strollin'

I was on a walking trail near my house this afternoon, listening to TAL but still sort of passively observing people as they walked by. I was about a mile in when I passed these two women--i would say in their late fifties--who were power walking together and cracking each other the fuck up. Like, cackling in that kind of bawdy way that you do when you're a woman and make an off-color joke that you know is beneath you but still think is really hilarious. I was envious for a second, but then got really happy, because i remembered that I have friends like that. Im really lucky.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

editor's note: i seriously don't know how that jerri blank photo got there but i'm leaving it because that shit is ALWAYS FUNNY

Why Lady Gaga is the best thing to ever happen to morality.

Gaga has been around for a couple of years now, and everyone has seen the media fallout that has resulted from almost everything she has ever done, said, worn, whatever. She is arguably the most loved and and hated artist on earth, but almost no one feels strictly nothing about her.

If you read through literature on Gaga from white conservative America (read: the cultural majority), you run into mega-inflammatory words. Evil. Insane. Demonic. Morally reprehensible. I doubt anyone since Marilyn Manson has sparked this much fear and outrage from the older generation directed at the younger generation. Older is terrified. Younger is elated. Its a tale as old as time, and there's nothing more intoxicating to and adolescent human than indulging in the very thing his elder forbids.

But here's the kicker. Once you get sucked into the glitz and glam and really start to get involved with Gaga as an artist, you start to notice something crazy in itself. Many of her lesser known songs have just sort of run-of-the-mill pop-themed messages at worst. No single song condones any sort of evil or hatred of any kind. Many of them are just fun satire of societal themes. And the most popular? They read like a script from Sesame Street. "You're beautiful in your way. God makes no mistakes. You're on the right track baby, you were born this way." God makes no mistakes--church teaches us that from birth. Gaga means it.

Any commentary that is attributed to her is unfalteringly positive. Everyone is welcome to the monster ball. Ignore the protestors, fight back with peace. Ignore cruelty, respond with kindness. Practice compassion. I've heard this before...the golden rule i think its called? Its been so long since anyone my age has cited it without irony that its a little hard to recall.

So without meaning to, Gaga has done something that churches and sunday schools and civics classes and good parents have been trying to do for centuries. She has made kindness, acceptance, and decency not only cool, but radical and rebellious. People who don't understand her hate her, are afraid of her, forbid their kids to listen to her, see her, have any interaction with her. As kids, what could possibly be more appealing? Kids everywhere are clamoring to see a radical, terrifying, larger-than-life icon whose base message can be found at the beginning of every episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Watch out for this maniac, America. Before you know it your kids might be running around, rolling their hair in diet coke cans and treating others as they themselves wish to be treated.