All that glitters
You all know I don’t like writing about social or political issues on this site. Mostly because there are only about three of you reading regularly, and at least one is on the exact opposite of the spectrum from myself, and when I hear this person talking about a certain news channel named after a sneaky, dog-like animal similar to Swiper on Dora the Explorer (God, I’m talking politics and Dora, kill me now) I usually want to shove pencils in my eyes. So I usually stay away from all of that hoopla. Because I like my friends. And my readers.
Hi, readers!
But sometimes while watching the news, I’m very saddened by what I see. And I won’t go into hot topics like the war or the state of the country or our healthcare system or poverty or all of the things that actually mean something. Instead, lets talk about the really important stuff.
Hollywood.
Why are all of my childhood crushes dying of drug overdoses? First, Brad Renfro, who I adored in Tom & Huck. I think I plain wore that video out as a kid (there’s no accounting for taste, and besides, I was 9). To watch someone who was my age be so successful and then just crash so hard…it’s extremely sad to me. The same with Heath Ledger, with whom my crush developed when I was a teenager. And he, unlike Renfro, seemed to have an OK life. A balance. He didn’t seem to caught up in all of the craziness. He made movies that changed how I thought about the world. Films that made me cry and laugh and think. I mean, really, really think. You expect the news that someone like Britney Spears, who’s problems have been splashed all over the media, has died, but not someone like Heath Ledger.
It all makes me sad, but also shows me that everyone is human. Even when they have all the money and success in the world, even when they are fathers or mothers or sisters or brothers or friends. They can still lose sight of all of that, either through sickness or sadness or whatever else is poisoning their brains. It makes me feel both proud and lucky that I’ve been able to wipe the fog off of my glasses and view my life in the beauty and glory that it really is.
This is one of my favorite tributes to Heath Ledger. I think it’s best to remember people in their finest moments, instead of a barrage of photos over some sad music. Hopefully someday, when she’s much older, his poor daughter can watch this and see her dad as he was, instead of how the media saw him.
I thought of you when I heard the news, because the first time I saw Heath Ledger was in “Ten Things I Hate About You,” required viewing for Wika’s class, and I went with you and Chris Gregory. The worst part of this for me is that I once saw him in Brooklyn, with his little girl in a stroller, which made him so much more real to me. Just horrible.
Wow, I’d totally forgotten about seeing that movie with you guys. But it’s all coming back to me…crazy Wika and her insane assignments. I think the saddest thing is how his daughter will have to grow up without a parent. They were pregnant when I was, and for some reason, I tend to keep an eye on those celebrity children (crazy Suri Cruise, Gwen Stefani’s kid). I can’t imagine Lu growing up without a father, and I feel so much for Michelle Williams. How would you begin to explain this to a child?