Happy Tax Day

Did you get your taxes done yet? Not to rub it in, but I have already gotten both my state and my federal refunds back and have put them toward the principal on my mortgage. If taxes have got you down and you need to hear an inspirational story, just look up Susan Boyle on YouTube. This is one of the most moving stories I have heard in a long time, and judging by how popular it is (over five million people have viewed it), a lot of other people feel the same way.

Imagine this: the British version of American Idol. A dowdy, unemployed, middle-aged lady who claims she has never even been on a date says that her dream is to be a singer. The audience and judges laugh at her... and then she opens her mouth. Seriously, this woman can SING. It's high time we started acknowledging people for their actual talent instead of their image. This woman looks like someone who would serve church dinners, not the plastic-pretty contestants usually on these shows, and her voice is as real as the rest of her. Once upon a time singers did not have to be beautiful; they just had to have beautiful voices. Now the important thing is that the performer is young and gorgeous and polished, because he or she can always lip-sync if talent is the only missing ingredient. It's gotten so extreme that hopeful new authors (especially female ones) have to be "interview-ready" (read: attractive) to present the right image on the jacket cover and the book tour. Authors??? I ask you, was there ever a career choice where aesthetic quality mattered LESS? What are we plain women supposed to do now? But then here comes Susan Boyle like a fresh west wind, blowing away all the superficiality so that everyone can see that what really matters is not looks, or charm, but talent.

On a completely different note, why do we call a game "football" in this country which uses neither the feet nor an actual ball? Isn't soccer a better contender for the title of football than a game that consists of throwing and running with an oblong thing? It's like Rhode Island: neither a road nor an island. Where is the truth in advertising there? My officemate and I were surprised to read that RI has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, so we always joked that we would quit our jobs and move there, and nobody would find us among all the other people who don't have jobs. Then she read that there was a strip club in Providence with a whole bunch of openings, not just for strippers but for bartenders, waitresses, and bouncers. They had more positions than the Kama Sutra! So maybe if this gig doesn't work out for us, we will go be bouncers in a place which is neither a road nor an island.

Famous Hat