting his sexual indiscretions (none of which involved drugging and raping women, as far as I know), the media had a field day exhorting his follies. How many women have come forward at this point to extol the SAME experience – that this man drugged and raped them?  At best, he was caught up in a culture of drugs and celebrity that made him think this was okay. At worst, he is a serial rapist who deserves to be punished. I get the statute has passed and there is no real legal route to criminal prosecution at this point. But, just as Donald Sterling was erased from any sort of legitimate public life, so can be Cosby. If he were a CEO of a corporation, or a Senator, or a police officer – how long do you think it would take the media to see the preponderance of evidence? And don’t even get me started on Cosby warning the black media to be professional. Exactly why does the black media need to be warned? What a waste of human flesh this man is.

Insidious Southern Racism is Alive and Well, Trust Me

Long Saturday morning post…fair warning.

Aaack. This whole Paula Deen thing. I mean, I really don’t care. I never liked her food or her cooking, BUT I understood (perhaps mistakenly) that she was a good southern Democrat and there aren’t many of those around, so I always gave her a pass. Even when she made the disastrous pharmaceutical deal that was in equal parts slippery and self-serving. Her ineptness (ineptitude?) at PR was, in a way, charming. So, when she admitted recently that she uttered the N-word some thirty years ago, my eyebrows were raised, but honestly, I wasn’t shocked. I lived in the south for over 20 years. My husband lived in the south for most of his 50+ years. Her horrific attempts at apologies only served to underscore that she needed to do some firing of her own – her PR team just sucks.

But then…

…then more stuff seeped out. Not from vicious rumors, but from her own mouth. That she was filmed recently with her son in some weird Cuban black face get-up spoke volumes, no?

In the grand scheme of things, I care very little about what happens to this woman’s empire, who she is makes us (my husband and I) remember why we had wanted to move away from the south for so long. Are all southerners racist? No, of course not. Our best friends in the world are southerners. But, it is hard work (or, at least it was for us) to live in the south and shield oneself from racism so insidious sometimes you don’t realize you are a part of it.

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