the secret life of pets...

in the middle of another bout of vet visits for our poor cat, Donut...almost 15 years old...many years of IBD (yes, don't laugh, cats can have this)...3 years of diabetes...and all the illness that comes from both...and despite all of it...he is as regal and beautiful as ever...I find myself searching his eyes lately...looking for guidance...blinking back at him...oh, my little pookie, are you in pain?...these are the ugly times for pet owners...and it got me thinking about all those pets that dotted my life's journey...goldfish...birds...frogs...and then, my first cat, Sonny Boy...sweet with a fearless personality...much loved by our new Staten Island neighbors...then, just two years old...disappeared one summer night...never to be seen again...heartbroken, we sulked for a while...and then cat #2...Blackie...sleek and gorgeous...loving to us...others...eh...a hunter at heart...so many "presents" for my mom neatly placed on our porch...passing away peacefully in his favorite chair a day before his 13th birthday...at the time, I was on my own in Queens and not home to say good bye...the loss was strange in that sense...there was a dog, Lucky...my brother's...with us a short time...there was a kitten that Mike and I adopted early in our marriage...but shelter life left her too traumatized and sadly she was returned...a large fish tank in our foyer came next...two fish, Fred and Bob, lived over ten years!...and then in the fall of 2002, we adopted Donut...5 months old, he was shy...yet, took the fourth seat at our kitchen table the first night...he was with us only four weeks when my Dad suddenly passed away...Donut never left my side...and now as we hope for the best, I will return the favor...at his side...slipping him his favorite foods...hoping for a little divine intervention...and the answer in his eyes...

hope springs eternal

and winter marches on...through purim...this year's special - queen esther in a large down coat looking less regal...more like hodel kvetching to tevye at the anatevka train station...on to the ides on the 15th...post snowstorm...you know...the latest late winter special...with brando screaming in the background of the 24 hour a day coverage...stella!!!!...which for some brought mounds of snow...others...parking lots doubling as skating rinks...and for the truly unfortunate...a snow day home with kids and not enough booze...but, alas, for me...a miserable cold...oh, how i wanted to stab my nose 23 times and breathe again...ay, caesar!...then st. paddy's...people deliriously downing green beer...which really looks like colonoscopy prep...but as i lifted a nice pale ale to my lips...sniffling and sneezing...ugh...no taste...and now...spring beckons this monday...calls you with your winter pallor...and the green you dream of is a coat of leaves for that poor naked tree outside your bedroom window...it whispers behind more snowflakes...and cold rain...and snain...(you know...snow and rain)...and you think as you put on your ugly, heavy boots...yucky colored winter socks with a hole in a toe...no, you, yell...please, mother nature...let winter be done...let me toss these boots out of my window...but only if there is the receiver of nassau county taxes walking below...please...i've got spring fever...and i'm running out of socks...

Pushing the envelope...

it was one for the ages...two icons...the wrong envelope...vanity over putting on those reading glasses...the expected winner...then no, the upset...trick or tweet...someone's head is rolling today...some dreamers in the city of stars are nursing a loss over alfalfa sprouts and sparkling water...but, yes, there was magic in this moonlight...yes, thank that casting director...and praise that script...cheer for chiron, the underdog...bullied and invisible, looking for acceptance in an unforgiving world...cheer for hollywood...taking positive baby steps...acknowledging that there are so many new stories to be told...in different ways, by different people...that diversity should not be just a go-to word to ease the consciences of those who have had easy paths paved with wealth and success...cheer for audiences embracing new directors...new writers...for finding themselves in stories so unlike their own lives...and then again, not...so, as we head into march...and watch new movies this year...plunge into awards season deep in next winter...all i can think of is...one envelope please...and a pair of readers attached...hollywood will always need more than rose colored glasses...

like chocolate for water...

if you eat a chocolate, and no one sees it, do the calories count?...ah, valentine's day...in the dead of winter...a mere six weeks or so since stuffing your face with christmas cookies, chanukah gelt, 5 billion calorie eggnog, and anything that didn't move...and the magazine ads...well, they are crammed with red, hot pink, lingerie ads...store windows too...which you contemplate until you realize that your fat post-holiday ass will only fit if you use your eighth-grade home economics skills and sew two together...this is not kardashian ass...this is i'll go to the gym when I finish binge-watching 500 svu episodes ass...but you figure, hey, I got this...i'll wear that big, camouflage red sweater, and black elastic waistband pants for dinner on valentine's...phew...but then, for extra measure, we had the first real snow yesterday...blizzard on long island (which, as an aside, means the lirr will run again in june)....and so there you are in your sweats and worn slippers...couch, blanket and the tv, while the wind rattles the windows...and an ad comes on for m&m's...and you want chocolate...but you finished off the last of the holiday stuff last night...the only goody in sight is the small, sealed valentine's box on the counter...but, that's not yours...hmmm...could you get the car out, navigate the ice and replace it in time...you look outside...nah...and you start twitching like a junkie...what to do?...what to do?...holy shit, another chocolate ad...your fingers reach for that sealed box...but you stop yourself...turn on the news...the craving leaves you...you're nauseous now...sean spicer screaming about something else...and all i can think of now...the daughter of one of the best men's suit salesmen that lived...oh, lord, spicer...get a freakin' tailor...i chuckle to myself...reach for the box...shhhh...happy valentine's everyone!

