Agenda

I spent most of the other day writing about the passing of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. On one level, I wasn't too affected; on another, I truly was. It just doesn't seem possible that Michael Jackson's conquering of the world - and that's exactly what it was - was freaking 25 years ago!

Farrah Fawcett's death was different. In one sense, she really belonged to the generation a few years before mine; I vividly remember Farrah Fawcett-Majors' fame and being attracted to her, I was just too young to know what that meant or act on it in any way, where kids a few years older bought her poster for one good reason. And it wasn't because every other guy on the block had it... I was only two in 1976, after all. But I do remember her, and the hairstyle she single-handedly gave to womankind.

Still, Farrah Fawcett's death, while tragic, was not unexpected. It was imminently expected, in fact. Just knowing she didn't have much time left softened the blow. Michael Jackson's death caught us all off-guard. Even worse, it eclipsed Fawcett's passing; Michael Jackson was simply a bigger star. Still, while his light may have shone brighter, Michael Jackson's fame was as fleeting as Fawcett's and just as timely; these days, I don't know that either would have reached the heights of popularity that they achieved in simpler times.

They both now seem as much a product of their time as anything else. And I don't say that lightly; both were incredible talents, but we don't really celebrate talent these days. Ironically, they both also became fodder for the tabloid press (then in its infancy, nothing like what it is today), leading me to wonder: if either had come to the fore in the past decade, which aspect would have been more celebrated - their talent ot their tabloid-worthiness?

Obviously, there is a lot of ground to cover and the piece is still... "gelling." I mean, the passing of these two icons on the same day... it's a pretty big deal to everyone my age and older. On the one hand, I'm nostalgic; on the other, it's a good reminder of just how short life is and how we need to make the most of it.

And so I'm taking today off. Most likely. Hopefully no one else will die or anything - I think we've got enough "tragedy" to last a while.

Sadly, it appears our D&D campaign is also set to end - which is par-for-the-course where D&D is concerned - as the players are moving. If I can get them both together today, we'll do a little send-off; otherwise, the last time we played was probably exactly that. Of course, I'm going ahead as planned and compiling the information, so that will be published eventually. I have a little, but there's a whole lot more to go on the designing end, so it's yet another large project ahead of me with no publishing ETA.

Jacko's death gave me pause, so I am working harder and longer these days. I don't know how long it will last, so enjoy it while it's here!

© C Harris Lynn, 2009