On my sister-in-law's recommendation, I've been watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta. And, oh my, what a wonderful car-crash of a show it is!
By far, one of the most controversial cast members is Kim. She's the divorced mother of two, and the only white woman on the show.
I have a question: aren't African-American women pissed off when she says things like: People think I'm Black because I have a big butt. What's next? Do people also think that she's Jewish because she has a big nose?!
But, that's actually the least of what offends me about Kim. Yes, there's more!
You see, Kim fancies herself a singer. Her dream is to be a country singer. Now, I'm not trying to bash that: Having a dream is a great thing. I've got lots of dreams, and I've even made some of them come true.
But what pisses me off about this is that she thinks that you can just snap your fingers and make your dream come true. When in reality, making dreams come true is hard work.
When I wanted to publish a novel, I took writing classes, joined a writer's group, and basically worked at it night and day.
You can't make a dream come true overnight, as Kim seems to think. She's uninterested in singing lessons, or learning anything about music.
Maybe that's why she's become BFF with Sheree, who thinks that becoming a fashion designer just takes throwing lots of money at people. And, has she got people! To succeed at this venture, Sheree hired an assistant, an artist, and a marketing person, just to name a few, but didn't take a single class in drawing, fashion marketing, textiles, or sewing. She holds meetings with her crew where they talk about how fabulous Sheree is and drink wine. Lots of wine.
Sheree, like Kim, claims that you don't need to know textiles to run a fashion line. Nor do you have to be able to draw, or sew, or anything difficult like that. You just need to have a vision, and most fashion designers are the same way. She claims that most fashion designers don't know anything about the nuts and bolts-- they just have a vision.Don't tell that to Donna Karan, who worked her butt off for years at Anne Klein's label. Or Isaac Mizrahi, who, as part of his cabaret show, used to cut and design a cocktail dress on stage, using only a pair of scissors and a black tablecloth.In fact, don't tell that to any of us who work night and day to make our dreams come true. Those of us who take classes in our desired fields, network, and practice as much as we possibly can. I guess for the Georgia peaches of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, dreams just come true by throwing lots of money at them.For the rest of us, it's all about hard work.
