Sarah Palin’s recent American history gaffe represents just one more moment in a long line of moments that illustrate quite clearly that she should not be a candidate to lead any governing body, including the PTA at her kids’ school. No offense to the PTA presidents of the world.

I just read an article on CNN.com about three incidents in the last few months where adult male sports “heroes” are throwing around anti-gay slurs in heated moments when things aren’t quite going their way. Kobe Bryant is a hot mess anyway with his checkered past with women and alleged assault, and then the other two, Joakim Noah and Roger McDowell, have absolutely no excuses. But when it’s done, they each issue a public, “emotional” apology, pay a large amount of money to “the league,” and then everybody tells them “it’s ok,” including gay rights organizations. It makes me kind of sick to my stomach; the collusion factor here is ridiculous.

Last evening I attended a performance of the Broadway production of Larry Kramer’s landmark play, The Normal Heart, and I learned a lot of valuable information about the play in production.  I’ve taught this play a number of times in different classes that I teach at NYU, and I’ve used scenes from it in acting classes.  The current production directed by Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe takes a didactic script written in the early years of the AIDS pandemic and presents it in such a way that an audience stays with the story for much of the two and a half hours that it takes for the actors to move through the experience.  The production is largely successful, but it does not always overcome the limitations of the script.

I’ve been following these stories about Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s rape charge and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelity with quiet interest, not because I’m shocked at the revelations but more so because of the media frenzy around both incidents. Shocker.  If you read my blog, you know that media coverage pushes my buttons.