Random bits

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while...lots has been going on to preoccupy me. Mostly work-related...the company announced last week that major cost reductions need to be made, including downsizing the workforce, so every employee has been offered a voluntary buyout. The announcement of how many buyouts will be given and to whom will be disclosed next week, and then involuntary layoffs are expected very soon after that. I'm not worried about my own job, but there is a gloomy and somewhat fearful mood among employees at all our papers, and it makes getting things done a little more difficult. As a manager, I can see how and why the company needs to do this...even though we are a newspaper and dedicated to serving and informing the public, the fact of the matter is we are still a business, and we have to operate the way other businesses operate. When revenue stops flowing, steps need to be taken. As a person, I don't like that it involves laying off employees, but at this point, I'm not sure much of anything else can be done to make enough of an impact on our monetary losses. So, anyway, that's what's been going on. Within about two weeks, the workplace could be very different from what I/we know now.

I was also gone for a few days...Ryan and I left Thursday night to visit his parents in Arizona, and got back last night. It's a verrrrry long drive, but we still had a good time. On the way down we stopped in a little ghost town called Calico. It was restored by Knott's Berry Farm in the '60s, I believe. It's a cute little place and we had fun exploring it. Ryan had been there as a little kid and wanted to go back...I'm surprised he still remembered how to get there!

I've also been boning up on all the music I have to learn for a spate of upcoming performances with both Special Blend and The Blackhawk Chorus. The Blenders have quite a few gigs scheduled (woo!), and the repertoire for each one is slightly different. There are some songs I need to learn that they already know from before I was in the group, so I have to get on that quickly to catch up, and in the meantime we've been sight-reading new stuff just for fun. We are learning a super-hard version of "That Old Black Magic" for our appearance with BHC. I like it...it's grown on me...but the piece is set to an almost hilariously fast Latin beat. That song fits into the BHC's spring theme of A Tribute to Judy Garland, which leads me to my next random bit...

I've been reading a very well-written biography of Judy Garland's life, "Get Happy" by Gerald Clarke. I've actually been depressed since I've been reading the book, because I can't get over how heartbreaking Judy Garland's life was, and how miserable she must have been even though she oozed natural talent! So many things fed into major self-doubt...she never believed she was really that talented or pretty...and that, coupled with the fact that her mother and MGM started and basically encouraged her drug addiction, are the major issues that underscored a life that was valued by many adoring fans, but not by the person who was living it. Seriously, you just have to read the book. I found a used copy on Amazon for $6. I feel emotionally drained just thinking about how awesome this person was, but almost everyone in her life basically took a crap on her and didn't stick around to help clean it up.

Check out this video from "Meet Me in Saint Louis," which I believe was filmed/released in 1945 and was said to be one of Judy's favorites because she actually liked the way she looked in it (thanks in part to her eventual husband and baby daddy, Vincente Minelli, who was the director).



All this got me to thinking about Britney Spears, and how she must be suffering some of the same problems. Now yes, I know, I have said some unkind words about the Brit. And I don't know that I feel complete sympathy for her yet...but Judy Garland's life does make me ponder Britney's situation, and feel a little bit of remorse. The public eye can be very unkind, and can serve to enhance what damage has already been done. We are all "wounded spirits," in one way or another, but don't always stop to recognize that fact in regards to someone else's situation. I don't know what exactly is going on in the Spears world, but I do know that what is being said or talked about probably isn't helping. I'm not going to cry on the Internet about it like that creepy YouTube dude, but I thought I should call attention to the fact that when you think about it, none of us really has the right to judge...you never know what is really going on in someone's life, nor whether that person even has that much control over it (or that much awareness of reality to begin with, so can they really help it?). Makes ya think. I know celebrities are aware that as public figures, they will become the target of more scrutiny and attention, but sometimes a line has to be drawn as to what gets criticized and what get singled out as needing assistance. I don't think any of us would sit back and watch someone throw themselves off a bridge without trying to do something about it...well, basically that's what we're doing with Britney...and what people did with Judy. In retrospect, it's like, "why didn't anyone do something?!" I know there's a difference between an MGM legend and a modern pop princess, but still...at the core, they are/were both human beings. That has to be worth something. We can't all really be that heartless.

Well, there you go...some wheels turning in my mind as I read my book!