Monday, June 29, 2009

A Generational Loss - Part 1

This past week was a strange one. Three well known people passed away - Ed McMahon (Johnny Carson's long time announcer), Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

While I am old enough to remember Ed McMahon, he was not a major force in my world. For one thing, I don't usually stay up late enough to watch the "Late Shows" on tv.

I'll get to Michael Jackson tomorrow, but today I'd like to say something about Farrah Fawcett.

Now, what can I say. I, like every other teenage girl in my generation, worked hard at having that hair. Not very successfully, I might add. I was in Jr. High School when she burst into pop culture as one of Charlie's Angels. This picture below is probably the closest I ever came to getting her hair... on "western day" when I was in the eighth or ninth grade. I'm on the left. My friend came pretty close... and she even had the color right!



I was not necessarily a big Farrah fan, but I did want to have her hair! And, I spent a summer living in a house where my landlord proudly had 'that poster' hanging in the dining room!

I think the thing Farrah did that I most admired was to star in the TV movie, "The Burning Bed" which brought domestic violence into public consciousness. That movie impacted me in a major way and shattered many of the misperceptions about this societal nightmare. She helped bring this dark issue into the light.

So goodbye to Farrah. She came, she shined and now she has moved on. Rest in peace.