"Mad Men": Boring Affairs?

Don Draper of "Mad Men": sophisticated, blue eyes, black hair, so good looking. He had us hooked in Act 1, Scene 1 of Episode 1, Season 1. So the show two seasons later can afford some risks showing him unshaven with messed up hair in one scene, and in an almost boring sex scene in another.

That the bedroom scene between Don Draper and the flight attendant was dull -- at least I found it so -- must have been intentional. Watching the pair eat a bowl of Cheerios would have been more exciting. Meanwhile, their gay counterparts downstairs were having a screaming a good time, and I think that was the point.

Whereas Don almost feels obligated, at this point in his life, to cheat, even if he really doesn't want to, for his gay colleague, what was going to be his first real time out of the closet in a heterosexual world was an ecstatic, freeing, life-changing moment. The contrast was deliberate.

Then the fire drill. Too bad for our homosexual hero. His moment died, in more ways than one.

What is sparked is an exquisite tension about whether Don will squeal on his friend, or whether Don, who seems only ever to judge his wife, will actually have an opinion, now, about his colleague. The jury seems to be out about that: Don's narrowed eyes, his dramatic pauses before addressing him.

That these are but a few of many provocative story strands in "Mad Men" is why the show is so pleasurable.

Honeymoon nightmare continues; $1,000 reward offered for missing dog

The terrible ordeal of Jackie the 15-year-old stolen dog continues. Her human parents are devastated, now offering a $1,000 reward.
As more details have emerged, we now know that Jackie was tied up outside a Barnes and Noble, true, but at 7:30 at night, when it is not blazing hot, and with a bowl of water, and that it was for a very short amount of time.
She was wearing a pink rhinestone collar.
The thief took the dog, the leash, the collar -- and the water bowl.

The owner, Laura Scandrett, a good friend of my cousin Julie Engelsman's, describes what happened in her own words:

"I was passing through Phoenix on my honeymoon and my 15 year old dog Jackie was taken. I'm heartbroken and trying to do everything I can to get her back. Here is the story:

Last Saturday Tai and I were married in Colorado, where we live.

"We cancelled our honeymoon trip because I wanted to keep Jackie with us, as she's 15 years old and my devoted companion since her birth. We decided to take a road trip with her as our honeymoon and were planning to drive to Mexico for a few days. She got all her shots and certificates to prepare for the trip.

"Last Thursday evening we stopped in Phoenix at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Happy Valley Shopping Center to buy a map of Mexico. We literally just stopped to buy the map and guidebook and saw the store from the highway.

"We tied Jackie up in the shade with her water dish between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening. Tai checked on her at about 7 o'clock. When we came out about twenty minutes later, she was gone. "Her water bowl and leash were gone with her. She was wearing a pink, rhinestone collar and had a green leash and a dish of water.

"We are heartbroken.

"Our honeymoon has turned into the worst nightmare I can imagine.

"We are checking the pounds and shelters regularly, putting up
posters, handing out flyers in the neighborhood and listed her on CraigsList and Pets911. We are just trying to get the word out, so that if someone has her, they know she is loved and missed and will return her.

"We are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone to can help lead to her safe return...

"Jackie was the ring bearer at our ceremony last week, and anyone who was there and anyone who knows me knows that this has been the saddest two days of my life. I love her more than anything.

"I just hope someone thought they were rescuing her and now will see that she is loved and missed. "

Laura has loved Jackie since she was a puppy. Laura at one point had two from Jackie's litter, Jackie and a sister, but the sister pooch has passed away.

One can only imagine how Jackie must feel, at her age now, to be with someone new. We can all only hope that person is an animal lover.

" Jackie is the most mellow, wonderful- souled dog you have ever met," said Julie. "Jackie...
likes to rest most of her day. She can't hear anything, which worries me the most, that someone might back out of the driveway and think she will move out of the way when she hears the car coming, which she will not.

"This is worrying me sick, clearly."

Jackie, the case of the purloined pooch

This is a mystery, but it is a true story.

It is a story made more timely by Michael Vick's return to football, when suddenly everyone seems to feel the need to re-proclaim their love of dogs.

But this isn't about football or pit bulls, it is about true love, the kind that compels a newly wed couple to bring their beloved canine on their honeymoon.

