Blade Runner

 

 August is almost over but there's still time for one more heat wave (which could very well spill over into September.) The "cooling centers" mentioned above are actually recreation centers, community centers, libraries, etc., places that weren't especially conceived of to cool people off but nevertheless are able to do so because of this technological marvel:

Air conditioning has been around since shortly before World War I but didn't become truly commonplace until after World War II. So how did people keep cool during the summers between the wars?

Well, you had to be innovative, I guess. Take these four women, all employees of the St. Paul Daily News. The year is 1936, Minnasota is the grip of a major heat wave, and it's vital that those who work for the paper don't pass out from the heat and stay cooled off enough to report on that day's big story--namely that Minnesota is in the grip of a major heat wave and people have to look for ways to cool off or else they'll pass out. As you might have guessed, this picture came from the Daily News. Sometimes in journalism you are the story. Anyway, as you can see an electric fan is sitting on top of a four-hundred pound block of ice. That struck me as dangerous when I first came across this photo. Ice is actually water, and I was taught at an early age that water and electricity don't mix, one reason why it's wise to turn off the faucet when using an electric toothbrush, or else you might end up zapping the enamel off your teeth. I did some research and found out that water is only conducive to electricity when in liquid form. So what the women in this photo are doing is perfectly safe. As long as the ice doesn't melt. Which it won't because it's got an electric fan sitting on top of it keeping it in a frozen state. It's all perfectly timed. Nothing can go wrong. If by chance something did go wrong, the four women would have again ended up in the paper--on the obituary page.

Daytime Talk Show Pride

 

Donahue’s work was magnanimous. He not only humanized marginalized communities, he helped humanize me. I didn’t feel so different because I saw queer people who were normal people, like me, on Donahue. Whether or not he knew what he was doing, he wasn’t only changing public opinion and perception, but he also helped make me, and others like me, feel like we weren’t freaks--Jerry Springer already did a good enough job with that!

--John Casey, The Advocate

Phil Donahue was one of GLAAD and the LGBTQ community’s earliest and loudest champions. In the 1980s, he revolutionized coverage of LGBTQ people and our stories on his popular daytime talk show, prioritizing fairness and accuracy when misinformation and homophobia were rampant in the media. Using his platform to elevate the personal, human story at the heart of so many issues including HIV, coming out, trans equality, women’s equality and even facilitating the first ever marriage for a same-sex couple to be broadcast on television, Donahue will forever be remembered as a trailblazer for equality and LGBTQ representation on TV. At a time when other notables were hesitant to even speak on LGBTQ issues, Donahue hosted the first ever GLAAD Media Awards in 1990, where he was honored as GLAAD’s Media Person of the Year. GLAAD also recognized his long-time allyship and legacy by giving him a Special Recognition Award at the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2009. Our condolences and gratitude go out to his wife and tireless LGBTQ ally Marlo Thomas, as well as his family, friends, and everyone inspired by his hugely successful career as a storyteller and television changemaker.

--GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis

Amen. Revolutionized the talk show and a great early voice for feminism and the LGBT community.

--Andy Cohen

1935-2024

 

 

 

 

Goodbye, Mr Chip

 

Summer is drawing to a close, and soon thousands, even millions, of children will find themselves back in the classroom, just as generations of children did before them. For this particular generation, however, a new concern has arisen.

That's right, cell phones. Students reading texts instead of textbooks, and paying more attention to a liquid-crystal display and less attention to a flesh-and-blood teacher, thereby preventing them from getting a proper education. But all is not lost. Here in Ohio, the governor a few months ago surrounded himself with some smiling, well-groomed middle-school aged children (presumably the kind that do read textbooks and do pay attention to flesh-and-blood teachers) and signed into law a bipartisan bill requiring public schools across the state to implement cell phone policies rather than have digital chaos reign supreme. The reason I'm writing about this now instead of back in May when the bill was signed is because I'm suddenly seeing news stories from around the country about similar efforts to ban cell phones from school. I don't want to ignore a trend, and if such news stories continue, well, it could end up being a bigger trend than the advent of cell phones in the first place. Honestly, try as I might, this isn't something I can be too snarky about. After a couple of years of news stories about books banned from school, a prohibition on cell phones is a refreshing, as well as a much more justifiable, change of pace. Still, a note of caution. Once students find themselves deprived of their mobile devices...

