You Look Nice. I'm Sorry I Said So.

One of the problems with people today (yes, feel free to groan) is our collective refusal to take context into account in our seemingly irresistible desire to feel offended. To whit:

People got mad at President Cheeto this week because he "complimented" the first lady of France for not being fat, saying, "You're in such good shape...beautiful."

The Reebok meme is amusing, and I love corporations standing up and trolling Trump, but DUDE! The "compliment" was skeevy because TRUMP is skeevy, not because there is NEVER a context in which is acceptable to compliment a woman (or man) on physical fitness. It would depend on who said it, how, in what context, what else was said, the expression on the complimenter's face, his or her body language. I can remember (and at this point it is quite distant) being in the gym and being quite pleased that a guy whose ass I had just kicked "racing" on the treadmill next to me said I was in great shape. I felt strong and tough and like all my hard work was paying off. (I can also imagine being creeped out beyond comfort if he'd said it in a different way. Context is everything.)

But now according to this meme it is never acceptable to comment, even positively, on someone's appearance, and I think that is so unfortunate. I was at the grocery store last week, and I told the girl bagging my produce that she had a beautiful smile, and she seemed genuinely pleased to hear it and thanked me. Was the exchange deeply wrong?

It's a particularly unfortunate bitter twist that this position is being taken as body-positivity and inclusive ideas about beauty are becoming more widespread. What if I want to tell a curvy stranger that she's rocking an outfit at the mall? Should I not?

Entering another minefield, there is a young man at the same store with hair that I absolutely love, but I have hesitated to say so because he is African American, and I don't know whether I am "allowed" to have an opinion on his head full of wild, utterly gorgeous natural curls. Would that be seen as racist? (And, oh no! Is it racist to NOT comment because he's Black? Shit! What do I do???)

I know I have no right to tell people how they are permitted to dress or wear their hair, and I never would. Wear skinny jeans, let your pants hang below your panties, sport a mohawk, don a cowboy hat. I personally don't care for those fashions, but I keep my mouth politely shut because "you do YOU!" But it is so very sad that my small attempts to make strangers' days a little brighter by saying something nice about them are now evidently against the rules of intersectional feminist (but genderless!) political correctness.

Too Old for Rock and Roll?

Now that my kids are teens, or nearly so, we suddenly have an interest in going to rock concerts. Yay!

Unfortunately, I'm feeling horrible sticker shock. Despite Pearl Jam's best efforts in the 90s, ticket costs have gotten even more crazy than they were "back in MY day."  *grumble grumble grumble*

To whit, I bought tickets to Green Day for this summer, and in addition to the five hour drive to the middle of fucking nowhere plus the overnight stay that necessitates, I paid $89.95 per ticket plus a $19 PER TICKET "service fee." Dude, my bank prefers it when I use computers to do my transactions! So why am I being charged 20% more for buying online???

Wondering if I'm just that old, I used the math we've been doing in Antonio's algebra class to check whether the price increase is a natural result of inflation. I remember paying $30 for the ticket plus $7 in "service fees" for seeing Pearl Jam in 2000 or 2001. If I remember the price correctly, that would mean that the ticket price and service fee have increased at an average of over 6% per year. For context the CPI has averaged about 2.5% per year since 2000.

But Green Day is my kids' favorite band, and I like them too, and it's a good day at the end of summer, right between the kids' birthdays, so OK. I bit the bullet and bought the tickets.

Then today I got an email saying that the Goo Goo Dolls are playing their nearly-annual summer concert here at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. At least it's a short drive home from SPAC. I tried to see how much tickets cost because I would love to go. Not only are they close to that $89 Green Day price tag—plus "service fees" of course—but they are currently "pre-sale" only. WTF? They're on sale before they're on sale? They are only available to special groups who have paid for the advantage of getting tickets early. I could join the GGD fan club (for $29.95/year plus tax) in order to buy tickets today instead of waiting until they are available to buy tomorrow. (Head still wrapping around that.)

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about going to see some spectacular Beyonce and Katy Perry choreographed dance and multimedia extravaganza. It's just a couple of plain old rock concerts with aging musicians standing around singing and playing guitars and drums. Maybe colored lights and a big screen that's there at the venue anyway.

So it's not just that I'm getting old. We ARE getting screwed on ticket prices and service fees and gimmicks to separate us from ever more cash to see live music.

New Feature: #OFFS

I'm starting a new hashtagged feature: oh, for fuck's sake!!! It's kind of my own version of "Getting Irritated with Nadia G," but with a less affectated accent.

#OFFS

The inaugural edition is in response to the Spring 2017 Shen Community Education course list that came in the mail today.

Let me start by saying that I love education and I'm all for using the school resources in the evenings for classes for the community. Math and science help and SAT prep for students is great. Seminars on accessing Medicare and Medicaid benefits and caring for the elderly are truly a valuable public service. Swim lessons, conversational Spanish, and digital photography classes are just peachy. Heck, Aqua Zumba has the distinct advantage that nobody can see what a goof you look like doing Zumba!

But for fuck's sake,

• Introduction to Tarot
• Introduction to Essential Oils
• Explore the Chakras
• Messages from Beyond

Are you motherfucking kidding me? THIS RIGHT HERE is part of the anti-science scourge that is eroding our republic, and it's going on in my own school district!!!

Tarot cards and fortune telling are a low level con, essential oils have no proven health benefits, there is no evidence of the existence of "seven major energy centers in your body" that can become blocked, unbalanced, or otherwise troublesome, and your dead relatives are not trying to contact you from the "Other Side," seeing as how there is no data to suggest that there is ANY other side. 

And to think that this is being given a platform in the very classrooms where they are supposed to be teaching our children critical thinking.

Just say NO to supernatural bullshit and pseudo-science!