Hi, Monday. Listening to Stevie Wonder as I try to get to it this week.
Stevie always helps the task at hand. This weekend found me relaxing with
puppy and husband- Saturday night we watched the amazing and fascinating
documentary on Joan Rivers aptly entitled "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work".
And boy is she...
must admit I've found her appearances as awards show pundit in recent years
to be teeth grindingly grating. And she no longer looks human, which is
scary in its own rite. But this documentary tracing her career shows a woman
with bigger balls than an elephant, with a work ethic to match. We all know
women are not often considered funny (thank you Christopher Hitchens), but
dear Joan paved the way for women to not only be funny, but to be bawdy,
outrageous, and shockingly blue. It's not enough to say she has a potty
mouth- it's pretty much the entire men's room at Port Authority in there. And there really is nothing better than a wisecracking New York Jewish
woman like Joan to take a piss out of convention- marriage, children,
celebrities- you name it. She's skewered it. I so enjoyed the film- yes her
face is insane, but this is a woman who really is a comedic genius, with
file drawers full of jokes to prove it (oh and watch her handle a heckler
too. Top shelf). What I love most about her story is that she simply could not have been
anything else- she always knew that being a comedian (a performer actually
as she really wanted to be an actor) was in fact not a choice- it was
something she had to do, really the only thing she could do and not go
completely mad. It's a painful journey in life when you know you only really
have one path- but what a relief to know that no matter what you do along
the way, the choice has already been made for you, and there is nothing you
can do about it but "do it". I think that's the key to success for most
artistic types, hell people in general. Treat your career as something you
were meant to do- and if it doesn't stick, get the fuck out. Plain and
simple. Accept no substitutes for who you are and what you live for and
believe in. Because there aren't any of the aforementioned substitutes if
you are following your destiny (wow that got a good deal deeper than I
wanted to on a Monday)... In any event, see this film, even if you think Joan is super irritating. You
will see a woman who lives to work and diffuses some of life's greatest
tragedies and pitfalls with an uncanny sense of humor. I can relate to this
because I think this is the Jewish way to cope. I've been having some stuff
dragging me down of late, and I was chatting with a dear friend about it. I
could tell it was a tough conversation, so I decided to derail from the woe
is me and go with making fun of someone we both know, which paid off in
spades. I think she was grateful for the change in mood, and so was I. Jews
have always been great comedians- I guess because traditionally we have
suffered quite a bit- and if we didn't laugh, we would cry- so why not make
fun of the situation instead of cower in the face of it? I guess that's why
so many of the great comedians are Jews, and Joan is no exception (athletes
though? Not so much). As I watched Joan's career unfold this past weekend over a bottle of white
and some Chinese food, I felt awestruck by her tenacity, and above all, her
unapologetic moxie. I hope she continues to offend people for many more
years to come. If you want to watch a documentary about someone who refuses
to be anything but herself, watch this one. I'm glad I got to see it.
Because we should treat every day as an unflappable extension of who we are.
And except nothing less, my friends. Because really, who else do you have
but YOU? Oh and don't forget to laugh. There is humor all around us if we
care to see it. Cause that's what's up this laugh at life, gotta be me Monday in the MIA.
Hope you are being you today, wherever you happen to be, doing Lord knows
what. XO