Maya Angelou is Ok

So apparently TMZ, the ridiculous teen-gossip empire, erroneously reported that Maya Angelou had become ill and was taken to the hospital.

Once this story was posted (and I use "story" in the Aesop/lying 7-year-old/false alibi sense) she became the number one Twitter trend.* Some people even added a premature "RIP" to the end of their tweets. The misinformation spurred dozens of friends to call her from around the world to check on her, only to find that she was perfectly well and at a planned speaking engagement.

This whole incident reminded me of something personal. Not too long ago a friend asked me a very important detail about our mutual friend's illness. I did not remember the specifics to relay so I gave a very vague update, apologized, and then the conversation moved along. Ten minutes later were were talking about celebrity gossip in stunning detail.

Later that night I was really and truly ashamed that I know the intricacies of the lives of all the reality TV "stars" on the E! network but not important things about those people who love and support me. Why would inane details about famous some stranger be more interesting or important than real life events happening at arm's reach?

I was watching the E! network again today and there was a scrolling news ticker across the bottom of the screen reporting why Miley Cyrus was discontinuing her use of Twitter. Why do people consume this crap? (Myself included.) Of similar newsworthiness is this story: My pocket lint - decreasing in size with each wash!

Angelou joked with the (real) news outlets, saying that news of her sickness was greatly exaggerated. And with that paraphrase of Mark Twain (who after reports of his demise said something like "Stories of my death are greatly exaggerated") she reminded us how to communicate artfully.

In that vein, I will try to occupy myself more with why the caged bird sings and less with why the staged word clings.

TMZ poem

Telling us celebrity news as
Melodramatically as it pleases.
Zealously scooping real news outlets in stories of fake diseases.

* I don't know exactly what a Twitter trend is, but I can only assume it is the most current ridiculous thing people are tweeting about. For more on my thoughts about Twitter, feel free to read my recent post about it.