Be literate, but don’t take it literally
Simply Slaw adds glorious photos, a Y2K pod and retirement ideas
Today’s Simply Slaw has everything from a Y2K podcast to alternative senior housing to fake news. If you read last week’s column, it could even give you a double dose of déjà vu. Here goes:
Murphy Slaw
Something old: One of the trickiest parts of retirement is deciding where you want to live, being sort of a rescue puppy in need of a forever home. This New York Times story describes how 11 women — generally strangers over 60 — chose to live at The Bird’s Nest, a remote tiny-house village in East Texas.
It’s a tough call because the two biggest elements in retirement are money and health (including loneliness). If you have enough money and loved ones to stay in the place you’ve been calling home, the decision is easy. But if you live in an expensive area or feel isolated, relocating can make sense.
What’s potentially dangerous is when people relocate to live more cheaply or be near their adult children. Countless people have made it work, including the women in the Times story, but make sure you’re gregarious enough to make new friends. Even if you’re happily married, your spouse might not be enough. Social isolation can be as deadly as any disease.
Something new: Pose the right question on social media and you just might find beauty.
This thread gives you some great examples. Here are two:
Something borrowed: This podcast describes the big pop culture events of the Y2K era, which it loosely defines as from May 1997 (when the pet Tamagotchi toy came to the U.S.) to the shutdown of Napster in 2001. Among the favorites were Janet Jackson’s “Empty,” a powerful song that touches on virtual relationships, and “Get Over It,” a movie adapted from Shakespeare (the guy known for “Hamlet”) and featuring Sisqó (the guy known for “Thong Song”).
There’s an homage to “Spice World,” starring the Spice Girls, who were prized for their diversity (relative to the Y2K era).
But the era also has a shadow, which makes it an historical echo. A lot of freshness and youthful exuberance got blown apart on 9/11, leaving bitterness and cynicism in its wake. People a few decades older might say the same thing about the day John Kennedy was shot. Farewell, Camelot.
Whether it’s with a terrorist’s planes or an assassin’s bullets, humanity keeps finding fresh ways to shit all over itself.
Amen, Britney. We did it again.
The video references a Y2K touchstone, “Titanic,” a movie about another era when people’s spirits and ambitions soared, only to have fate intervene.
Something blue: This is a wonderful story. So why is it sad? Because it’s utterly fake.
Derek Hough is a terrific dancer and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but this is nothing more than fan fiction a la Facebook. If your heart insists it’s true, just Google Lily Tran, the young woman in the story. You’ll see similar stories with her and Eminem (Snopes even looked into that one), Adam Lambert, Morgan Wallen …
Take anything you read on social media with a grain of salt. AI is being exploited more and more, from politics to miracle cures to “Shark Tank” endorsements. Proceed with caution.
Something literate (or not): I showed you my mug last week with opening lines of a bunch of great novels, but this video does it even better. Watching it also led me to another question, strictly for discussing with literate friends or movie buffs: How many stories can you think of where you know both the opening and final lines (more or less if not verbatim)?
I could think of great last lines from two Stephen King novellas-turned-films (“Shawshank” and “Stand by Me,”) but have no clue how they began. Ditto with “Casablanca,” “Gone With the Wind” and “Some Like It Hot.” I know about a whaling guy named Ishmael, but when it comes to the last line, I don’t know Dick.
The only two I could come up with were “A Christmas Carol” and “A Tale of Two Cities.” You?