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I too have enjoyed watching Extreme Makeover - Home Edition and particularly the episode filmed last year in Blacksburg (building a home for an ailing dance instructor with children whom I'd met in 'better' times for her and me).
But I wanted to call your attention to a feature story - a 'hit-piece' on the show - in today's e-mail alert for Mother Jones: The Ty Who Schwagged Me - "How Extreme Makeover: Home Edition takes humanity—and turns it into bad art."
My 'charity' this year is circumscribed by having little or no money for anything outside of basic necessities but I hope to be able to do something more for a very nice (new) friend - her Alzheimer-suffering mother is in a nursing home near here and she has no other family nearby, her two children can't afford to visit so we've invited her to spend the weekend with us. We'll rustle up some modest gifts for her, eat well enough (thanks to food stamps), and share what we do have with someone who would otherwise be alone, staring at her apartment walls.
One small step for my brother, daughter and I (my son can't get leave to visit) but hopefully a much bigger step toward a richer experience for all of us together.
Peace and love, va dare
All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed - I. F. Stone
by va dare on Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 03:29:50 PM PDT
Mother Jones is saying....look past what is seen on the surface. Almost every show FireCrow and I comment on the "needs to come to tears" moment they seem to create for all the world to see. That's not the highlight nor the proud moment of the show. Bottom line is: they are making a difference for that family? Does the difference sometimes create other problems? Yes. I can weigh the pros and cons and the pros far exceed that of the con.
As I pointed out in the diary, ABC would not continue this without the bottom line of cashola, but it's not the drivel of Desparate Housewives and the other nonesense that the "box" spews.
I saw the show you referred to with the dancer--she's amazing.
Peace.
Change happens at the speed of thought. --Anonymous
by DeannaHawk on Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 03:46:29 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
the makeover show, although I have some idea of what it is from the ads ABC runs, and it seems like there's some typical TV manipulation, but it's doing some good (they build a house on the reservation here) and there's a whole lot worse on the tube. You two are helping to make community.
"One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native land of hope." Wallace Stegner
by Mother Mags on Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 08:33:09 PM PDT
wide narrow
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