Jackie Danicki

So obviously the other thing I’ve been doing while home sick is soaking in frivolity. If you can’t do that when you’re stuck under one roof for days on end, when can you do it? (When I was a kid, being home sick meant you weren’t allowed to do ANYTHING which might bring you a scintilla of enjoyment or pleasure. I’m sure that was just my parents’ inheritance from the beliefs my grandparents picked up during the Depression-era misery of noble suffering. That said, the idea that if you’re well enough to muster the strength to crack a smile, you’re well enough to break a sweat over your work, is one it takes a lot to get past as an adult. Hence all of the excuses I make here for having fun.)

Anyway, I’m kinda glad I’m home sick, because apart from all the stuff I’ve got done, I’ve seen some remarkable things during my hours of quarantine. The most awesome, by far, has to be Dianne from the MTV documentary Fat Camp. Channel Four in the UK had a weekday reality series in 2004 called Fat Camp, but it was pure fluff that no one but me ever watched. According to Kim Reed’s latest podcast (something I wouldn’t have listened to if I wasn’t home sick), the MTV doc Fat Camp is the sort of thing that could easily be on PBS and get treated seriously by critics. As it’s on MTV, it’s not. (And meanwhile, UK TV is now hosting Tourette’s Camp. Please explain to me how the British get away with their smug sense of cultural supriority.)

Anyway, go and read about Dianne. Please. You may laugh - and if you don’t, surely your heart is made of stone - but as Rich says, there is something beautiful and enviable about the girl’s simplicity, and how easily she finds pleasure in the mediocre.

Just check out this clip of Dianne rocking out to Sweet Home Alabama that someone was benevolent enough to upload to YouTube. When’s the last time you got that happy about anything, anything at all?

Filed under: Life