Requiem for Cory

There are some pieces writers put off finishing or even beginning in the first place. There are some entries in our diaries, our blogs, or even still inside our heads we just don't look forward to completing because something strikes a nerve. The reason we feel compelled to write in the first place is when things hit close to home, but it never makes the sort of heart-twisting topics easier to tackle.

Where do I even begin?

A complete stranger, aged 31, died recently of a drug overdose. But he didn't feel like a stranger to me, and the situation didn't either. When Gleekland lost its highschool sweetheart, it brought me right back to losing my own seven years ago. Both men, full of so much goodness and so much left to give, were stopped short by a demon paired with the chemicals which fueled it.

I feel so strongly the loss of his loved ones. Even more strongly, I feel we are not educating our young population about drugs because we go about it from an abstinence stand point. "Drugs are bad. Don't do them EVER! BECAUSE I SAID SO!"

Just like abstinence-only sex-ed programs, this doesn't work. When you tell someone simply not to do something without educating them on what could happen if they do engage in said activity, you are essentially doing nothing. In fact, you might be peaking their interest.

I remember being nine years old, sitting in the classroom and listening to a local police officer talk to us in our [insert unmemorable time frame here] D.A.R.E. meeting. I can't remember a single specific this now-defunct program told us, only that drugs and alcohol were not partners to tango with. I passed with a certificate. We all did.

The problem is no one ever told us what would really happen. No one told us almost all of us would end up drinking on a socially-acceptable level. No one told us half of us would be users of some kind, whether recreationally or habitually. No one told us about the gaunt cheeks we would see on the faces of the people we loved, the frail bodies we would barely notice of people we once called our friends. No one told us our friends would really die, not just in a fake prom-night accident we were allowed to opt out of viewing. No one told us they would really leave us, and leave us forever; some in horrible, violent ways, some in peaceful, lonely ways. Most importantly, no one told us how much their loved ones would hurt when they were gone. No one told us how much we'd cry when we had to sit through another senseless wake. No one told us the things that mattered, the things that could have prevented us from making almost all of these fatal mistakes to begin with.

What does it take to make the powers-that-be realize abstinence-only education about drugs, about sex, about alcohol, about gambling, about weapons, about the hundreds of other things humans abuse is not working? More death?

We don't need a war on drugs. We need an education worthy of the devastation these things can bring not just me or a TV star, but one worthy of the despair we have all felt after losing someone we loved because none of us was the wiser.

Let's become the wiser. Let's help our nieces and nephews and siblings and children and grandchildren understand. Let's let them actually grow up, and grow up in a world with a little less tragedy... and a lot more information.

HB: Don't Fix What Ain't Broke

Writing this is going to mean revealing a deep, dark secret of mine, but this just has to be said: "Glee" sucks.

How do I know? Because, well, I was a die-hard Gleek thanks to season one. I own all of the soundtracks from that season, and regret to inform the general public that I know them by heart. It's a little hard to stomach that confession, knowing the show is the train wreck Lindsay Lohan it is now.

I loved the show for simple reasons. I liked the mix of broadway and pop music, the characters were funny and lovable, and there was a consistent flow to the storyline. Now it is a mess. Kinda like a Jackson Pollack painting but without the art.

Now the show is filled with 90% atrocious music, way too many characters, and story arcs no one gives a shit about. Everything is essentially a shitty rewrite of a better season one story arc. No one cares that Mercedes is pissed off again. No one cares that Quinn sucks at everything. No one cares that Puck got fat.

And what was that whole Gwyneth Paltrow thing about last season? She has a sub-par voice and her character is one of the most horrible people in the world.

It's hypocritical that I keep watching and have the audacity to write this, but there are about three characters I still care about. My favorite character this season is Kurt Hummel's dad, and I think that's a love that goes back to "G.U.T.S.," so I don't even know how much credit I can give the writers of "Glee." I wait for him, and the other few characters that are anywhere near interesting, with baited breath between ghastly musical performances. For a show where music is supposed to be relevant, I find myself fast forwarding through the songs and finding that I didn't miss a thing by doing so.

What the hell are they singing anyway? Panic! at the Disco? I really don't know, and the fact that I don't care enough anymore to Google what songs they are says more than I ever could with words. For all of this, I blame one person: Ryan Murphy.

Ryan Murphy has this horribly bad habit of taking a goldmine of a show and ruining it. Does anyone remember how awesome "Nip/Tuck" was before it nose-dived into fucking insanity? Probably not. It's most likely overshadowed by your memory of that really weird episode that turned into a musical in the last 10 minutes. Why? What the hell does that have to do with plastic surgeons? Oh, right, NOTHING!

Ryan Murphy does what Ryan Murphy wants. He left "Nip/Tuck" to start "Glee," and basically didn't care what that meant for the viewers of the former. I thought that maybe millions of tweens' fragile little hearts could cure the Murphy Beast from destroying "Glee," but sure enough, he's steamrolling right over the story lines that everyone wants to see for the story lines he wants to do. "American Horror Story" is pretty dope, but I don't even want to start watching it for fear that he will turn it into some shitty remake of "Bewitched" before the end of it all.

I know it can't possibly be easy to write a successful show and hit the mark every episode, but the fact that the most likable characters are getting Oliver Twist worthy portions of screen time because of one person is insulting. You are the George W. Bush of TV, Ryan Murphy, and your mission is NOT accomplished.