Court Square, Queens, July 2007

I have two competing subjects to write about today, and since this is my last post before my retreat, I’m going to tackle them both.

One is the use of the Beatles’ song “All You Need is Love” in a diaper commercial. The other is the death of the Weekly World News.

Random, right?

Well, they’re both issues I read about recently that stirred me up.

Like many people, I hold the Beatles in a position of almost religious esteem. They were the perfect yin and yang of songwriting, the ideal balance between cerebral artistry and melodic pop fun. So when I first heard that “All You Need is Love” is going to be used in a Luvs diaper commercial, with “Luvs” substituted for “Love,” I was pretty appalled.

Unfortunately, the story I read didn’t quote Paul or Ringo - who have long since lost control of the use of their music - on what they thought of the development. For me, that was the key: What Would the Beatles Do? (WWBD)

But then I remembered “Anticipation,” by Carly Simon, and its effective use in ketchup commercials in the ‘70s. When I was a kid I actually grew to like the song by hearing it on TV. So maybe Luvs will actually be something of a boost for the Beatles among new listeners - kids who otherwise don’t know their music.

Besides, I can’t help but think that John Lennon would have found the whole situation laughably absurd.

As for the Weekly World News, I’m just sorry to see it go. It’s the supermarket tabloid that used to scream headlines about Bat Boy and Bigfoot and Aliens landing in your backyard.

When I was in college, the WWN was a staple impulse buy on late-night beer runs or snack food expeditions. My first boyfriend, Mike, used to love the WWN and we’d often read it together and laugh uproariously.

It’s one of my treasured memories of Mike, who died from pancreatic cancer just a few years after we broke up. When he was sick, I mailed him a WWN to cheer him up, and he wrote back a postcard that said “Thanks, but I broke down and subscribed!”

When I worked for a newspaper in Sarasota, I wrote an article about a church that was holding a fundraiser for a Romanian immigrant who needed a new prosthetic arm. (This is the kind of weird assignment you sometimes find yourself doing in local journalism.) The Weekly World News, of all places, picked up my story. And darned if little old ladies all across the land didn’t send money to buy that Romanian his arm. (He got it, too!)

The Weekly World News certainly never elevated anyone’s IQ. But I think it was actually far less harmful than a lot of the tabloid celebrity junk that’s being printed now - and that I never bought, even in my most late-night, drunken collegiate moments.

Enjoy the next week, everybody! Until August 6!

Broadway, SoHo, May 2007

Had a little crisis last night with my computer. I had a friend over and we decided to watch “Ugly Betty,” which I have never seen, by streaming the video from ABC’s Web site. Unfortunately I found that I need some kind of computer update (of course) and was having trouble with the download from ABC. So my friend suggested watching it through iTunes instead.

I had no idea iTunes even offered TV shows, but apparently it does. So I tried to download “Ugly Betty,” only to find that, once again, I needed a newer version of iTunes to watch it. So I downloaded the newer iTunes.

Panic! Upon completing the upgrade, iTunes NO LONGER WORKED. It just gave me a message saying my operating system was too old to run the new iTunes. I couldn’t see any of my music or go back to the original iTunes.

By this time, my friend was rolling his eyes and we’d pretty much given up on “Ugly Betty.” But I was not going to give up my iTunes without a fight. So I looked around online for options to revert back to the older iTunes, which involves deleting a lot of files and moving things around - enough fiddling in the computer’s inner workings to make me nervous.

Finally my friend suggested calling his partner, who told me how to easily upgrade my operating system. I downloaded OSX upgrades from Apple, and all seems to be well again.

Whew!

Computers definitely offer interesting opportunities to confront our control issues, and our frustrations when things don’t go as planned!

Hell's Kitchen, June 2007

This has been an interesting week at work. Much of my time has been consumed by a disagreement between two employees - I’ve found myself in the role of conflict mediator. It’s been more than interesting. It’s been downright hard.

I’ve tried to understand and weigh both sides, and to help the ever-widening group of people involved to also understand. I’ve tried to do justice to the offended employee while being fair to the one accused of offending.

It’s surprisingly difficult to make everyone happy. Listening seems to help a lot - really listening to those complaining, whether directly affected or a bystander. And keeping a level head, needless to say, is essential.

I think the issue is more or less resolved. But wow, how taxing it all was. I don’t think I’ve been this tense at work for years.

Long Island City, Queens, July 2007

Photos of flowers are so easy...but something about the sunlit pink against the black background was especially nice.

I'm off on my Zen retreat in just four days! I feel a combination of excitement (at the prospect of embarking on a long, intense period of practice) and dread (also at the prospect of embarking on a long, intense period of practice). This is a typical feeling for me just before a retreat -- as much as I love it, all the sitting can be difficult and uncomfortable. Funny how I can love something that, at least in the immediate sense, is not always especially pleasant.

Mercer Street, SoHo, June 2007

I can't remember whether I've used this photo before or not! I hope I'm not repeating myself. At any rate, I love this piece of street art, especially with its shiny gold glow on that black background.

I've been seeing fireflies in my back courtyard the last few weeks. Isn't it impressive that here, in the middle of a city block hemmed in by concrete and traffic, there's enough of an ecosystem to produce fireflies in summer? Sometimes when I look out my window at dusk I see them flashing on and off, hovering amid the branches of the horse chestnut tree. A little summer magic in the heart of Manhattan!

Long Island City, Queens, July 2007

There's an art museum called P.S. 1 in Queens (yes, it used to be a public school) that's affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art. Every Saturday afternoon and evening during the summer they hold a sort of party in the courtyard, with a DJ and dancing and beer, and lots of people lounging around in hammocks. I went yesterday with several of my friends from Queens, and we had a ball.

We were really impressed with the diversity of the crowd. A very wide age range - mostly 20- and 30-somethings, but also many people older than that. All races. Gay and straight. It was pretty impressive to see a single event that drew so many different people, all mixing it up on the dance floor.

And what a great idea to really animate an art museum, and overcome its essentially formal atmosphere!

Long Island City, Queens, July 2007

My cat seems to be going through a rough patch again, health-wise. She got a bladder infection last weekend, which necessitated a visit to the "cat emergency room" on Sunday night (and never mind how much THAT cost). She's been on antibiotics all week, but the vet cultured the infection and belatedly realized that the antibiotics we've been giving her are not the most effective for this particular bacterium. So today we're going to switch to another kind.

I am so lucky that she'll take medicine in her food. Otherwise I don't know how I would get any medication down her.

The most sobering news was that her kidneys are not functioning well. This apparently can be masked by hyperthyroidism, so now that we've corrected that problem, the kidney issue has moved to the fore. But I'm not sure there's much we can do about it. It's just something that happens to old cats, and I don't think it represents an imminent danger. But you never know.

For now, she seems pretty outwardly healthy. She purrs, plays, eats well and keeps herself groomed. I'm going to start calling her the "Million Dollar Cat."