Thursday, Anne, Mariah, Jordan and I got up at the crack of dawn - okay 7 am - to get in line for tickets for The View. We took a cab and were still behind 3 Aussie college students who had been there since 5. God bless them. Well, long story short, only 1 of the 4 of us getting in. The kids decided that I would probably die before them, so the dears let me go.
I made the most of it on behalf of my students. When the “warm up” comedian asked for dancers, there I was. Along with the other selectee – Sylvia – I was on camera on the set of The View “getting down with my bad self” to “Shake Your Groove Thing.” Also, I got a shout out as I was only 1 of 4 people (the others being the Aussies) that was not from the Tri-State area.
The main guest was Julia Andrews. How lucky can I be? Two theatre icons is less than 24 hours – first Landsbury and now Andrews. She oozed grace and sophistication.
On the other hand, it was fun to see Joy Behar in action with the second guest, Linda McMahon. Behar was not a fan. Of course Elizabeth Hasselbeck gushed about former WWE’s executive director McMahon’s decry to not use PAC or special interest money to finance her campaign. Joy finally said, “Why would you take anyone’s money when you have millions. I don’t think that’s honorable, it is the right thing to do.” At the commercial break, Joy could not get away from the table fast enough. When the segment was over, McMahon shook everyone’s hand except Joy’s. So when they asked at commercial break if anyone had any questions for the panel, I shot my hand in the air. “Since there are so many personalities and sometimes obvious conflicts, what do each of you do to make sure that every day at work is a great day?” After Barbara told me to slow down because I was talking too fast, Joy responded, “money.” Barbara said that this is the best job in the world, and they do not have bad days. Easy for her to say, she comes and goes when she pleases, and as the Queen Bee so she makes all the decisions. Elizabeth said, “No matter how much we disagree, we all respect each other.” Sheri was the most talkative. She actually came off the set to address me and tell me that it is all about preparation. “I come every day with a positive attitude that I am going to learn something today. “ I appreciated al their candor. The taping went really quick. With all the commercials and clips, we were on the air about 25 minutes.
I was supposed to have lunch with Sarah Torretta, a former O’G student, but she had a sick child, so I headed home and took a long and luxurious nap.
Anne Wentworth and I had a Reading Circle at a Nursing Home for NYCares. I loved it! There was a nice turnout of residents and volunteers. One of the residents read some poetry that he loved; then the rest of us jumped in. Anne read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and I read an essay/story that I wrote about my mother. Everyone was so receptive. In fact, as I was leaving, they were still making parallels between my story and their own mothers.
This is one of the absolutes that is coming out of this trip to nyc. I will be starting a reading circle as a local nursing home or – maybe – Trail Ridge.
A late night Mexican meal with my son ended the day. Perfect.
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