I have decided after getting some advice from friends to try a new schedule for SES/SUMS IT UP columns in May because they told me I was doing too many and this was an example of less being more. I was told it was coming off as my trying too hard and seeming needy. One thing that Finn taught me early on when he came into my life is to acknowledge need without being needy so I don’t want to slip back into that old habit. I was just trying to prove how serious and committed I am to writing this column.
So for the next few weeks the schedule will be Monday and Friday for RUBRICS. Wednesday will be a FINN & MATTY column. Saturday will still be THE WEEKEND READ and Sunday will still be A POEM FOR A SUNDAY. This will give me more time to transcribe interviews and write my upcoming LETTER FROM LONDON columns.
Today we honor Jane Fonda. I wanted to do this today because I felt so bad for her as I tried to watch the latest episodes of Grace & Frankie that dropped at Netflix. It took me three attempts to finish watching all of Episode 5 of Season 7 titled “The Raccoon.” It was so badly written and directed, one of the sloppiest episodes of any comedy series I have ever watched. The shallowness was so shocking that conversely it was deeply unfunny. I had a hard time telling if Fonda were portraying the put-upon Grace or gritting her teeth as Jane Fonda to get through the awfulness of it all. I tended to think it was the latter. I actually felt pity for her. Lily Tomlin just seems to go blithely on. There has always been a seam of gratitude in her own grit as a performer. But it was painful to watch. So I decided last night, I’d do this for Jane today.
“It's never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be happy,” she’s said. Now that this last season is behind her, I hope she goes on to happier projects because she is still a remarkable actress. The lack of respect for her being one was palpable as I made it through that episode last night.
Here are some other things she's said:
“Feminism is not just about women; it's about letting all people lead fuller lives.”
“You don't learn from successes. You don't learn from awards. You don't learn from celebrity. You only learn from wounds and scars and mistakes and failures.”
“It’s a toxic desire to try to be perfect. I realized later in life that the challenge is not to be perfect. It’s to be whole.”
“We’re still living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That’s the old metaphor: You’re born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude. A more appropriate metaphor for aging is a staircase. The upward ascension of the human spirit, bringing us into wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.”
(TO SEE THE CURATED IMAGES - THE “SOME JOY” IS A SURPRISE - AND READ MORE QUOTES FROM JANE, SUBSCRIBE FOR $5 A MONTH OR $50 A YEAR. THANKS.)