...an older form of social media could make a comeback.

Quips and Quotations (Emerald City Limits Edition)

 

That was my one big Hollywood hit, but, in a way, it hurt my picture career. After that, I was typecast as a lion, and there just weren't many parts for lions.

--Bert Lahr

Domestic Affairs

 

This father of two owns a cat. If that wasn't sufficient enough to balance the ticket, there's also a dog, Scout:

I think the Labradore mix is just an ally. After all, he's been fixed.

Graphic Grandeur (Bumped Bread Edition)

 

August just so happens to be National Sandwich Month. Now, as I'm sure you know there are many different kinds of sandwiches, but I'm going to pare it down to just two kinds: a sandwich you make yourself, and a sandwich that's already made for you, like what you would get in, say, a delicatessen. Already made saves you work, but in these inflationary times it may be cheaper to roll up your sleeves and construct one yourself. However, DIY involves not just physical labor but also mental labor, as when it comes to deciding what goes in-between those two pieces of bread, the possibilities are endless. If it's all too much for you to decide, these classic Blondie strips offer some suggestions:

On second thought, it might be safer to order one from the delicatessen, seeing as inflation has let up some.

Art by Chic Young 

Bouncing Back

 

I haven't been paying all that much attention to the Paris Olympics, but gymnast Simone Biles has managed to make inroads into my consciousness. Turns out we have something in common, and not simply United States citizenship: we've both been to a mental health professional. The similarity ends there, I'm afraid. I did it very quietly, and didn't tell people I'd gone to one until years later. Back in 2020, Biles perhaps would have liked to have done it quietly, too. Unfortunately, all eyes were on her at the Tokyo Olympics when she suddenly dropped out due to "the twisties." A colloquial rather than a medical term, there's nevertheless some real psychology behind it, as it has to do with what a gymnast experiences when they encounter a disconnect between their body and mind while performing skills, like twists, in competition. While executing a routine, a gymnast may lose their sense of space and air awareness, do more or fewer twists or flips than intended, possibly preventing a gymnast from landing safely on the mat. Biles herself had this to say:

"I say put mental health first. Because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it's OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are — rather than just battle through it."

Biles was slammed in some corners for being a "quitter", as well as "letting her country down", but multiple other gymnasts came forth and told of their own experiences with the twisties, and in the end it created a greater awareness of the role mental health plays in sports.

Since then, Biles has made a Olympic comeback, winning two gold medals in Paris (for Team and All-Around), and may win a few more in the next few days. Even if she doesn't she's already made Olympics history, having won four won earlier golds at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, six altogether, more than any other U.S. gymnast.

None of this means that the mental health issues have been forgotten, as Biles will tell you in this talk with the media not long after she won her sixth gold: 

Now let's see Simone Biles in action. Unfortunately, NBC Sports has put the kibosh on showing any part of their Olympics coverage on a mere blog like this. However, a YouTube site that goes by the name "Zennie62 You Live Oakland News Now NFL Draft Vegas" did have this video, which look to have been taped from a distance by somebody sitting in the stands. \

OK, I give up. Now Zennie62whateverthehellyoucallit took its video away. Man, this Olympic coverage must be worth its weight in, well, gold medals.  

I'm sending you right to YouTube post itself:

Simone Biles' AWE-INSPIRING floor routine clinches a record SIXTH gymnastics gold | Paris Olympics (youtube.com) 

 

No mental health issues there. Not even a Freudian slip.

                                                                           UPDATE

She just won a third gold in the Vault. That's seven Olympic golds altogether. Lest we forget, she's also won a silver in Tokyo and bronze each in Rio and Tokyo, so that's ten Olympic medals of any cast.

 

 

 

Quips and Quotations (Vapid Vapor Edition)

 

August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.

--Sylvia Plath