Kanye: overblown jerk; completely without class, and there ARE no excuses for it.  Public tears don’t mean a thing.

Beyonce: class act, even though I’m sure she realized she’d be praised for it.

Taylor:  victim

Patrick:  so beautiful, so wonderful, so faithful (rare in today’s society, celeb or not) so talented, so deeply and truly missed.

Add to this:

Mary Travers:  She represented my childhood.  I loved her dearly.

Henry Gibson:  Laugh-in wouldn’t have been nearly so good without him.  

Ah, BlogHer!  It’s one of the biggest highlights of my life, and I look forward to it more with each passing year.  Elisa is one of the nicest, smartest, coolest women I’ve ever met, and I adore her.  And, everything she said is correct.  Everything!

I will share anything I have with almost anyone, but if someone touches my stuff without asking first or before I can offer it, I go bonkers. 

I love learning about Betty Buckley.  Her dear friend Naomi Caryl (herself a lovely and talented lady with many interesting accomplishments!) writes about her on her blog quite often.  In fact, if any of you aren’t familiar with Naomi’s blog, you ought to be!  Right now, for instance, she’s got pictures of herself with Picasso.  Yes, that Picasso.  The blogosphere is a fantastic place, with such fascinating neighbors living there. Naomi is one of my favorite blog-friends.

Naomi’s blog: 

http://sitteninthehills64.blogspot.com/

Disgraceful.  This "man" is hardly a role model of any kind.

I found my very first date - he’s the owner of a large construction company in Kansas, very rich. I found my prom date - he’s an international lawyer, very rich. I found my first college boyfriend - he’s a judge, very rich. I found a few summer flings - two GP’s, one pediatrician, an oncologist, a dentist, and a vascular surgeon, all rich. I found my first long-term college boyfriend - he died of cancer at 29. I found his brother, also a boyfriend - he’s gone, too. I found my old dancing pal - dead of AIDS at 39. At that point, I decided I was a bad influence and quit looking. It’s funny, though, how all my old beaus have so much money and my husband and I have none. :)

Moxy Fruvous. Their beautiful a cappella harmonies coupled with their snarky, intelligent banter… irresistible. I adore them.

I certainly don’t blame the Obamas for enrolling their daughters in a private school, but I also do not believe it is possible for anyone whose children are not in a public school to have even a minimal understanding or comprehension of what our public school system is like these days. Without that understanding and knowledge, how can someone possibly know what to do about it?

I don’t watch TV, but I occasionally watch funny commercials on YouTube. Right now, I can’t stop laughing at this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoRD1wmvwUc (language warning) And this one has been a favorite for several years now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fitxofd7kOA&NR=1 And this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtjW78IUgOQ&feature=related I’ll stop now.

Thanks, Elaine.

I guess I’m just old-fashioned, because I believe in keeping my promises and living up to pledges that I’ve made. It might not be trendy to be trustworthy any more, but I will always be so. Perhaps some people find the desire to do their own thing to be stronger than their desire to do the right thing; I’ve seen too many devastated children in my career to have much sympathy for an adult who decides his/her children aren’t as important as his/her freeeeeeeeedom to follow his/her hormones out the door. It takes two to tango, yes, but if just one of the pair declines to dance, there’s no tango. Sorry, ladies, but I can’t see that any excuses or reasons for infidelity are valid in any way; it all looks like immature, selfish, horny self-indulgence to me. There are all kinds of abuse, and having a spouse who chooses, of his/her own free will, to be untrustworthy and self-indulgent, is one of the worst kinds. Your children will understand when they grow up? Do you really believe that? Cry me a river, bitch. And grow up. (I’ve wanted to say that to hundreds of sobbing or smirking mothers of my devastated students for 26 years. Finally, I’ve done it!)

How about Mother Teresa, J.K. Rowling, Mary Ann Hopkins, Maria Montessori, Elizabeth Blackwell, Maria Mitchell, Marie Curie, Madame C.J. Walker, Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Condi Rice, Julie Gerberding, Queen Rania, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor, Louise Frechette, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Susan Berresford, Jane Addams, Helen Keller, Louisa M. Alcott… yes, I know some of these woman are no longer living, but I wanted to give a general idea of the kind of woman I find inspiring and universe-shaking. In the words of Erma Bombeck, “Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.”

There is no one on this list who would be on MY list.

Where is J.K. Rowling? A woman who gave eleventy-zillion kids a reason to read a big thick book changed the world a lot more than some of those names in the list. Rowling did more for literacy - especially with our little boys - than any state-sanctioned “standard” ever has or ever will. It’s not always about politics. People who read will always know more about EVERYTHING than people who don’t read.

I’ve worn the same winter coat for fourteen years. I don’t even KNOW anybody who spends a lot of money on clothes! It’s a mentality that’s totally alien to me. Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to be able to buy lovely clothes all the time. It’s just that I think other things are far more important. And don’t get me started about the Republicans GIVING Sarah Palin all that money for CLOTHES! I find it disgraceful.