Voted Off the Island

Possibly the Last RHONY Recap by Richard Lawson

The last word -- the last recap of the RHONY Reunion Show Part 3 ... and it's too delicious not to share.   Thank you Richard Lawson, you are now released from bondage to write whatever you want to write, wherever you want to write it. The harpies have harped and you have plucked their strings.  As you have written beautifully and dare I say biblically:

"The Earth muttered and groaned, shifted its weight, began to make room for the next great big whatever."

Tipper & Al Gore Separation

They're calling it a separation, not a divorce. Sigh.  After 40 years of marriage! What I hate about it is that it just makes separation and divorce seem like an acceptable, rational, and even laudable option.  OK, so we're getting in each other's way a bit, and well, Tipper's not so "hot" anymore, and yeah, Al's on the road so much we're just ships passing in the night.  And she snores, and he has a pot belly, so let's do the "sensible" thing and separate. We gave it 40 years, and that's a respectable amount of time, so fuck it all, let's get divorced. C'mon, this is Washington and success in marriage is just a "mystery." Besides, everybody does it.

Did anyone ask the Gore kids how they feel about it?  Or the Gore grandchildren?

How dreadfully borrrring to be committed. How terribly tedious to be tied. Read here what we can learn about love and fidelity from pets.

Of course I know nothing about why the Gores are doing this.  I'm just saying, it sucks.

Memorial Day

I met an actual Tuskegee Airman in Atlanta last week. The airmen were the first squadron of African American military pilots in the United States armed forces.  They came from all over the United States, trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Tuskegee Alabama and fought in World War II. This handsome, pepper-haired gentleman was attending a session on educational funding for children of color who now comprise the majority of students in public schools in the American South.  His entire life has been one of service, leadership and stewardship.

He told me about his distinguished and well educated children.  I told him about my Brooklyn-born, Jewish father, a child of immigrants, who fought in the Pacific.  We shook hands and I thanked him for defending our country and setting an example for generations to come.

Remember them.

Miep Gies, Zichrona L'vracha

Miep Gies, the last survivor among Anne Frank’s protectors and the woman who preserved The Diary of Anne Frank, died Monday night. She was 100 and had declined after a fall last month in a nursing home.

“I am not a hero,” Mrs. Gies wrote in her memoir, “Anne Frank Remembered,” published in 1987. “I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did and more — much more — during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the heart of those of us who bear witness.”

Miep's story is heroic in its utter humility.

In her memoir, Mrs. Gies told of her emotions when she finally read the diary.

She wrote: “The emptiness in my heart was eased. So much had been lost, but now Anne’s voice would never be lost. My young friend had left a remarkable legacy to the world.

“But always, every day of my life, I’ve wished that things had been different. That even had Anne’s diary been lost to the world, Anne and the others might somehow have been saved.

“Not a day goes by that I do not grieve for them.”

Miep Gies, front left, and Otto Frank, center, in a 1945 photograph. With them are those who helped hide the Franks: Johannes Kleiman, back left, Victor Kugler and Elizabeth Voskuijl.

What a beautiful woman in every possible way.  May her memory be a blessing.

Barefooting

I don't know when I'll be leaving this earth, or where I'm going to be buried* but I do know what I want it to say on my tombstone:

Not to be ghoulish, but in the spirit of Halloween, and in mournful acknowledgement that Atlanta's awesome 8 month long barefoot season is coming to an end, that's my headstone, and I'm sticking to it.

Besides, this post isn't about death, it's about footwear.

If you know me well, you know that hate sneakers, running shoes, tennis shoes, whatever you want to call them. Hate 'em. Sneakers are fugly, like wearing cement blocks on your feet. I particularly hate the "walk-to-work-in-sneakers" look one sees in walkable cities like New York or Chicago. I don't like the way sneaks make your feet feel "bound." And mostly, I hate the technical hype and specious specs that come with the cult of running shoes. 

Well, apparently the latest thinking is that barefoot running is actually better for your feet. And now comes more evidence that the human body, particularly the human foot, is ideally engineered for distance running.

Remember the Kenyan runners, famous for barefooting? Abebe Bikila raced barefoot to a gold medal in the 1960 Olympic marathon. Herb Elliott, the 1500m victor at the same games, ran 17 sub-four-minute miles barefoot and was never defeated at either 1500m or one mile.

The new minimalist footwear -- the so-called "glove" shoe -- protects the bottom of the feet with a thin layer of neoprene, but simulates the biomechanics of the barefoot experience, which is how humans ran for millions of years. 

Man, they are fugly too, but more in the creepy way than a butt ugly way. I wonder if these babies will catch on. Converts to minimalist footwear are ecstatic about the experience. They say once you get over the initial shock, you start to build up strength in the ankles and calves, and that plantar fasciitis can completely disappear.  Here's a pretty compelling review of the Vibram FiveFingers shoe.  And here's another from Wired magazine. They retail for about $75. 

*Oh, and just for the record, I would like to be buried in Gould Meadows, a beautiful bit of land in Lenox, Mass, right across from Tanglewood that overlooks the Berkshire Mountains. Unfortunately, it's not a cemetery.  I'm just sayin' ...

Susan Boyle at 22

She had rocked it then too.