1. The midterm elections ended, but the underlying dread continued. Possibly, it was even worse. There seemed to be no evidence that Republicans were beginning to understand the grave consequences of their ways; and somehow, half the country (more or less) keeps voting for them. How are we supposed to solve the feral-cat crisis and stop global warming?
2. Part of me want to retreat to the garden and not think about anything but carpet of leaves now covering the path.
3. Somehow I found myself inside watching the pilot of the original 90210.
4. I remembered how everyone hated Brenda, but watching it now, she’s the best part.
5. At least among the regular cast. The best part of the pilot are the Meat Puppets, who can be seen playing at a pool party thrown by the richest girl in school. I’ve always loved the Meat Puppets, but not in a million years would I have predicted (even in the 1980s when they were more popular, albeit in post-hardcore circles) that they would appear in a big Hollywood show. In case you forgot or have succumbed to noxious Ronald Reagan nostalgia, the ’80s were also a horrible political era, only slightly worse than now, and somehow the Meat Puppets — a band whose trademark sound seemed to arise from political anarchy — made it to network television. It seems even more miraculous now than it did at the time.
6. It proved that anything was possible, which in turn — maybe, by extension — proves that anything is still possible. (And that maybe art is part of the solution to our social and political anxiety.)
7. I wondered if the past seems more benign because it’s over. I detested Ronald Reagan at the time, but he doesn’t seem so bad now that he’s dead compared to Donald Trump. And given that Republicans keep getting worse and worse, I can’t even imagine who’s going to be leading the party in 2024.
8. It was a lot to consider. I understood the tendency to hide under the ferns on a blanket of leaves.
9. And to think about the Meat Puppets singing ‘this is paradise’ to the rich, oblivious teens pushing each other into the pool.
