This Week
Jane Fonda brings attention to #FireDrillFridays (Image via France24)
Jane Fonda has spent every Friday in October getting arrested in Washington, D.C. while protesting climate change, and plans to keep it up through January. Get inspired by the ladies of “Your Mom,” a punk rock band started by four women over 60. For all the dog lovers out there who wonder what their pets are really thinking. Don’t we all wish Phoebe Waller-Bridge would hustle over with her ukelele to calm our nerves like she did for Olivia Coleman? Bravo to the APA for embracing the singular “they” in their latest publication manual. A fascinating interview between Nell Scovell and David Letterman, ten years after she called out his sexual favoritism with female staff. This week’s grossout: Don’t drink tea or coffee on a plane, and maybe don’t even wash your hands. We all know how important our friends are to our well-being, but it never hurts to be reminded how to be a better friend. Keanu Reeves (55) stepped out with his artist girlfriend, Alexandra Grant (46) and we stan for her naturally gray hair, but some are calling out the "collective sexist ageism" in thinking that their 9 year age difference is refreshing.
Obsessed: Cameo
"Natalie" aka Mindy Cohn says "Hey TueNighters!"
If you told 12-year-old me that one day her beloved Rex Smith — he of feathered blonde curls, bandana-wearing weddings, strumming guitar, and moon eyes for Jessie — was available for a personalized message to ME, well, it just wouldn’t have made any sense. But now, in 2019 it is possible. Rex is one of the more popular celebrity message-makers on Cameo, an app that allows you to buy personal messages from celebs you love. Rex takes his work seriously, with a gold-record-packed studio for nearly daily performances of his 1978 hit “You Take My Breath Away” over and over and over.
I imagine it’s not a bad way to make your fans happy — and make a little cash on the side. You’ll find all sorts in the mix of talent — from Flava Flav, Melissa Joan Hart, Corey Feldman, Kathy Griffin,and most of the Real Housewives, to Melissa “Half-Pint” Gilbert, the actress from Valley Girl, Anthony Scaramucci (of course) as well as many, MANY people you’ve never heard of. Prices range from $35 to over $2000 for the likes of Caitlyn Jenner, Sarah Jessica Parker or Charlie Sheen.
It makes for a hilarious, seriously surprising gift; I gave my brother a message from actor Larry Wilcox, who appeared to be dialing in from his California living room. “Hey Johnny D…I played John Baker on CHiPS and I want to tell you Happy Birthday!” So TueNighters, I wanted to get a Cameo for US and searched the app for just the right person. Given our collective love for the Facts of Life, I thought this person might just do the trick. Watch above — Take it away Natalie!
— Margit Detweiler
TueNight 10: Kate Hanley
Kate Hanley hanging out in her backyard (Photo credit: Bethany O Photography)
Age: 49. I actually enjoy saying the number because in my mind I'm already telling myself I'm 50 in preparation; but I've still got seven months of my 40s left, dammit!
Quick Bio: Kate is the host of the podcast "How to Be a Better Person" and author of the book of the same name. She lives in Providence, RI with her husband, two kids, and a rescue dog named Cookie.
Beyond the Bio: “The thing I love the most about full-on middle age is losing the compulsion to have people like me and speaking up; the thing that trips me out is all the things you thought would never happen to you, happening to you: crepey skin, thinning hair, a new sun spot every week, needing reading glasses, developing a wattle, feeling time speed up. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I'm like, "who is that?" But, hey, I'm younger than I'll ever be, and I'm fairly healthy. I appreciate these things immensely and really try not to take them for granted.”
1. On the nightstand: A selenite crystal wand (for cleansing; lots and lots of cleansing) and a quartz pendulum (for universal guidance), a tiny battery-operated clock with a button you press to turn the light on so you can tell what time it is at 2 a.m. without having the numbers blaring at you all night; pens; reading glasses; a lamp; stacks of books, which at the moment include How to Be an Anti-Racist, Listful Living, The Testaments, and Wild Bird (my 11 yo daughter's favorite book she wants me to read); two different sleep masks; dust.
2. Can't stop/won't stop: Not doing things I don't want to do. Bringing my dog along on car rides around town. Reading. Hating group texts. Snuggling my kids at bedtime even though they're older because that's when they tell me what's really on their minds.
3. Jam of the minute: Terry Gross. It's a damn travesty that I am just not listening to much music in my life except in the car, where it's either top 40 radio (my one beef with Providence is that our radio is decidedly meh), or ancient CDs.
4. Thing I miss: Writing and receiving letters; having weekend days with nothing in particular to do.
5. 80s crush: First it was a toss up between Gopher and Isaac on The Love Boat. Later it was David Addison on Moonlighting. And of course, throughout it all (and to this day), Prince.
6. Current crush: Elizabeth Warren. And I'm still not over the hot priest from Fleabag.
7. Will whine about: Being menopausal during the Trump era. It just feels like insult to injury. Also, bad hair days.
8. Will wine about: Now that it's fall, pinot noir. Although I'm having a problematic relationship with wine lately in that if I have more than one glass, I wake up in the middle of the night for a few hours, but after I have one glass I think it's a really great idea to have another. So I guess I will also whine about that.
9. Best thing that happened recently: I launched a podcast! (See above.)
10. Looking forward to: Getting some a-holes out of office in 2020; bidding my period adieu; inspiring more people to be better people; figuring out how to monetize my podcast; turning 50 — I'd rather be at the dawn of a new era than at the tail end of an old one.
AMENDS
Story: How I Cleared Out the Clutter in My Heart
By Kristin Booker
Last spring while I was in a yoga class, the song, “Hearts A Mess” by Gotye came on. And it struck me that I was right there with him: my heart was literally a junkyard of broken bits.
When people talk about tidying up, immediately thoughts fly to the home: desks cluttered with unopened mail, drawers filled with messy receipts, closets that seems to vomit forth clothes you can’t remember ever wearing.
We buy magazines that tell us how to de-clutter our home to help keep us sane and happy. They tell us we’ll breathe easier after hauling 20-gallon trash bags worth of useless items to the curb. We’re better people now that we’ve rid ourselves of all that physical clutter.
But what we rarely stop to consider is the wreckage of our past, as it remains cluttered in our hearts. The relationship that never quite died, the rejection letter that told you your work was not good enough, the person who told you your love was not quite right for them.
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