Finally, a book about my upbringing wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some of the people whose stories I have found very uplifting. The media can be influential in forming judgments and opinions. I wouldn’t be writing a book if I didn’t feel that way. Here are just a few people who I find to be worthy of admiration:
Mary Jo Buttafuoco: I admire this former Long Island housewife mainly for the compassion that she showed to Amy Fisher, the woman who shot her. In 1999, Mary Jo was able to help Amy get out of prison and actually testified at Amy’s parole hearing in Amy’s favor7. I mention this story because many people just made fun of the situation or labeled the key players as “white trash.” I see it as a woman, Mary Jo, who has so much strength, warmth, and forgiveness that she can actually go on television and help somebody who left her partially deaf and made her and her children a joke for comedians to use for years. She eventually left her husband and wrote a book about recognizing the signs of dealing with a psychopath. Mary Jo does not receive enough credit for her compassion.
Bill Cosby: Cosby has always been one of my favorite comedians. Cosby used humor to help erase ignorance, prejudice, and stereotypes about African Americans. Carren Moham, an assistant professor of music at Illinois Wesleyan University, has said about the Cosby Show, “This was one of the first shows on TV that showed African-Americans doing something else besides being maids and drug addicts and dope dealers and that sort of thing,” Moham also adds, “It shows them being professionals.8” While some African American comedians joke about black stereotypes, Cosby was able to fight the stereotypes that keep some of them down.
Ellen DeGeneres: My mother was a huge fan of Ellen DeGeneres in the midnineties before Ellen announced to the world that she was gay. My mother stopped watching the show after Ellen came out, because, according to my mother, “It wasn’t because she was gay; it was because the show changed and it was all about being gay.” My mother said she knew all along that Ellen was a lesbian because she was a horrible dresser. Then, when Ellen had another television show, my mother had to give her a second chance but said, “Oh well—it’s just all about her being gay again.”
My mother regained her lost love for Ellen in 2003, when Ellen’s talk show debuted. I believe that Ellen DeGeneres is one of the most influential comedians ever. First, her comedy about random life activities pokes fun at those who are always on the go and worry about the smallest things. The best part about Ellen is that she shows the world there’s nothing wrong with being different. Deep inside, Ellen DeGeneres is a woman who probably has had more torment than laughs in her life. Though the Reverend Jerry Falwell once described her as Ellen “DeGenerate,” I never saw anything amoral. She never had a gay agenda; she always wanted people to love themselves. The church defines homosexuality as a sin, but we are all sinners and we are all children of God. In fact, it is Ellen who has helped people reunite and who has shown the world that there is no reason for people to hate themselves. I’m sure that upon DeGeneres’s death, some monotone news anchor like Brian Williams will say that she was at times controversial and known for being one of the first lesbians on television. I will remember her as a beautiful person who helped people love themselves as they are.
Maria Shriver: Throughout this book, I’ve discussed the importance of being independent and establishing a unique identity. Maria Shriver is somebody who has carved her own mark on the world, even though she could have easily just accepted the label of being a “Kennedy” or “Mrs. Arnold Schwarzenegger”, while she was married to him. Instead, she started a career in network journalism and has written several books.
Suzanne Somers: This pop culture icon from the 1970s was first made famous for her awe-inspiring giggle as Chrissy Snow on Three’s Company. But Somers has done and taught us so much besides that. First, I decided to mention Suzanne Somers because this book is about the importance of having the self-confidence to endure the horrible and heinous games that people play with one another. In her 1988 bestseller, Keeping Secrets,9 Somers describes herself as being a child of an abusive alcoholic and recounts how she came to expect the worst, and had troubles maintaining a normal level of confidence. I find it inspiring to hear this message from one of the sexiest women of the late twentieth century. I’ve tried to prove that having too little confidence or having too much confidence is a difficult problem that people must remedy in order to live happy and productive lives. Suzanne Somers is an icon who has a lot to be thankful for, but she shows us that things like teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, weight loss, greed, and dysfunctional families are all problems that can happen to anybody. In fact, in her 1998 book After the Fall,10 Somers even admits that her second husband, Alan Hamill, was too controlling, which was one of the factors that led to her exit on Three’s Company.
Steve Stainer: Steve Stainer was a victim of a kidnapping in which his perpetrator made him his slave. Stainer was a victim of Kenneth Parnell’s physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. When Stainer was fourteen, he was freed from his captor, only to become victim to the torture of his classmates and himself. In the 1989 television movie depicting Stainer’s story, I Know My First
