There is a new post up on my other blog. Please click the link at the bottom for the full post….
There has always been a myth that New Englanders locked their crazy relatives in the attic. Everyone knows, in the South, most of ours roamed free.
However in the 1970′s another phenomenon occurred: People started putting their teenagers in the basement.
More: Chapter 40: In the Basement | My Southern Gothic Life.
Filed under Danville, My Journey, Social Commentary, Style, The South, Virginia
Seems appropriate to this rainy Monday….
But then, Karen Carpenter is always appropriate…
Filed under Entertainment, Media, Music, Style, Television
New post up on my other blog:
I’m walking a thin line with this blog. I’m not mentioning people who are still alive and active, so the one’s I mention can’t fight back.
My memories may be colored by time and hazy as a result. But, I won’t go farther in this forum. I love and respect my friends- and some of my family- too much to share secrets they might not want me to share.
That makes me a little sad to have so many important memories that I share with people who are no longer here..but I guess that’s one of the downsides to getting older. You realize you have outlived some of the most important people in your life.
But you are still here. And you carry then the ones who are gone with you as part of yourself. And that counts for a lot…
Filed under Danville, Gay, Social Commentary, Style, The South
This was the first “disco” song played at my college fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, at Washington and Lee University in the late 1970’s.
As I recall, it was quite controversial to play this as previously it had been all Beach Music or some strange Southern rock stuff late at night…
But my friend Ralph prevailed. He was after a new attitude for the parties…
And the parties got much better…
It was a good mix…
And we danced all night…
Because it might have been “disco” but you could still shag to it…
Filed under Entertainment, My Journey, Social Commentary, Style, Virginia
Oh, how things have changed since the dark ages when I first went to W&L in the fall of 1977 and lived in an unair-conditioned dorm with a shared phone down the hall. And I thought I was cutting edge back then with both a TV and a record player/stereo in my room….
I was also the only Freshman with a stick vacuum cleaner for the carpets I brought with me…
For the past two years, Washington and Lee’s Information Technology Services, in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, has surveyed incoming first-year students to find out what kinds of technology they are bringing to campus. Those of us in the manual-typewriter and clock-radio generation of college students can only look in awe at what we’re seeing on campus today, especially the explosion in wireless devices.
For instance, about 60 percent of the entering students this fall brought smart phones with them. Smart phones are defined as those cell phones that offer data service, including Web browsing and e-mail. That represents a significant increase of 21 percent over just one year ago. As Jeff Overholtzer, director of strategic planning and communications for ITS, indicates, this is only the beginning. “We expect the increase in ownership of smart phones to continue. Virtually all students use cell phones, and use them in many ways, including texting (99 percent); the Web (61 percent); Facebook (59 percent); e-mail (55 percent); personal calendar (45 percent); and music (34 percent).”
When it comes to computers, only two out of 466 entering students did not bring one. On the other hand, 36 students brought two more more computers. And laptops now represent almost 99 percent of the total computers. While Macs had been in a steady climb in recent years, that trend leveled out this year, with about 61 percent of students bringing Macs.
More: Wireless Explosion « Washington and Lee University News.
I love Joe Jackson. This is one of my favorite songs and videos from the 1980’s.
So many layers….and still so – if not more – relevant today…
Filed under Entertainment, Gay, Media, Music, Social Commentary, Style
Gag me….
Bristol Palin is one of the four finalists on “Dancing With the Stars,” the No. 1 rated show in the country, a fact that has bedeviled some fans and critics.
The 20-year-old daughter of the former governor of Alaska has consistently earned low scores from the show’s on-camera judges, but those scores are combined, a la “American Idol,” with the contestant’s call-in vote, where Miss Palin is a juggernaut.
The show’s producers think tea party voters who back Sarah Palin have turned “Dancing With the Stars” into a referendum on the power of grass roots political muscle.
via Tea party politicizing Dancing With the Stars? – Washington Times.
Filed under Entertainment, Media, Politics, Social Commentary, Style, Television
Interesting article for the W&L and theatre friends. I didn’t realize he and multiple Tony Award Nominee Rob Ashford also went to my college, Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, VA about the same time I did….
While his fellow students at Washington and Lee University may not recognize him around campus, his fans would know Grant Aleksander immediately.
He is the actor who portrayed Phillip Spaulding on the daytime drama “Guiding Light” at different times between 1982 and 2009. He also appeared in television series and movies, including the 1986 movie “Tough Guys” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Aleksander, 50, has now returned to W&L to complete his theater major 30 years after he left to pursue his acting career.
AND
Aleksander said he left W&L after his sophomore year to transfer to Tisch School of the Arts at New York University because he thought that he needed to go to a big theater school. “My assumption that I needed to be in New York because that was where the work was being done was correct,” he said. “But I was wrong to think that I needed to go to a big theater school. I learned an enormous amount about acting at W&L because I got to actually do it. I was in a lot of productions here and some of them were very difficult.”
“My time at W&L was really a pivotal time for me. I met the love of my life, who was a Lexington resident at the time, during a W&L production of Hamlet (he is married to attorney and former actress Sherry Ramsey) and we’re still happily together. I have nothing but wonderful memories of my time here. Now, it’s 30 years later and I’m surprised at how comfortable I feel back here in this environment. The school feels much as it did when I was here before, although there are some new buildings such as the sororities and the Lenfest Center.”
In addition to teaching acting classes, Aleksander is also assistant director to Mish for the Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins” to be performed at the end of October in the Lenfest Center. Mish described “Assassins” as more of an acting piece than singing and dancing. “That’s one of the reasons I really enjoy working with Grant on this. Plus, we’re getting twice as much done in a shorter amount of time,” he said. “While I’m working with one group, he can take another group aside to work with them. And the students love him. They sort of know about his career but it doesn’t faze them and he doesn’t allow it to.”
Aleksander has also paved the way for a group of students to watch a rehearsal of the revival of “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe in New York City, courtesy of his friend and Tony award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who roomed with Grant at W&L .
via Soap Star Grant Aleksander Resumes Classes at W&L after 30 Years :: Washington and Lee University.
Hard to believe it was 50 years ago today that JFK was elected President…
One of my first memories, as a very small child, is the JFK assasination coverage on TV….
Marking the 50th anniversary of the day that John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States, a trove of new photos taken during Kennedy’s campaign against Richard Nixon has been released for the first time.
Taken by staff photographers at Life magazine, the new images were captured as Kennedy crisscrossed the country in the spring and summer of 1960 in his attempt to become the youngest man ever elected president. They show Kennedy in a variety of situations, from standing atop the hood of a station wagon while addressing a small West Virginia crowd, to quiet, more contemplative moments inside hotel rooms.
via John F. Kennedy Photos from 1960 Campaign Published for First Time [PHOTOS].
Filed under Politics, Social Commentary, Style, Television
Lost in the 21st Century 
Making the Case for a $140 Turkey: bonappetit.com
We’ve gotten our Thanksgiving Turkey from these folks for the last 4 or 5 years. There is no going back once you’ve had a real, heritage breed Turkey. It’s expensive, but it’s only once a year. And we look forward to it all year long. It is a truly amazing difference in how much better these taste. I’ll never be able to eat a Butterball again…
Patrick Martins, Co-founder, Heritage Foods USA, Brooklyn; 718-389-0985; heritagefoodsusa.com
More: Making the Case for a $140 Turkey: BA Daily: Blogs : bonappetit.com.
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