What are YOU doing for New Year’s? Forget Snooki in a ball, especially now that it’s been moved to Jersey! Instead, how about ringing in the #NewYear with North Carolina’s infamous “Opossum Drop.” Yep, you’ve read correctly. In Brasstown, NC, (on the NC-TN-GA tri-state border) they drop an opossum at midnight*. (*Note: I’m told the opossum is not actually “dropped”, it is “lowered with great care” and treated with respect so as “not to inflict any injury or traumatize God’s creature of the night.”) The happy event takes place at “Clay’s Corner,” the self-proclaimed Opossum Capital of the World, and begins with a blessing and singing of church songs, followed by a ceremony so exciting Dick Clark is considering sending Ryan Seacrest** south! (NOTE: **Ryan will remain in NYC and has suggested Kathy Griffin for the event.)
Geraldine Doyle, who was the inspiration for “Rosie the Riveter,” (J. Howard Miller’s iconic WW2-era poster “We Can Do It!”) passed away this Sunday in her hometown of Lansing, Michigan. She was 86. From the Lansing State Journal: “‘Rosie the Riveter’ is the image of an independent woman who is control of her own destiny,” said Gladys Beckwith, former director of the Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame. “She was a gracious, beautiful woman. Her death is the end of an era, and we need to take note of that. We need to respect what she stood for.” I say to the women of today: “YOU can do it, too!”
