What a woman, what a life!
I recall the rise of Dr. Ruth on TV in the 80s. She was very petite, had a lovely trilling 'r' when she spoke and was one of the most charismatic and engaging people I had ever seen on television. She was a tremendous personality, but I don't think I thought she was changing the way I viewed sex and sexuality. If anything, she was saying things that were just good sense. Watching the docu-film about her life now, I can see how what she had been saying publicly could have been hard for some to hear. She was, if you will, pro-everyone, regardless of orientation, enjoying a healthy sex life.
I knew that she had survived the Holocaust, but hadn't known of the specifics of her journey. Like the Kindertransport to Great Britain, there were a no. of German-Jewish children sent to Switzerland in 1938 to wait out the war. Ruth, then known by her first name, Karola, was among that group. In 1948, she went to Palestine, lived on a Kibutz, then trained to be a sniper in the Israeli army. In 1958, she set sail with her young daughter for New York. Dr. Ruth dealt with extraordinary change (and learning a new language) literally every decade of her early life. And she not only survived, but ultimately thrived. The film is called 'Ask Dr. Ruth' and is well worth a watch, regardless if you're familiar with Dr. Ruth or not.
Thinking about trump makes my blood boil a bit. All I can do is try to make jokes in order to keep relatively calm about our current situation. I wonder why HRH would gift a book to that lout? Was she actually being a bit snarky with such a gesture? I like to think so.
Possible uses for the Churchill book gifted by the Queen to someone who is a self-professed non-reader:
*a trivet
* a door stop
*a paperweight
The Queen, and rest of the Royal family, have to remain non political, but I'd love to know what they really think of Trump. Although I'm not a fan of the Royal family either.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine they are enjoying the visit much. If I were British, then I'd be a republican.
DeleteWas it a Churchill colouring book? Otherwise, yes, snark pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteDr Ruth's genius was that she was like everyone's grandmother and if your grandmother could be open and up-front about sex, then so should everyone!
Ha! A coloring book! Low-key shade from the queen...
DeleteI'm sorry, but if you have to ask Dr Ruth about anything, then you have left it too late to bother. I would rather ask the Queen.
ReplyDeleteLike the queen, Dr Ruth has certainly endured. I believe she turned ninety at the time of the documentary's release.
DeleteAbout the same age as the Queen then.
DeleteI like Debra's idea of it being a colouring book. Maybe time to revive the joke about Spiro Agnew (?) - he had a fire in his library and lost both his books - it was a great pity because he hadn't finished colouring one of them.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I need to brush up on my early 70s political history as Agnew is now only a name to me. Was he really considered to be such a dolt?
DeleteI am always glad to read of someone who not only survived the Holocaust but thrived. That war certainly damaged my father in ways he could not/would not talk about.
ReplyDeletePoor Trump. It must have been disappointing for him to be given a gift which doesn't mention him at all. Obviously fake news.
If you're able, then do take a gander at the documentary film of Dr. Ruth's life. At 90s, she's still such a robust and engaged person. I don't know if your father carried his accent with him throughout his life, but Dr. Ruth certainly has. She's a delight to listen to. What I learned from doing a bit of research, was that Washington Heights, Manhattan became home to many German-Jewish emigrees during the build-up to the war. Dr. Ruth has said that the felt right at home there. I think, even, that the area was referred to as Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson as so many people had come over specifically from Frankfurt (like Dr. Ruth).
DeleteIndeed! And what will he do with something that he'll never read? Wear it as a hat?
Yes, I'd like to think she was trolling him. Because, seriously...
ReplyDeleteI've always liked Dr. Ruth. I heard about this doc. I do want to see it.
Liz, the doc is amazing as is Dr. Ruth, of course. I cried, I laughed and I enjoyed the film tremendously. It's out on Hulu now.
DeleteI hadn't heard that he was given a book. wonderful. I thought Prince Charles looked as though he had dozed off sitting next to Melania.
ReplyDeleteHaha. I'll wager he absolutely took a cat-nap. :)
DeleteMy daughter's mother in law was a little Ukranian POW on a German farm. She never talks about her life then, but makes references. Once she told me about going with her son to get our mutual grandson from camp. It would involve an overnight at the camp, and her son insisted on bringing a cot. "No, no," she would be fine. She was made to use the cot, but, she told me, "It was just like sleeping under the wagons!" I puzzled that a long time and then it hit me: the long march from Ukraine to where they were farm slave labor. Actually her grandmother was shot to death along the way; couldn't keep up. We mostly will never know, will we.
ReplyDeleteThat's heavy. -good that she survived and was able to come to America.
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