Continued Confessions

and the FCC

Today’s post really is a confession because I said the word “bullshit” on the radio on Monday, January 22, 2024. You see, I rarely have the radio on until dinnertime, but on that day for some reason I had it on at lunch time and heard a radio host mention that he was having a call-in show about anything we would like to discuss. He also mentioned that not many women called his show. So I decided it was a perfect time to be a woman caller and my topic was the fact that it was the 51st anniversary of the passage of Roe v. Wade. I noted how upset I was about Dobb’s overturn of Roe and that I considered abortion the only issue on the ballot in November 2024. I didn't actually have much of a chance to talk, but the host did give his listeners a good history lesson from Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack post of a few days prior. For that I was glad indeed. However, I would have liked to expand on the issue of stare decisis and so forth. But when I finally got another word in edgewise, I called out “Trump’s bullshit.” I immediately apologized for saying that on-air, but the damage was done, I guess. No more words for me. But I was glad to have gotten the topic broached. However, the host really annoyed me at the end by basically telling me to “chill” because I was too mad if I was calling public radio and using “barnyard terms.” [By the way, I have subsequently checked the FCC regulations and honestly don’t think my faux pas was that egregious.] Meanwhile, a later woman caller echoed my sentiments about the abortion issue back in the late 60’s and early 70’s; but she also asked why the 14th amendment doesn’t disqualify Trump from running again, and the radio host chose to focus on that part of her call. So on the actual anniversary of the most important women’s rights legislation in my lifetime, minimal time was spent discussing the ramifications of its being targeted by the MAGA movement.

But now on to the happy stuff that has happened since Monday. I needed another book to read after finishing Scott Shapiro’s amazing book about the internet, and out of my pile fell MY PLANET by Mary Roach. I have loved her books for years, especially BONK which is about sex, and I was curious as to why I hadn’t read this one yet. It turns out to be a compilation of all her columns from July 2002 which appeared in The Reader’s Digest. The subhead is “Finding Humor in the Oddest Places” and that’s why I have read almost everything she has ever written (although I have her two latest books to catch up on). I had to check and see whether she was still alive and I am happy to report that she is indeed and writing a lot still. And I found a wonderful in-person interview with her by Lou Fancher in East Bay Magazine published February 27, 2023. So now I am happily enjoying the book for my night time light reading. I am also still plowing my way through the six complete novels of Alistair MacLean, but a couple of his stories took a rather dark turn so I have relegated him to early morning instead. His writing is so spectacular that I can’t pass it up, even when what he describes in exquisite detail is horrifying.

For more unadulterated joy, my darling grandson will soon be 6 months old, and my daughter discovered a photo of when she first visited her relatives in Florida at that age. I regaled her with the story of that visit because I actually kept a journal of her first year so had names and dates to put to the adventure. And being able to put my hand to it was quite miraculous when you consider that my confessions began with the fact that I am a hoarder. Admitting it out loud is the first step to recovery!

And because I am a voraciously curious person at the best of times, having the internet to check facts immediately is most helpful. It also leads down many winding paths, and somehow this morning after checking on Mary Roach’s well being, I ended up finding fabulous Antoine Hunter’s YouTube video: Feeling the Beat: Dancing While Deaf. I miss my weekly dancing to the oldies at the Mohegan Sun (hope they reinstate it soon), but Antoine reiterated how important it is to keep moving so I will endeavor to play music more often at home. I play it in the car all the time but seat dancing doesn't quite get it. And since I am losing some more hearing and sight as I age, I took Antoine’s positivity in the face of so-called adversity to heart. He is a STAR.