I put Cspan on the night of the White House Correspondents dinner. It was early and the camera just roamed the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, giving the viewer a sense of the crowd, the celebrities, the ambience. I watched about 20 minutes of this, remembering what it was like to be part of such a scene. When I worked for Harper & Row and later, the New York Times, I was often in such a milieu, elbowing celebrities, if not actually finding the courage to start conversations. I have to admit, I got a bit nostalgic and teary-eyed, just drinking it all in.
I tuned out and turned it on again at 10 p.m., when President Obama spoke. He was his usual, delightful, amusing self and I enjoyed his remarks. Than Larry Wilmore came to the podium. He is a black stand-up comedian who recently acquired his own nightly show. I wish him well, but I didn’t find him funny, so I clicked off. I realize this is a hard gig.
An observation on the crowd was that the women don’t know how to dress. They, no matter what body type, seem to think that exposing fleshy backs, upper arms, and shoulders, and cleavage, is the thing to do. The same disconnect goes on at the Oscars. Very few understand fashion and how to disguise flaws. There were a few stunners here and there, but they were the exception. Also open sandals should adorn perfect feet.
Sometimes I want to live my life over. I might do a couple of things differently, but not a lot. Just go back and do it all again. One change I would make is to go into newspaper work at the start of my working life instead of in the middle.
xx, Teal