It is what it is: Aug. 6, 2025 – Commentary with Jen Brien

NO DRAMA COLUMN THIS WEEK

FOLKS, seeing how summer is winding down and the world seems to be spinning out of control… I want to avoid politics and the ugliness of it all this week. Yup. There’s a TON TO TALK ABOUT, gripe about, worry about and be sad about, but not this week. To be honest, I’m tired and I figured you are, too. Every now and then it’s good to put on a great old film  (“ON GOLDEN POND”) sink into the couch and escape with Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda…. ( “you old poop!”)

We only have a little more time to enjoy these summer days and nights and as I started writing about the CLINTON’S and the “RUSSIAN DOSSIER HOAX” I said “NAH”. Not this week. So here we go… a walk down memory lane… useless facts good only for cocktail parties and a few thoughts about getting old CAUSE it’s happening to ALL OF US!  As my dad used to say with a Marlboro red hanging out of his mouth when we were all in his wood paneled station wagon heading to ROCKY POINT….” sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride”.

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REMEMBER WHEN:

You really did go home once the street lights went on as a kid…

Saying “please” and “thank you” meant you were raised well and not a result of colonial conformity / white supremacy…

Teachers were truly interested in students and not the political agenda / indoctrination

Drinking out of a garden hose was refreshing  not considered a death sentence

When bullying simply meant calling someone “patty pimple face” or knocking someone’s books out of their arms in-between classes in the hallway at school…

You could go over to your elderly neighbor’s house after school for cookies without ever considering they might be a diabolical serial killer or sex trafficker

The national anthem would come on at 12 am and there wasn’t any more programming until 5am…

You could walk down the street with 1$ and buy your dad smokes for 75¢ and then get 25 red swedish fish with the extra quarter

Walt DISNEY would come on at 7pm on SUNDAY nights and kids would sit around the TV watching shows that mesmerized their minds….

Going to LUMS with your dad for a hot dog and beer was a big EVENT! (he drank the BEER 😁)

WAITING ALL YEAR for CHRISTMAS to arrive hoping to get “Tin Can ALLEY”!!! (I supported the 2nd amendment even as a child and… SANTA BROUGHT IT!!!!)

Watching “NESTOR THE LONG EARED DONKEY” during the holidays and sobbing hoping no one would notice

Bringing cold lunch to school with cold cuts, tossing it in your locker for 5 hours and eating a warm sandwich at lunchtime… and lived to tell the story.

Listening to the radio and taping your favorite songs on cassettes when they came on!

Doing SRA CARDS in school…

Playing ATARI thinking you had died and gone to HEAVEN

Pinky or Leather TUSCADERO showing up on “HAPPY DAYS” was a huge event

 

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DID YOU KNOW?

The Christmas song “Silver Bells” was called “Tinkle Bells” until co-composer Jay Livingston’s wife told him “tinkle” had another meaning

The U.S. Senate’s Rule XIX, which dates back to 1902, states that a U.S. Senator cannot insult their colleagues

Bacon was used to make explosives during World War I (the waste fat was turned into glycerin for the war effort)

The first Siamese cat to arrive in America was sent as a gift to Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife, Lucy, in 1879 by the American consul in Bangkok

“Born in the USA” was the first commercial CD made in America

Early 20th-century Pennsylvania Germans considered it bad luck to take a bath or change your clothing between Christmas and the New Year (and if you change your underwear between the holidays, “you will be full of boils”)

Eggplants are berries

The first Hershey’s chocolate bars with almonds were produced in 1908 because they were cheap to make. The nuts took the place of some of the more expensive milk chocolate, which meant Hershey’s could keep the price of the candy at a nickel

In 1916, Adeline and Augusta Van Buren became the first women to travel across the country on two solo motorcycles. They made it despite frequently being arrested for wearing pants

On Good Friday in 1930, the BBC reported, “There is no news.” Instead, they played piano music

The first modern corn maze was created in 1993 at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania. Its creator, Don Frantz, has also been responsible for producing Super Bowl halftime shows and Broadway musicals like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

Christopher Walken worked as a lion tamer in his youth.

****(Credit to “MENTAL FLOSS”  for all these fun facts!)

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STUFF WE DO AS WE AGE: 

Tolerate less and less stupidity

Avoid people

Plan the entire day around traffic and potential “traffic situations”

Look for pants with “elastic wastebands”

Have toothpicks with you wherever you go

Have AAA on speed dial….

Routinely check tire pressure ” just in case”

Have 20 pairs of READER GLASSES all over the house

Consider “EXPIRATION DATES” the absolute last day to eat whatever tossing it out on said day to avoid IBS

Consider joining AARP for the “free luggage” they offer

Anxiously await to see what the “early bird specials” could be at restaurants each week!

Start carrying / wearing huge “fanny packs” because there’s alot of old people stuff you have to carry when you decide to see other humans

Make sure you have a stash of rock salt in your garage …( IN NEW ENGLAND) a bag of heavy kitty litter and extra socks and gloves in your trunk by NOV 1ST THE LATEST…. (to be ahead of the weather curve…..)

Get up 2 hours early before your am workouts so you can use the bathroom… properly…

Have mad accurate BS METERS constantly scanning… everything everywhere….

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TERI

I know you’re out there when I need you. I know this world is a better place because you’re in it. Your children are beautiful, your heart is huge and your smile pierces the darkness. When I’ve needed to talk about the same thing for the 397th time “until I got over it” you never turned me away. You let me in and listened. You always listened.  You live far away now and have a mountain in front of you…but just know… you are not alone… and know- my life would never have been the same had our paths never crossed. God’s got you… he’s right next to you…. and as for me… I’m right here, too, thinking of you and praying for you. I love you, my friend. You make me laugh and I value you more than words could ever say. You’re a lamp in the fog and a spirit that lifts and encourages others. You fight now… and keep fighting. KEEP FIGHTING. I love you pal… but you know that.

Jen

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-teri-and-her-son-through-cancer-fight

That’s all I got this week… “IT IS WHAT IT IS” 

Till next time,

Jen

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P.S. Join us this week on my podcast “SPLITTIN THE ATOM” – Don’t miss it folks! EYE OPENING STUFF 👀

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