Judy's Turn

Repeat After Me

  Last year at some big televised event, I think it may have been Superbowl XX-whatever, I saw a fresh video technique. It featured a group of people each reading a portion of the Declaration of Independence, with emphasis added at various points by the repetition of key words by a variety of the participants.

In its first use, it was amazingly effective. It informed the Founder's key document, infusing it with meaning and emotional content, and served as a timely reminder of the genius of those who launched our national experiment.

But like many good things, it didn't take long to go from novel and inspired to hackneyed and abused. Can't turn on the television without seeing a white, bald guy, followed by a hip, black female, followed by a sports celeb all repeating the same key word of some banal advertisement. You've seen it, and you get the picture.

Come on, Madison Avenue. Have you fired all your creatives? And who's on the genius ad team that coopted the Obama icon for Pepsi? Nothing, obviously, is sacred when commerce is at stake.

How's this for an Economic Indicator?

If you had any doubt that we are in deep economic doo-doo, you only had to get to the second commercial on the Superbowl broadcast.

It was for Avon ladies. Not a car commercial, not a computer commercial, not even a beer commercial. One of the prime spots of the broadcast, right after Jennifer Hudson blew the roof off with one of the best renditions of the Star Spangled Banner ever, was an advertisement extolling the virtues of becoming a door-to-door salesman of handcream.

Great. Time to sew all our assets into the mattress.

Did you listen to it? One of the women in the ad -- and I really, really hope she was a paid actress and not an actual Avon lady -- said that in two short weeks she had already sold $800 worth of Avon products. I don't know the commission rates on Avon products, but what is that in actual payment? About $200? That will keep a fine cardboard roof over her head.

And that's all I saw of the Superbowl before suggesting to my husband we go catch a movie. Although I'm not sure that Slumdog Millionaire was any less depressing.

A Shock for Good

Over the weekend we went to Los Angeles to see the taping of a special for CNN called "Heroes." It will air Thanksgiving night at 9 p.m.

Watch it. Or, if you're like busy on Thanksgiving night, tape it or DVD-R it or TIVo it for later.

It's been a rough couple of months. We've all been worried about the economy, the war, the environment, you name it. It's all bad. (Well, except for the election...But even there, there's the worry: How many burdens can you heap on the shoulders of one skinny little Hawaiian?)

The "Heroes" Show will make you feel better. It profiles 10 ordinary people who have, on a whim or a dream or religious grace, decided to do something to make something better. After the show, I was privileged to meet one of the honorees, Yohannes Gebregeorgis, a quiet, dignified gentleman who fled Ethiopia in the early 80s, made a life for himself as a librarian in San Francisco's beautiful main library, then returned to his country six years ago with a mission: to bring the gift of reading to rural children. He is a lovely man.

The other stories were no less affecting. During the taping, I sat next to a young woman who kept saying, "this one should win." "No, that one." At the end of the show, a hero of the year was announced, the votes solicited by CNN through an on-line poll. The winner had the wisdom to note that all those featured during the evening deserved the honor -- and the extra stipend that came with the award.

The next day, I watched a talk show panel discuss how bad things were in the economy, with Tom "The World is Flat" Friedman even suggesting that maybe we should consider moving up the Inaugural because, possibly, Jan. 20 would be too late to dig us out of the deepening hole. No, Tom. That's a Constitutional no-no. I was still under the "Heroes" aura, and the discussion seemed surreal.

In the Shock Doctrine , Naomi Klein argues that big events provide cover for evil governments and corporations to have their way.  In the afterglow of "Heroes," I had a thought: maybe this particular trial will yield a different outcome. Maybe this holiday season, for example, consumer excess will (must?) give way to the things that matter -- friends, family, philanthropy. Watch "Heroes." It will put you in a holiday frame of mind.