"West Wing" and memories

Someone posted a clip from "West Wing" on Facebook today--there they all were, all those familiar faces who formed such a coherent, unified group of advisors. And it was Martin Sheen (or President Bartlett) at his very best, expounding on the follies of extremist interpretations of religion and the Bible, using a talk show hostess as his target. His final line was a zinger, as the lady sat and tried to answer him, finally lapsing into silence. "On more thing," he thundered. "In this house, when the president is standing, no one sits." After a long minute, she stood. I frequently wish we had such leadership, especially in the governments of some of the states. Or that we could see hope for it in the great host of presidential candidates.
The show took me back fifteen years or so, when a colleague and I thought Wednesdays were the best day of the week. We didn't really work together but shared adjacent offices, and we became close friends, a friendship that endures after we've both long since retired. I still laugh at the time she had been away for three weeks and came in my office door calling, "Hi, honey. I'm home." We had good times in that office in those days. And we loved Wednesdays.
The Wednesday morning newspaper had the food section, abounding with recipes many of which enticed me. I still have yellowed clippings from those days in my recipes files. Yes, plural--I have files for main dishes tried, main dishes not tried, vegetables (thickest folder), appetizers, and dessert (less used). Today, the Wednesday edition still has a few recipes but they are trendy and I seldom find anything that calls to me to clip it--folks, I just don't like kale. Sorry. I dutifully read the Wed. paper but it has shrunk so I can go through it in minutes.
Then Wednesday was meatloaf day at the Star Café (as it still is). So we went for meatloaf, mashed potatoes and salad--sometimes following it with banana pudding, also a Wednesday special. I guess my weight didn't worry me as much in those days. Friends Don and Betty Boles own the Star, and the meatloaf and banana pudding are Betty's personal recipes. Somehow I was so enthusiastic about that meal I could overlook the bits of green pepper in the meatloaf.
And then Wednesday night brought "West Wing," perhaps my all-time favorite TV show. I'm not much of a television watcher--in the mornings I often keep the TODAY show on sort of as background noise, hoping to catch news and weather. I get fidgety if I just sit and watch TV with nothing else to do. Not so when "West Wing" was on--I sat in rapt attention from start to finish.
Struck me today that Wednesdays are no longer the same--and neither is our world. How did we change so fast in 15-20 years?

Read the newspaper lately?

Some days, reading the newspaper is so discouraging you just want to go back to bed. Today was one of those. Here are a few things from my glance through this morning, mostly without comment:
Jose Feghali was a suicide--such a waste of wonderful talent
The government may shut down again at midnight--accomplishing just what? Ask Speaker Boehner.
The Republicans are pulling some fast ones--burying a provision to take Arapahoe ceremonial lands for mining companies deep in an unrelated bill; trying to rig the electoral college so it corresponds to voting districts, which are already so gerrymandered there's no opposition; putting in the tax bill provisions that amount to if Wall Street makes money, they keep the profit--if they lose money, taxpayers cover the debt.
Student aid has been cut by $303 million--when what we most need is an educated public
Doctors face a 40% cut in Medicaid fees--no, they don't need to make the great wealth they did in the sixties but today they too have student debts to pay off, office costs, etc. What this means is more and more physicians won't see Medicaid patients--and some won't see Medicare patients these days
Texas schools didn't qualify for competitive aid grants from the Federal government because of large class sizes--but our soon-to-be-governor cut funding for schools
The leader of the House panel on Benghazi now says he isn't satisfied with the results of their study--this makes how many times we've fought the Battle of Benghazi?
What is happening to America? Whatever it is, it isn't good--and I am usually singing the Pollyanna song.
I waited all day for some redeeming piece of good news but there just wasn't any. For me, it was an ordinary day--good, not bad, but nothing remarkable. I did see tonight that Speaker Boehner doesn't have the numbers for his tax bill and has postponed calling for a vote. That's good news.
May tomorrow be brighter for all of us. Wonder where our elf will land tonight?