Transcripted Life

So my gourd friend is flying out today for 3 weeks of reality show taping.  I’m stoked for her.  The exploitation of modern society is so much more fun up close.  Her boyfriend even proposed to her last night, more kindling for the reality show producers.  If I express even a pinch of discontent publicly, I will be pinned with a chartreuse “J” as opposed to a scarlet “A”.  I think every one of us yearns for a lighted makeup mirror and fifteen minutes of network air time.  Would we be able to effectively communicate who we are and force the world to understand us in that amount of time?  Probably not.  Perhaps 3 weeks is enough time to illuminate who you are.  Though months of editing is definitely enough time to erase any evidence of that.  Reality has never been good enough for reality television.

MTV was the pioneer of this genre of programming.  I fell in love with “The Real World” the first time I watched it.  The San Francisco cast was genuinely the best produced of that show’s history.  Puck was money.  Pedro was heartbreaking.  Rachel was annoying.  A year after that, Pedro’s widower Sean Sasser (they were married on the show) came to my college for a speaking engagement.  I was in student government at the time and as a quasi-ambassador was able to enjoy a potluck lunch with him.  It was one of the highlights of my life, very touching, and very real.  There is life after appearing on a reality show, whereas, Sean Sasser brought awareness about AIDS, and Gay issues, other reality actors shed light on their apparent personality disorders. 

When the time comes, I will watch my friend with excitement and scrutiny with the rest of America.  I’ve been watching her for the last 10 years, just without commercial breaks.