My Fifteen Minutes
It appears that I had my fifteen minutes yesterday. Actually, it was more like two, but nonetheless, I had my moment in the spotlight. After a nice dessert with a friend of the family, we all were heading back to our cars, when I noticed an ABC news van, and a couple of gentleman standing next to it preparing their gear. As I took note of them, I wondered to myself if there was some kind of event about to ensue, or if they were out to get a hold of public opinion on something. I got my answer when the gentlemen walked over to us and one, who looked vaguely familiar, asked if we had any comments we would like to make about Sarah Palin’s daughter. In response, I had to confess my ignorance and he proceeded to inform me that Governor Palin’s seventeen year old daughter was pregnant. He then asked me if I would like to comment, and suddenly my ego (who really knew nothing about this matter) had taken a hold of my mouth and said, “sure.” In that moment a light turned on and I found myself looking at the lens of a camera, a scant four feet from my face. Much to my surprise, I did not stutter, nor did I “uhm, uhm” my way through my brief response to this “breaking ordeal.” Instead, in a relatively straightforward manner I offered the following:
In the culture we live in nowadays, I don’t know how many people expect perfect families. In some ways it’s perhaps ironic insofar as it seems the Republican Party positions itself as the traditional party that upholds family values, but this seems to undermine that on some level
Of course, I gave them a little more than this, but all they were looking for was a sound bite. In wrapping up I basically told them that this ordeal would not influence how I voted, but rather I would be looking at the candidates’ positions on various issues and how they aligned with my values. This didn’t make it into the final cut.
Oh, by the way, my mom got her fifteen minutes as well, except her’s was more like thirty seconds.
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Wrote the following comment on September 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pm #
So, how much do you charge for autographs?
Bristol Palin'[s pregnancy is news more for her mother’s teach abstainence-only position than anything else.
Wrote the following comment on September 5th, 2008 at 6:55 pm #
Roger – Autographs are always free for my adoring fans. You know, I wouldn’t be where I am without them. 🙂
At the time that I was interviewed, I did not know that Sarah Palin was an abstinence only advocate. I suppose that only reinforces what I said about the irony of the Republican party’s positioning itself as the keepers of traditional values and the Palin situation. However, I know quite well that our children will not always keep all of our values, no matter how well we have parented them. Moreover, we all fall short of our ideals.
Wrote the following comment on September 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm #
We enjoyed your soundbite! Your mom’s too!
I understand what you are saying about family values being undermined, but I think the fact that she is pregnant does uphold Republican values, because if she weren’t then she might have aborted and we wouldn’t know any of this.
It all just flies in the face of Obama’s statement that he wouldn’t want his own daughter “punished with a baby” even though he is “against” (ha ha) abortion. So there goes the whole argument that while we don’t like abortion, we should still keep it legal, available (and funded!) because what if it were your daughter? Or your own Down Syndrome pregnancy?
Natalie comment today that I only read blogs about Sarah Palin! Not true, it’s just that she’s the talk of the town, I guess. 🙂 The abortion issue is very, very essential to how I vote, and of course it has a tremendous emotional aspect also, and so I end up less informed about so many other of the candidate’s policies and ideas. So I have two months to get better educated on so much more. Anyway, it will be interesting to see the outcome of all of this…
Wrote the following comment on September 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pm #
oops, please forgive typos, Mr. Writing Prof!
And congrats on the fame!
Wrote the following comment on September 9th, 2008 at 1:22 am #
Stacie – I largely agree with you, and I think that was an implication of what I said about people not expecting perfect families. The idea being that it’s not so much a matter of falling short of our ideals, but how we respond to the circumstances we create when we do fall short. I think Gov. Palin and her daughter are consistent with their ideals insofar as the daughter is keeping the baby, and moving toward marriage, but she did fall short of the ideal of abstinence, for which her mother is a known advocate.
As far as abortion is concerned, that is an important issue for me as well, but it is not so supreme of an issue, that I am willing to capitulate on a number of other issues that are perhaps less important individually, but weightier when taken together. No matter what, I am going to violate my conscience during this upcoming election, whether I vote for Obama or McCain. In the end, I hope to do my best in weighing and praying, and ask for God’s mercy to cover me in these less than ideal circumstances.
Wrote the following comment on October 8th, 2008 at 7:51 am #
What ever happened to “shotgun” marriages?
Perhaps it’s time we brought them back.