Rambling Like a Pundit--or a Nob

Dear Readers,

Yesterday I checked my blog stats, and I was amazed at the numbers--over double the number of people who usually tune into the blog.  I couldn't believe it--where did these people come from, and how had they found my blog?  It took me until today to realize, Oh, yeah, I wrote about Sarah Palin.


Technically, I wrote about "Sarah Palin and the retarded child," which actually sounds like the title of a children's book, if the book had been translated into another language, but the title couldn't quite fit into that other language, so the translator made something work, and that something--when translated back into English--sounds kind of awkward.  It's like when I lived in Munich and the movie "Austin Powers:  The Spy Who Shagged Me" came out, but in German the title became "Austin Powers:  Spion in geheimer Missionarsstellung," which translates back as "Austin Powers:  Spy in the Secret Missionary Position."  I picture the same thing happening to Sarah Palin and the Child with Down Syndrome.

[Note to publishers:   Please do not consider publishing said title.  It reminds me a little too much of a children's book called Little Wu and the Watermelons, which apparently was a great book when it came out in the 1950s, but in the 1970s, when my friend J and I discovered it on our school library shelf, we found it quite hilarious.  I can only imagine that Sarah Palin and the Child with Down Syndrome would be written in such a way that might seem sensitive today, but would only be heading for a spot on Awful Library Books tomorrow.]

[Note to readers:  In looking up Little Wu and the Watermelons, I discovered that its author Bea Liu lived in a dome house.  The Boy and I still talk about living in a dome.  I now feel slightly guilty for mocking her book years ago, when it turns out that we are kindred dome spirits.  Score one for Calvinist guilt!]

Speaking of books though, Sarah is peddling her own book, and bless her heart, her tour is apparently stopping not only at bookstores, but also at the places where the normal people (i.e.--REAL AMERICANS) hang out:  Sam's Club, Costco, Kroger, Meijer, and Wal-Mart.  And that got me thinking--isn't it kind of a reverse snobbery for the people who only shop at Wal-Mart to pick on the types who don't?  I get deemed as part of the liberal media elite because I don't want to shop at a store that I don't think does good business--though I'm supposed to love it because it saves, saves, saves me money!   Well, these "Nobs" can have their Sarah Palin book signings--keep my elite liberal Massachusetts bookstores out of the hullabaloo!

Anyway, that's enough Sarah Palin talk for one day.  I'm not finished with Sarah Palin though.  Why?  There's bound to be at least one other Sarah Palin out there in America who doesn't like to be associated with the infamous pundit (do you call Sarah Palin a politician anymore?).  I'd like to imagine she's the one who claims her name is now pronounced "SAH-rah PAH-lin" and is trying to make a name for herself, even though she lives in a town full of Nobs and longs to shop at someplace other than Wal-Mart.  Who, upon learning about Sarah Palin the way we all did--when McCain picked her as her running mate--up and quit the beauty pageant circuit, even though everyone in the know had her as the odds on favorite to win Miss America.

Will the two Sarah Palins be inexorably linked forever in the way only Dominick Dunne could imagine?  Keep tuning in and find out!

Your pal,
Jill

Ma J's Comedy Gold

Dear Readers,

Oh!  I've forgotten to tell you the latest, greatest Ma Jaracz story!

When I visited them the last time I was in Chicago, I "innocently" asked my mother if she was watching the Sarah Palin reality show.  I say "innocently," of course, because I know Ma J is not a Palin fan, and that she'd probably have an opinion or two about her and the show.  What I didn't expect was the several minute diatribe about Palin and the fact that she was pimping herself on TV and had better not run for President because she was a quitter--but I was not prepared for how she wrapped up her rant:

And what I want to know is, who's taking care of the retarded kid?

Readers, I could not have asked for better comedy gold.  I don't mean to exploit my aging parents, but senior citizens say the best stuff!

At the time, I laughed, because, really, no one says "retarded" anymore in reference to someone who actually has mental retardation.  In fact, "retarded" can be considered a derogatory word--well, except here in Boston, where any jerk can be and is quickly deemed a "fuckin' retahd."

My mom, to her credit, defended herself--because from the way she was saying it, she did mean actually mentally retarded.  She just didn't use the phrase "baby with Down's Syndrome," which is apparently more acceptable and/or the correct way to phrase it (this I picked up from my medical editor and educator friends.  I didn't realize "Down's Syndrome baby" was not accurate).

I don't know if she'll ever change the way she phrases things, but I do have to agree with her--who is taking care of Trig these days?

Your pal,
Jill