MY LATEST ADDICTION

For my birthday present, our friend John gave me the audio book Bossypants, read by the author Tina Fey; for some strange reason John thought that I would identify with the title! It is delightful memoir of Fey's life; I could listen to snippets driving around town. Since it debuted in 1975, I have been a fan of Saturday Night Live, in all of its permutations. My feminist heart was thrilled when Tina Fey became the Head Writer--the first FEMALE Head Writer of SNL! I was excited when she left SNL to start her own show 30 Rock and I have watched it regularly, despite its time and slot changes. When Fey returned to SNL during the 2008 Presidential campaign, she delivered trenchant impressions of Sarah Palin.

I was amazed how much I have in common with Tina Fey as I'm old enough to be her mother! In her generation, she also faced the strictures and misogyny that women of my generation faced. Fey had to battle the oft-repeated claim that women aren't funny as expounded by male comedians and pundits such as Christopher Hitchens in a famous Vanity Fair magazine article. I admired Hitchens' writing, although I notably disagreed with him about the invasion of Iraq, but as an intellectual, his article was influential. When we hear that the work life has changed very much, I always say, "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." [Now that's just showing off, isn't it? I actually say the translation: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."]

I didn't want to invest in audio books--at least not yet--and Les suggested I look at the Library. I hadn't been to the Library in years; in fact, I had to apply for a new "scan card" because all I had was my old library card. I read a great deal but I buy books which I want to read and have two I received as birthday presents which I haven't yet read. At the Library, I checked out Steve Martin's I Was Born Standing Up, read by him. It was enjoyable, being both funny and poignant. I also checked out Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, but it's clearly not meant to be listened to while I'm driving. I am going to order audio books by David Sedaris and Garrison Keillor; I think tapes with humor will be the best to listen to in the car.