Lament for Aaron Brown

Sometimes I feel like I’m in the middle of a Greek tragedy. Oh I haven’t killed my husband or my mother – nothing like that. I mean it more in a figurative sense --- as I watch my past and my present – but probably not my future – self destruct.

I’m talking about the traditional news media – specifically radio and TV news. The professional world I have loved all these years as a reporter and anchor and producer. So OK - what else is new? There are columns and blogs and watercooler discussions that start off this way all the time – have been for years now. But this time I’m not talking in broad generalities. This lament was triggered by a very personal sense of loss -- after the CNN bell tolled for Aaron Brown. I have watched his program at 10PM Eastern for years -- and totally appreciated his adult way of dissecting the big news of the day (and sometimes the little stories as well) -- and putting some non-ideological spin on matters that needed that experienced raised eyebrow.

I wonder if the numbers CNN raves about after Anderson Cooper was added to the broadcast were for Cooper -- or just because the last few months have had so many big stories -- tragedy after tragedy, the White House follies, the Supreme Court nominations. Or maybe some of both.

CNN - like so many other news organizations -is fixated on somehow changing the way news is disseminated -- in a desperate attempt to lure younger viewers. The plain truth is this group of 20 somethings is NEVER going to watch TV as its parents do. And if anyone really remembers what it was like to be young -- he or she will also recall a total disinterest in hard news -- except for earthshaking events. News awareness comes when you get responsibilities -- when your life might be impacted by news events or politics. And that's with or without the internet and the wirelessly connected Gen Y-ers.

Aaron Brown ran a grown-up newscast. With a dollop of fun and sarcasm thrown in for relief. Yes - he's a bit quirky. But for goodness sake -- what is Anderson Cooper? His reports from the hurricane-damaged sites were wonderful and involved and emotional -- all the things a good reporter in those situations should be. But when you transfer that kind of stumbling conversational approach to the anchor desk -- especially for a supposed newscast of record at the end of the day -- it goes beyond quirky.

Perhaps there is room for both kinds of approaches in news; after all what news should NOT be is all the same -- that cookie cutter approach we see in so many consultant-driven local newscasts. But to tell Aaron Brown there is no place for him at CNN anymore -- that really tells his audience how little "news" matters there -- and how much it's become all about something else -- even beyond the bottom line which drives all news organizations now. What exactly that "something" is -- I don't know. But it sure isn't about doing the best newscast you can do.

A Dollar And A Dream

Hey – you never know! All you need is a dollar and a dream! You gotta be in it to win it! I guess you know what I’m writing about ---those huge, juicy lottery jackpots with Broadway marquee numbers that seem to suck you right in – as well as your dollar or five or ten.

OK. I know gambling is addictive. And probably foolish. What are the odds for winning the latest $340 million Powerball jackpot? One in 146,107,962? As the TV anchors are fond of saying – you’re more likely to be hit by a tornado. Or see three albino deer!

But actually winning isn’t why most of us buy those big-payoff lottery tickets. It’s the dream. It’s leaving your work-a-day life behind – even for just a few moments – and slipping into some other dimension. Ask the people in line for tickets about their dreams ---- and they’re usually modest. A new car for Mom. A better house in a better neighborhood. A cruise. Money for a favorite charity. Maybe quitting a boring job. Seldom does anyone talk about buying the Yankees and – finally – putting George Steinbrenner out to pasture. Or even buying that tropical island and the ocean-going yacht to get there.

Most of us don’t really know how to dream that big. We wouldn’t even be comfortable in that gothic castle in Scotland – shouting “Heathcliff!” as we slog through the heather on the hill. We just want a step up from our current lives. A little sparkle to sprinkle on dull normality. And $340 mil could certainly buy enough sparkle to last a little while…..

But big or little --- everyone has some kind of a dream. And hey – you never know.

What Do Women Want?

I recently got an e-mail from a high school friend whom I thought did it all right. Still married to the same guy, four grown kids, a successful small business, active in her community. She was our Senior Prom Queen too. What could be better?

So imagine my surprise when she wrote she sometimes feels like an alien among the women in her world -- the ladies who lunch. When she both lunches and manages.
Which just goes to show no one’s life is as good – or as bad – as we imagine.

My friend said it’s not only the women in her world who don’t understand her – but the men as well. Men who are more comfortable with the stereotypical and predictable.

So where does that leave me? The one who has always been different? Oh sure – I too was once a teenager-lemming- wanna-be. But I never quite fit in – and eventually I grew up and learned to be comfortable just being “me”.

I probably could have been a lot more successful if I had been more like other women -- with an “I’m no threat to anyone” attitude. What is that old saying – you catch more flies with honey? Ah well. I was more into red hot chili peppers. So I and others like me fought hard for the rights of all women to be equal to men socially and professionally. And for awhile it seemed to be working for all of us. There were even men comfortable enough with themselves to be comfortable with us. I am still married to one of them.

But unfortunately today's educated younger women don’t seem to care at all about their rights – except for the one that lets them chuck it all and stay home with their kids while their husbands work 16 hour days. Deja vue all over again. 50’s redux.

A recent New York Times article was eye-opening. It quoted the best and the brightest Yalies talking about their goals: working for a few years, having kids and then staying home. Probably permanently.
Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood

Someone ought to warn them that doors tend to close if someone doesn't prop them open. Someone ought to warn them that husbands sometimes lose their jobs and marriages sometimes shatter into divorce, abuse, illness or death. Leaving the wife and mom to make her way as best she can in the real world she so cavalierly left behind.

Strangely – it was my mother who told me all these things. My pampered mother – who somehow found a way to survive in a man’s world and was determined her daughter would be able to do it better.

A Katrina Lesson

Last weekend my suburban New Jersey town organized a Katrina fund raiser. I read about it in my local newspaper or I wouldn't even have known -- since only people with schoolkids ever seem to know anything that goes on in my town.

Over the years I've seldom seen my town really come together. In fact it isn't really a town in the traditional sense, having been lopped off a neighboring town in the '20's and named for the wealthy owner of what became a gated luxury housing development. Instead of a "Main Street" there's a shopping mall or three. If it weren't for the 4th of July fireworks and the Fire Department pancake breakfasts --- you would be hard-pressed to find any sense of shared community.

But last Saturday was all about shared community, about coming together to share our community with others. The woman who organized the day-long event could have been a professional event planner. Everything worked. Right down to the "Katrina dollars" used to buy food and other offerings -- so that real money would be handled by only a few trained volunteers. And I'm told the town made a lot of that real money -- to funnel to the hurricane victims.

There were probably fund raisers like this all over the country. It's the American way of responding to disasters -- a warmth and generosity that unites red and blue states and can still make me proud to be an American -- even when so much else has gone so very wrong.

I grew up in a big city. When my husband and I moved to this place of trees and rocks and black bears we were chasing the small town dream. And finally - last Saturday - we found that dream -- and the town we had hoped to live in all along.

It's too bad it took a horrendous natural and government-made tragedy to bring out the best in our town. But once we get the hang of it -- perhaps we can do it again.
Perhaps we can remember what money should buy -- when so many have lost so much.

Instead of fighting over stupid stuff like whether we need artificial turf for the high school football field.