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Joan Rivers’ life lessons — can we talk?
The Aspen Times (CO) ^ | September 25, 2014 | Melanie Sturm

Posted on 09/25/2014 10:36:53 AM PDT by Aspenhuskerette

God knows Joan Rivers had much to atone for every Yom Kippur, considering her trenchant wit, off-color jokes and celebrity takedowns — though sidesplitting.

Never deferential to fame and status, Rivers claimed, “I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.” Hence, Liz Taylor was “so fat, she puts mayonnaise on aspirin” and “hamburgers on hot dogs,” and HBO-star Lena Dunham’s ever-present breasts “look like Michael J. Fox drew them and Stevie Wonder filled them in.”

Alas, the trailblazing performer can’t Think Again and repent this year. Known for resilience and career rebirths springing from fearlessness, a legendary work ethic and her “this too shall pass” philosophy, Rivers has now passed. Yet in continuously reversing nosedives, Rivers’ life story — struggle, growth and renewal — is High Holiday sermon-worthy.

Rivers didn’t go to the woods like Henry David Thoreau to “live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life,” preferring her palatial apartment. But like Thoreau, she did “learn what (life) had to teach” and didn’t “practice resignation,” discovering when she came to die that she’d truly lived. “I’m so, so lucky,” she proclaimed in her last interview. “I’m relevant. I’m funny. And I look OK.”

We lament Rivers’ premature exit from life’s stage. After all, refusing to be “Joan of AARP,”

(Excerpt) Read more at aspentimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: joanrivers; lessons; life
I hope you don´t mind my sharing something non-political, though it´s certainly a portrait of the American Dream we want restored. Rivers' life story is also the stuff inspiring High Holiday sermons are made of.
1 posted on 09/25/2014 10:36:54 AM PDT by Aspenhuskerette
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To: Aspenhuskerette

I think she may have been liberal or conservative or Jewish liberal or whatever....but she was FUNNY and I liked her.

When my then 18 year old daughter told me she wanted to be on television, I asked her why. She said “Joan Rivers. She’s so funny and just cool.” that is an 18 year old wanting to be like a 70’ish icon. She wondered if I had heard of her. I told her that her jokes were funny and NASTY. She didn’t believe me until she saw the skit where she said that “everything fall including her (insert crude word for vagina) that she noticed as a grey bunny slipper on her foot. hahahahahaha.

Her take on Elton John and the Queen were spot on and just priceless. What a tremendously bad break for her. RIP Joan.


2 posted on 09/25/2014 10:43:47 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (2 Timothy 4:7 deo duce ferro comitante)
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To: Aspenhuskerette

awww... i love that lady, and i refuse to acknowledge her untimely death... sticking my head in the sand on this one... as far as i am concerned, she is still alive...


3 posted on 09/25/2014 10:45:44 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: Dick Vomer

She was a Republican.


4 posted on 09/25/2014 10:57:09 AM PDT by Stepan12 (Our present appeasement of Islam is the Stockholm Syndrome on steroids.)
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To: latina4dubya; Dick Vomer

She paved the way, she really, really was a pioneer in the entertainment industry in regards to the role of women in comedy.


5 posted on 09/25/2014 11:04:41 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: CorporateStepsister
She paved the way, she really, really was a pioneer in the entertainment industry in regards to the role of women in comedy.

and so far, nobody has come close to duplicating her talent... i guess that cannot be done... but Kathy Griffin, Joy Behar, Sarah Silverman have the crassiness down, but not quite the elegance of Joan Rivers...

6 posted on 09/25/2014 11:17:52 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: latina4dubya

You’re right; Joan adored fashion, adored the perks and fame, and wasn’t a hypocrite about it.


7 posted on 09/25/2014 11:19:08 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: Aspenhuskerette

You’re right; she didn’t view suffering as something to be enjoyed. She didn’t glamorize suffering or make it sound fun. She didn’t act like a martyr since she had suffered a lot as she began her career in entertainment.


8 posted on 09/25/2014 11:21:02 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: Aspenhuskerette

I loved her..still grieve for the loss of this one of a kind American treasure.


9 posted on 09/25/2014 11:27:01 AM PDT by patriot08 (NATIVE TEXAN (girl type))
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To: CorporateStepsister
You’re right; Joan adored fashion, adored the perks and fame, and wasn’t a hypocrite about it.

yes--and she made no apologies for it... nor for her jokes... she could get away with a lot... for instance, she had no problem making fun of Cher's plastic surgeries even though she several of her own...

plus i like that she adored her daughter and grandson...

10 posted on 09/25/2014 11:33:44 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: Aspenhuskerette

I’ll always remeber her line about mick Jagger:

“OMG have you seen this man?! He’s got child bearing lips”

Classic.


11 posted on 09/25/2014 11:45:50 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: Aspenhuskerette

Truth is she was not pretentious. She put on no airs. When she made fun of others she was making the same things in herself..


12 posted on 09/25/2014 11:51:13 AM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more)
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To: CorporateStepsister

her and Lucille Ball. They were just FUNNY


13 posted on 09/25/2014 11:52:31 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (2 Timothy 4:7 deo duce ferro comitante)
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To: Aspenhuskerette
In her autobiography she recounts how she first performed in front of her parent's entire country club where she totally bombed. Afterwards at home she went up to her room where she overheard her parents come out and sit on the patio to talk. Her physician father commented: "What can we do? She has no talent."

That she eventually succeeded by years hard work after this inauspicious beginning is very impressive and inspiring.

14 posted on 09/25/2014 12:09:10 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: CorporateStepsister

Still remember in 1983 when Johnny Carson turned an LAX waiting area into a VIP lounge & tricked Joannie into believing she was being personally scolded by the British PM Margaret Thatcher for making fun of the royal family.

Afterward Johnny asked her if she was angry over the joke.

The petite Joannie hauled off & knocked him @ss over teakettle with one slap.

She is missed.


15 posted on 09/25/2014 12:14:55 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("In the modern world, Muslims are living fossils.")
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To: latina4dubya

It’s the relationship that she had with her daughter and grandson that tells us the most. Most celebrity parents are hated and resented by their kids, but Joan wasn’t and for all the right and good reasons.

She loved her perks and I admire how she didn’t spout off about the environment or anything else. She had fun all the time with her career and her life and I adored her jokes.


16 posted on 09/25/2014 12:37:31 PM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: CorporateStepsister
She paved the way, she really, really was a pioneer in the entertainment industry in regards to the role of women in comedy.

Not to take anything away from her genius, but Phyllis Diller paved the way for Joan.

17 posted on 09/25/2014 12:49:04 PM PDT by verga (Conservative, leaning libertarian)
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To: V_TWIN

Joan Rivers on Liz Taylor
.. A Rose Bowl float with a SAG card.

Joan Rivers on Michelle Obama
..Michelle Obama has been learning to play golf.
..She finally managed to hit a couple of balls.
..She stepped on a rake.


18 posted on 09/25/2014 1:40:37 PM PDT by Bobalu (Hashem Yerachem (May God Have Mercy)
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To: Bobalu

“..She stepped on a rake.”

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!


19 posted on 09/27/2014 1:58:35 PM PDT by V_TWIN
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