who's on first?

this is a hard blog to write...not meant to offend...like it or hate it...unfriend me...but my blog is titled "what do you say, sherri darling"...and this is what i have to say...for all the time i may bitch and moan about the minutia of life and the grander injustices...the truth is as a second generation jew...well, history could have shifted ever so slightly and i am not sure i would be here to blog...i am talking about world war II and our country's rather "late in the game" entry...ever stop and wonder how the anguish and death of pearl harbor ultimately saved an entire people from eradication?...we did survive...scarred and leary...and went back to work, and life...but we became complacent...2017...please don't tell me how proud jews should be that a jewish man...kushner...is in such a high position...if you are italian and reading this would you be so proud if the man in that position...ivanka's husband...was the son of a mafia capo...please don't tell me how much our new president is for us jews...that is too soon to call...i don't care that his daughter converted...i don't want to hear about ivanka, and how her rabbi said it's okay for this and that...would that i had a rabbi on call to pardon a lifetime of shabbat indiscretions...and israel...yes, that is a hot button...intertwined with our faith, our history...but as american jews we seem to carry the burden of being good jews there and here...and here...when over thirty jewish community centers received bomb threats this month...and yes, in staten island, one where so much of my love for theater was cultivated...a response was needed loud and strong...president trump...he is not running anymore...he is there...he courted my vote...then, slapped me with america first at his inaugural...an ugly phrase coined by a movement here in america before pearl harbor...while hitler had marched through europe all the way to england...an isolationist group coined the expression...large and supported by many powerful leaders...and virulent anti-semites...urging america to not become involved...negotiate with hitler...america first...president trump was reminded of the connotation and chose to use it...how should i feel about that?...hey, kushner...be a mensch...sit your father-in-law down...disavow the supremacists...condemn the bomb threats...tomorrow is international holocaust remembrance day...and for a generation disappearing...no longer here to remind us...it is imperative to teach...to reach out...to remember...complacency puts you six feet under...

what's new pussycat?

i marched today up fifth avenue...many of you reading this did as well...some of you marched in smaller towns and big cities across this nation...and globe...and some were in the swell of humanity that descended on dc this morning...and others could not make these marches but we carried you in our hearts...in truth, i should not have had to march today...why, in the twenty-first century should i need to assert rights that should be a given?...why should there be a need to validate my worth against those in power who seek to diminish it.?...and for me it was not a choice...it was a need...i had to go...oh, and if you think today was just about planned parenthood, think again...yes, it was an important component...and this is not the forum for that debate...when the crowd swelled and we paused i looked around...all those people...women...all ages...men...children...the signs...the shirts...the determination...and, yes, the hurt under the pink pussycat hats...it was a glorious january day...i felt that it wasn't random that there was sun and warmth in the dead of winter...someone was looking over us in that blue sky...you know who it was?...i think it was the collective spirit of all those women...and men...who marched decades long ago...for causes that have become the very fabric of who we are as a nation...holding us in safety...urging us on...with eyes on the prize...grab this, mr. president...you poked the tiger...now watch us roar...

silence of the lambs...

i read an interesting statistic...and even if it is slightly off, it is horrifying...only 58% of eligible voters showed up this past november...even if you take away those who may have had legitimate reasons...it is sobering...the lowest voter turnout in 20 years...i can hear some of you...you are saying you just couldn't do it...there was no choice for you...and i can understand...to a degree...but look at the bigger picture...spin the globe..land on sudan...no oil there?...keep spinning...land on syria...death and despair...no way out...maybe you think...well, look at putin...look what he did...now there's a cease fire...true...but the cost...google assad and his human rights record...look at a map of syria...see that place called tartus...what a nice port...a lovely place for the russian navy to set up camp...because while putin and his boots slosh through the blood of children, that's what he sees...think of all those people...dead...what they would have done for a fraction of the rights we casually toss with the garbage...today and this weekend, we celebrate martin luther king...time to get beyond a sale day at macy's or afternoon at the movies...time to look at those who marched...and those who are marching this weekend...next weekend...and who continue to march for the respect of basic human rights and dignity...these are days to respect those who do...and for those who do march, to respect those who do not...the coin is two-sided...and different...but it is still the same coin...and for so many on this earth, we, the united states, are that shining coin...ripe with choice and rights...and so on this january 15th i choose to hold this quote from dr. king close to my heart..."our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"...