Well, it's been a whirlwind this week (as anticipated.) Getting through today will launch me into a weekend free of worry and lots of booze, bfffs, and travel... therefore I WILL endure the hours of reading I have to get done by 2:30p. Go me.
Anyway, as promised, I want to dedicate this entry to a certain "celebrity" that no one had heard of until the illustrious show Brooke Knows Best aired a year or so ago. His name is Glenn Douglas Packard (aka D-Bag.) This past winter Packard returned to his hometown (which also happens to be mine): Clare, MI. Here is what the local paper had to say about Packard's visit:
Clare native co-stars on VH1 reality show
On 7/20/09 the show aired:
VH1 TV Shows Music Videos Celebrity Photos News & Gossip
Ok, so all of this is fine and good right? We all enjoy the classic tale of a hometown hero returning to his roots and "inspiring" all the young idiots to "shoot for their dreams" and "overcome adversity" thereby transforming their otherwise mundane, homogeneous lives into a copacetic, rainbow-colored reality. Thank you Clare Public Schools for inviting such a poignant speaker and successful entrepreneur to enlighten the student body on how to "be themselves."
Gay rights aside (yes, I'm an advocate), this did not concern empowerment or activism. Obviously this was/is about producing a show and lining someone's pockets courtesy of the morons in Clare County.** Hopefully they had enough sense to also profit from the show-casing of their students through the star-struck spectacle that was created for them, but in the end I found this entire situation to be a contrived example of one personal narrative that may or may not have been significant. After doing a bit of searching about Packard's life, it seems that he is dishonest about his age, his background, and his experiences. Maybe he's not as noteworthy or creditable as his viewers would believe?
I will risk this and answer "no." But conversely, I will say though that this is an example of what we as consumers are willing to fall for. We will compromise our educations, sell out our own kids, gentrify our historic downtowns, and forgo our small-town traditions in order to make a buck or get on TV... all in the name of "inspiration."
There's my sentimental rant for the day kiddos. Now I'm going to eat some breakfast (whether or not it will be nutritious has yet to be seen.) Cheers!
**Consequently there are a significant amount of intelligent individuals who reside in this lovely area. Unfortunately none of them seem to have a lot of sway when requesting that Hollywood come to town.
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