Once at the grocery store, I witnessed an older women take the last item of something, almost right out of the hands of another shopper. Her comment was something like: I'm old and I deserve to have this.
I've thought about her comments often as relates to age. I surely don't believe that because one is older, they have a right to say and do what they want. But, I will have to admit that occasionally it is kind of refreshing for an older type to just "tell it like it is." In an interview with the often called, Literary Lion, Gore Vidal, the New York Times Magazine printed his candid, humorous, uncensored comments.
I'm not a fan but will have to say this interview was hilarious. He bashed John McCain and discounted his POW experience. When asked about being related to Al Gore, he said that his Grandfather, Senator Thomas Gore, invented the state of Oklahoma, obviously a reference to Al Gore inventing the Internet. When asked to comment on his colleague, Bill Buckley, who died this year, he said, "hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those who he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred." This is my favorite comment: "at the age of 82, you will be publishing your new collection of essays this week, which seems likely to confirm your reputation as one of America's last public intellectuals. Why do you think that critics have traditionally praised your essays more than your fiction, which includes, Burr, Myra Breckinride and 20 other novels." That's because they don't know how to read. I can't name three first rate literary critics in the United States of America (as Barach Obama says). I'm told there are a few hidden away at universities, but hey don't print them in the New York Times.
And, seems appropriate his views on gay marriages. "You live in California, where last month the State Supreme Court overturned the ban on same-sex marriage. As someone who lived with a male companion for 50 plus years, do you see this as a victory for equality?" People would ask, how could you live with someone for so long without any problems of any kind? I said, There was no sex.
"Are you a supporter of gay marriage?" I know nothing about it. I don't follow that.
"Why doesn't it interest you?" The same reason heterosexual marriage doesn't seem to interest me.
GOT TO LOVE IT
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I have been writing all my life. I love to write about writing and constantly am discovering stuff on which I want to comment. After I began the blog, I decided that I wanted to use it to edit my next book, a family memoir. Originally, I was going to revise a previously written book, The Personality Factor, based on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator which could be incredibly helpful to writers. I am going to get back to it.
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