Columns 2007

The media’s influence on our children absolutely sucks

It seems to me that in a world in which parents and kids have immediate access to each other through cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail and the occasional actual face-to-face encounter, parents should be able to exert a lot more control over what their kids see and hear than they actually do.  In fact, I’d be willing to venture that my parents had much greater control over the content in my life till I left for college than most parents have over their elementary school kids now.

Whenever I see ads on TV for parental controls on programming, I wonder

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Fun with hot flashes

I can only thank god mine are over and done with.  But for those of you who still feel like you are periodically dumped into the center of the sun, check out Menohaven.com.  A friend told me about the site so I went over to see what they’ve invented since I went through menopause to help the process along.  Needless to say, since men don’t suffer from menopause or have hot flashes, science hasn’t come up with a way to let us glide through this period with a smile and a laugh.  But other women have sure done a

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Abdul calls for Mr. T

It was really weird. After my dog Mr. T died, Abdul, my African Gray parrot, didn’t call him even once. And he used to call him every morning when we got up. He’d scream, “TEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! C’mon. Go out. C’mon, T.” And suddenly, about two days ago, as I was sitting down here in the office, all of a sudden I hear him calling, “TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”. Just calling his name over and over. Needless to say, I got hysterical.

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Could there be anything more grotesque?

Could there be anything more pathetic and grotesque than the Anna Nicole Smith story as it plays out in all its sordid glory, aided and abetted by a national press that has clearly lost its values, focus and mind.  And am I the only one who feels so sorry for that little girl? She doesn’t stand a chance at anything resembling a normal life…not now, not ever.  What a terrible thing to do to a child.  And she’ll never really know if the person who ultimately takes control of her destiny loves her or her money.  No two month old

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Does it work both ways?

So the minister who was hiring male masseuses and buying crystal meth now claims he’s been cured of all homosexuality after three intensive weeks with some other ministers who prayed for him. And this got me thinking. I’m a sixty year old woman and there are simply very few fish in my dating pool because most men are either married, gay or dating someone who could be my daughter.  So if they can convert this guy from homo to hetero, can they do the reverse for me? I mean, think of the big dating pool that would open up for

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Columns 2007

Now that I’m sixty, will my leg fall off?

I recently watched my African Gray parrot Abdul dealing with something that scared him.  I’d put him on my counter while I was cleaning up from dinner and getting some fruit and vegetables ready for bird breakfasts in the morning. I cut up a pineapple and, thinking it might amuse him to tear up the top of the pineapple rather than the drawers in my kitchen island, I put this down next to him.

I don’t usually bring pineapples into the house so this top appeared fairly threatening to him since he’d not seen it before. Despite this fear, he

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Winter walks in Anchorage

Just enough snow has fallen on the underlying ice to make my walks with the dogs a slip sliding disaster waiting to happen. Thank god that between them they are big enough to anchor me when I start to fall and yank inadvertently on their leashes.  With poor Mr. T, he was so small that when I yanked, we both went down.

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There is no sanity left

Let’s see, 8 billion dollars of shrink wrapped American money that was sent to Iraq on pallets in the back of some huge airplanes is missing and Bremer is apparently blaming it on the Iraqi’s not having a good accounting system.  But the front page news, the news that is mesmerizing America, is about some Marilyn Monroe wannabee who probably overdosed and died while three men squabble over who screwed her last and fathered her child.

We deserve George Bush as president if this is the way we prioritize things. He can’t be blamed for sending this country to hell

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