Springer Rolls

In honor of Mr. Dub's thirtieth year of life, we dined at a semi-swank sushi joint in Evanston called Koi, where Mr. Dub, who loves white rice but not raw eel, shared General Tao's chicken, mu shu wraps and spring rolls with me. Behind my mister sat a party of three, including a husband and his wife who obviously had some sort of handicap based on her slurred speech and mannerisms. Yet, as I watched her I was amazed at her poise, as well as the few snippets of conversation about politics that I overheard. Since our apartment building is home to several mentally-handicapped young men and women attending an independence/career-building program nearby, I became enthralled with this woman and the potential that each of our neighbors has if they refuse to be limited by their handicaps. I was so engaged in fact that it took me about 10 minutes before I thought to look at the third member of their party, who was her father and none other than talk-show legend Jerry Springer.

Needless to say, my attention switched focus Jerry Springer, who obviously raised his daughter to be the competent, confident person that she appeared at that point, and my positive impression of the woman was quickly transposed onto to be to me. Sure he likes to let people curse and throw chairs and disrobe on public television. Sure he likes to play dumb as if he doesn't know why his show always turns into an immoral debacle filled with slander and smut. Sure he likes to leave a "final thought" with people that in no way compensates for the disgusting tirades of his guests. (To his credit, there was no screaming or yelling or exposure of inter-family affairs or trysts with the mailman at dinner last night. In fact, no one besides us Dubs even seemed to notice it was Jerry Springer -- and I've only ever seen a handful of his shows back in the early days before it really degenerated.)

But despite his conscious contribution to the erosion of family values and civilized society, Jerry Springer is still a father. And a pretty darn good one at that it appears.

And that, my friends, is my final thought.