A Few Tuesday Reads Including Obituaries

 There seems to be no limit to the outrageousness of what is happening with young people regarding so-called "gender ideology."

At bottom, sex roles are fucking evil, yet we have the political right in the U.S., especially the "Christian nationalists," trying to bring back the shitty era of the 1950s.  Women were absolutely treated like crap.  So were single people.  LGBs went back into the closet.

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Obit:  Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, 77, wife and "savior" of famed musician/songwriter Brian Wilson, has died.  Brian had announced the death on Twitter/X.  No cause of death was given.

After years of drug problems and mental illness issues suffered by Brian, Melinda came along at just the right time in his life to finally set him back on the right path.  Brian and Melinda adopted five children (he also has two from his first wife, Marilyn).  

Snip:

Wilson shared the news of his wife's death in an emotional Instagram post Tuesday. "My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning," Wilson wrote alongside a photo of Ledbetter. "Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost."

Wilson went on to express his gratitude for Ledbetter's support throughout their nearly three-decade marriage. The couple married in 1995. Ledbetter, a talent manager and former model, also served as Wilson's manager.

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Another obit:  Chita Rivera, singer, dancer, and actress  whose long career, especially on the stage, garnered her acclaim and ten Tony award nominations has died.  She was 91. 

She is best known for her performance as Anita in the 1957 stage production of West Side Story.  

More:

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born Jan. 23, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her Puerto Rican father, Pedro del Rivero, was a musician who played in the United States Navy Band, who died when she was 7. Her mother was Scottish and Italian descent.

She took dance classes and then entered the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York. Her first theater gig, at age 17, was in the touring company of "Call Me Madam." That led to chorus stints in such shows as “Guys and Dolls” and “Can-Can.”

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Yet another obit:  Director Norman Jewison, 97, known for directing films such as Fiddler on the Roof, and Moonstruck, died a few days ago.  He received a lifetime Oscar back in 1999.

More:

The Toronto-born Jewison began acting at age 6, appearing before Masonic lodge gatherings. After graduating from Victoria College, he went to work for the BBC in London, then returned to Canada and directed programs for the CBC. His work there brought offers from Hollywood and he quickly earned a reputation as a director of TV musicals, with stars including Judy Garland, Danny Kaye and Harry Belafonte. Jewison shifted to feature films in 1963 with the comedy “40 Pounds of Trouble,” starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette.

The director’s light touch prompted Universal to assign him to a series of comedies, including “The Thrill of It All,” which paired Day with James Garner, and “Send Me No Flowers,” starring Day and Rock Hudson. Wearying of such scripts, Jewison used a loophole in his contract to move to MGM for 1965’s “The Cincinnati Kid,” a drama of the gambling world starring McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. He followed with “The Russian Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” which starred Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint and was the breakthrough film for Alan Arkin.

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