| Well, I didn't move to Canada. After all my fuss and feathers, pomp and circumstance, punch and judy, the presidental election meant nothing to me in the longrun. Not to be a downer but we have elected a simple simon, and it doesn't really matter. I am just looking forward to all the misnomers, verbal pratfalls, and funny brow furrowing of the next four years. All in all, it was a fabulous year. 2000 has already been penciled in by hip historians as the fateful year that contained the Little Election That Could. But there was so much excitement elsewhere: in pop culture, in Britney Spears pants, in television programming and yes, in my personal life, that is ultimately more important. The year-end spectaculars always intrigue and irritate me: I like watching what "events" are singled out as important. Here's just a sampling of what I enjoyed in 2000 (in no particular order): 1. All the furor in the music industry over Napster, a case which I think is of monumental importance to the future of commercial art in America (and I'm not saying that because I just got a CD Burner for Christmas.) I like the way that bands like Metallica (does anyone still listen to them anyway?) have thrown up their arms in disgust at this harmless little community-building music swapper. I also like the way that real musicians, like B.B. King, have applauded Napster for exposing the multitudes to new and different music. The court's inability to supress Napster is just another year 2000 example of the court's inability to do anything (ie recount votes, send little aliens back to Communism, recognize Mills Lane's legitimacy as a judge.) 2. "Survivor." The parallels between the show and what was really happening in our country were too uncanny to be true. It was the most horrible and the most wonderful thing that has happened to television in a long time. It was fiction, but gripping and energetic, and those who have criticized it for not being real don't understand that it wasn't supposed to be real. And even if you hated the show, you have to admit that the characterizations stick with you; Richard Hatch's gut attains some sort of weird cultural significance, like Elvis' pompadour. 3. My personal involvement in theatre. It has sustained me and infuriated me (as many of you know). I have learned to always find my audience and play directly to them, not wait for my audience to play off me. 4. The fact that our local newspaper, The Post Star, despite new graphics and headings, is still as stupid as ever. 5. My discovery of music of the 1930's (sweet bands.) It tastes like strawberries and smells like linen strung up on a telephone pole. Great trailblazers like Ozzie Nelson, Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallee and many, many more have been unjustly forgotten. 6. Permit me to get sentimental: I think above all, I have learned to admire human folly in all its blustery greatness and withered optimism. Comeuppance, never being totally on top, or being yanked down once you get there, is at the heart of who we are and why. I adore my friends and family who have helped me understand this fallibilty and have helped me deconstruct the myths. 7. Something else I really enjoy is the way that I can talk for sentences about something that would take someone else four words (example: "I love being here.") I guess I'm pompous and some things never change. I said once, "The introductions are longer than the song." Yup. Remember when we all had little pebbles in our throats last New Year's Eve at midnight because of Y2K anxieties? That was funny. This year, I propose that we all drink some champagne, watch Dick Clark on his typical New Year's autopilot, have some fun, and just think about it all (But hopefully not as sentimentally as me.) Plus, this year, we don't have to worry that the lights will go out. Happy Birthday to my Website and Happy 2001! |