Laura Scandrett is a good friend of my cousin Julie Englesman's. Last weekend, she and her new husband, Tai, got married in Colorado, and couldn't bear to leave Laura's dog, Jackie, 15 at home.

"Jackie just walked Laura down the aisle at her wedding. Jackie is Laura's best friend, literally," Julie said.

So the honeymooning threesome hopped in car and took a road trip to Phoenix, which is where the tale gets ugly. Whereas in California, or even Flagstaff, it might be okay to leave a dog tied outside a store for a few minutes, it is simply not a common practice here in the desert.

When Laura and Tai exited a local Barnes and Noble, their newlywed bliss turned sour when there was no sight at all of their 50-pound, deaf, black-turning gray favorite pal.

"I know she is devastated, but I also know her well enough to know she is a wreck, and not wanting to talk about it without falling to pieces," Julie said.

The California couple have hired a private eye to help in the case but they are worried as they don't understand why, even if a do-gooder worried about the dog in the heat, they didn't look for her owners in the bookstore.

The reason I am bringing up Quarterback Vick is since his signing with the Philadelphia Eagles there has been an immediate surge in dog brutality items on Facebook. There's a poll about pit bull fighting, and jokes about, "Hide your beagle, Vick's an Eagle." Someone even quipped when I posted a Facebook photo of the missing Jackie, "Vick?"

For Laura Tai and Jackie, let's hope for a happy reunion before the day is out.

Jerome, a good friend

This is about my good friend Jerome. I just found out two days ago he passed away, at the too young age of 59. It hit me like a freight train.
One of the most full- of- life people I ever met is no longer inhabiting our world.
Not that I kept him in my life, and that is one reason I am mourning. I am sad not just for the end of his life but for the friendship I didn't keep. Jerome and I were camp friends. I haven't spoken to him since I was a counselor at YMCA Camp Talcott in Huguenott, N.Y. more than 34 years ago.
Some people believe in fate and a new term that has come to my attention, synchronicity, and if you do, than, maybe I do too. I am a Facebook user, and two days ago had just typed in Jerome's name, trying to track him down all these years later, to no avail, when I decided to look up another old friend, Kathy Reutlinger. Kathy is on Facebook, and in her very first responding hello Facebook email to me she said Jerome had just passed away.
I was just days too late from saying hello and good bye to my old friend.
This is Jerome the way I remember him: Funny, irreverent, radical, rebellious, the greatest sense of humor and the embodiment of an inner-city cool that I from a Connecticut suburb could never hope to possess. Jerome, from Chicago, was "all that."
If there was ever a guy you wanted to hang out with at camp it was Jerome. He always knew where the fun was going to be: He was the party.
But it was more than that. He was so accomplished. He was this great athlete; he was in amazing physical shape, he was an awesome swimmer and basketball player. He was the camp waterfront director, which is a very powerful position at a summer camp. Jerome was powerful. But I'll get back to that.
As a counselor, we used to have these Lost Man Drills, LMDs. We used to have comb the water looking for a potentially missing camper, and the strongest swimmers had to do these long and repetitive dives in the deep end. Jerome was always one of those swimmers, who could hold his breath for extremely long periods of time and cover large areas under water before surfacing.
Jerome also embodied camp spirit. "I'm a little teapot short and stout," he would start off, in front of an assembled camp body, "then give it to me baby and let it all hang out !" and he would dance with these ridiculous moves and campers of all ages would squeal with delighted laughter.
You always wanted to be on Jerome's good side because he was good friends with Pete Moffat, the camp director in my time at camp. This gave Jerome a kind of immunity. He could break rules that others were not allowed to break. He could stay up later, drink beer, and engage in certain other indiscretions. I spent many a night playing spades with Spider, Jerome and Pat, drinking beer and smoking. Most of these were forbidden, which made them that much more fun for a 16-year-old.
Rules at camp were many and strict, but did not pertain to Jerome. He flouted them with ease. Yet at the same time he excelled at all aspects of his job. Jerome was this huge, larger than life personality. He exuded vitality, virility, humor and confidence.
Yet, his friends tell me, he wasn't able to overcome certain self-destructive behaviors. Substance abuse took its toll on his kidneys. Oh Jerome, you had so much to give and to live.
I will always remember you in the prime of your life.
Good bye my friend.