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Diary of an Indecisive Journalist

Do you keep a journal?  Have you ever gone back and read some of what you wrote years ago and then asked yourself, “Did I write that?” Were you are amazed that you ranted angrily about something that made you cuss someone out on paper or did you write in detail about a romantic daydream in which you fantasized being with that special someone like Billie Dee Williams or Paul Newman? Yummy!

Many U.S. Presidents kept diaries. So do some authors. Lewis Carroll, who penned Alice in Wonderland kept a diary. Even Oprah Winfrey does it. She said, “Keeping a journal will absolutely change your life in ways you’ve never imagined.”

Over the decades, I have kept a journal now and then. Currently, I am in the now stage. I actually started my very first diary when I was about 13 or 14. It didn’t have any juicy stuff in it. In fact, as I think about it now, my diary was totally unexciting. Like many boomers of limited means who reached adulthood in the late 1960s or early 70s, I didn’t have anything very exciting to write about. School activities. A boy I had a crush on. Fights with my siblings. My adolescent years were boring. I’m talking Leave It To Beaver and The Partridge Family boring. There is absolutely no comparison to what I imagine is in the diaries of some of today’s teenagers. OMG! Blush. Blush. Is boiling water hot? Does a fire ant sting? Can you say triple X-rated teens gone wild? You get the point.  

But back to mine. One day my mother discovered my diary in its poorly selected hiding place under my mattress (I’m sure today’s teenagers are much more creative) and apparently it was no trouble for her to open the flimsy lock on it. Afterward, at the first opportunity, she let me know that she had read it by vocally lashing me with some of my own words and private thoughts. I felt as violated as I imagine a rape victim must feel, so I tore every single page of that little book into tiny pieces and then threw it in the trash. I promised myself I would never keep another diary. That promise didn’t last long.

Some years later, when I was grown and on my own, I started journaling again. In my mid-twenties I had page-upon-page of my experiences scripted in a couple of three ring binders. Life had gotten more exciting. Then, when I was thirty-something, I destroyed those, too. Second dumb move. If I ever destroy another one of my journals I hope someone will put me in bio-checkmate. I doubt if anyone can remember every aspect of their own personal history without recording it. So, why did I destroy my diaries a second time? That’s a post for another day.

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Casting Call for Casey Anthony

Are you wondering, as I am, who will play the role of Casey Anthony when the movie is made about the woman who television host and former prosecutor, Nancy Grace, nicknamed Tot Mom? Anthony is the Florida woman who is currently on trial for allegedly murdering her two year old daughter, Caylee. We know there will be a movie. I can’t think of a court case that has garnered so much publicity since the OJ Simpson trial. He got a movie.

And didn’t Lifetime recently air a couple of films about Natalee Holloway, the student who disappeared in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip? There was even a movie made about Joran van der Sloot. He is the alleged killer of Holloway. By the way, he has reportedly impregnated his girlfriend while being held in a Peruvian jail on charges of murdering another young woman, Stephany Flores, five years to the day that Natalee disappeared. Can you believe that guy got conjugal visits? Can you believe that any woman in her right mind would trust getting that close to him?

My guess is that Lindsay Lohan might be a good candidate to play Anthony. And if Lohan happens to be inajailable, er, I mean unavailable, then maybe Katie Holmes would be offered the part. Lifetime probably has scriptwriters working feverously right this moment on the screenplay for “The Casey Anthony Story.” Unfortunately, real life dramas often provide better screen presentations than mock “reality” shows.

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Youth Obsessed Society

Yet another cute, talking baby was featured in an E*Trade commercial during last February’s Superbowl game. The eerie thing about commercials featuring babies and young children acting as adults is that it is an uncanny reminder of our youth obsessed society. Don’t get me wrong. I really get a kick out of seeing the live and computer-generated babies, especially the Evian roller skating toddlers. They rock!  But whenever I see one of those commercials it reminds me of the 1968 movie Wild in the Streets. If you never saw it, it is a satire about the 1960s youth movement. In the film, not only is age 30 considered over-the-hill, it becomes the mandatory retirement age; and everyone who crosses that threshold is taken to a concentration camp. Now that’s all I’ll tell you about the plot. If you want to see the movie, rent it or you may be able to find it on one of the cable channels. Just be prepared – by today’s movie standard it will probably bore you to tears. And remember — today anything is possible.

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