As I fought off those November blues, I decided to channel surf through the limited cable my apartment complex provides.
I flipped past Paula Dean having her own Butter Fest, babies being abused on “16 and Pregnant” and halted at the sight of Bristol Palin in a sequined dress.
At first I thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit, but the ABC logo and the lack of humor in her dancing routing made me realize otherwise.
A quick Google search affirmed my fear, I was watching “Dancing with the Stars.”
I never understood the fascination with watching pseudo-celebrities dance.
Half of the talent on the show appeared in TV shows and movies in a much earlier decade and therefore are rendered unrecognizable to my generation.
The other half are retired athletes who, again, become unrecognizable to younger viewers.
Bristol, however, is neither a retired athlete nor a forgotten actor, so her appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” was both unnecessary and confusing.
Bristol, whose mother is ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, became famous during her mother’s campaign as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.
Her baby with ex-Playboy model Levi Johnston was also much-publicized.
As if that wasn’t enough, Google also informed me there was a show on The Learning Channel — you know the wedding/multiple-children/pregnancy channel — called “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I read the commentary for this television show.
The fact this dysfunctional family was getting so much attention seemed odd, yet mildly entertaining.
It seems Sarah Palin is on the brink of deciding whether or not she should run for the 2012 presidency.
Perhaps the publicity from “Dancing with the Stars” and “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is intended to thrust the Palins back into the spotlight and American relevance.
Either way, I would love to see her return in 2012 for another round of lucid interviews and unrealistic expectations. If she is, indeed, telling the truth, she told the New York Times she is consulting both her family and her political colleagues on her decision on whether to rock the boat and challenge Obama.
Although some, including some of her own Republican colleagues, consider her unelectable, she still might carry on and decide to run for the highest office in the land.
Maybe this time around her other daughter Willow, who has been in the limelight lately for some choice anti-gay slurs when one of her Facebook friends dissed her mother and sister, will be expecting a baby and subsequently appear on “Dancing with the Stars.” I can only hope.
Seeing the Palins on national television once again is a scary thought.
If millions of Americans are tuning in to these television shows, then millions are also thinking about Sarah Palin’s political future.
Ultimately, having Sarah Palin as a political candidate would be highly entertaining, but the thought of having her actually serve as any sort of power politician is a much scarier one.
Just like she exercised caution when approaching a group of brown bears in her TLC show, we should do the same when approaching her.
Yes, she and her family
Hassan Casanova is a third-year family, youth and community science student at Santa Fe College. His column appears every Friday.
