It is my firm hope that Governor Sarah Palin is settling back into her Alaska home, where she can enjoy frequent target practice on photographs of Nicole Wallace, Randy Scheunemann and maybe even John McCain. There are other Sarahs, however, who I think still deserve our attention.
Sarah Silverman
Her show has intelligently skewered God, homelessness, abortion and marriage. Kudos to Sarah for her effort on The Great Schlep! Although only an estimated 100 people took the sponsoring organization, Jews Vote, up on its offer to send them down to Florida, she inspired many of us to take action. I e-mailed my parents in Miami Beach and threatened they would never see their grandchild again should they not vote for Obama. Mazel tov, Sarah, for reminding us of the power of Jewish guilt, and showing us who really is “friends with Israel.”
Sarah McLachlan
It’s no mystery that Sarah McLachlan helped build a market for many women in the music industry as the founder of Lilith Fair, and I’m sure that as a spokesperson against animal cruelty, she would frown on putting lipstick on any breed of animal. Her “In the Arms of an Angel” commercial campaign is giving great exposure to the ASPCA, which just might prove the perfect place to look for that puppy for Malia and Sasha. Just don’t recommend a pit bull, Sarah!
Sara Lee
The American snack food corporation has unveiled a quarterly profit that crushed analysts’ estimates. Sara Lee has just reported that their sales rose 15 percent at the end of the first fiscal quarter, while so many American companies are seeing record losses. Does even Palin pack her kids Seven Layers of Heaven Bars in their lunchboxes? Perhaps so.
Sarah Jessica Parker
She didn’t break the glass ceiling, but Sex in the City broke box office records. SJP led the cast of the film, which had the highest-grossing debut ever for a movie starring women. It’s also the first tent-pole blockbuster to rest squarely on a female demographic with 85 percent of the female audience turning out on opening night to see Sarah Jessica pal around with her friends.
Sarah Hale
With Turkey Day upon us, we all might take a moment to consider the substantive change that Sarah Hale, one of the last century’s leading female members of the East Coast elites, made to this country. Hale also had five children, and as the editor of Ladies’ Magazine and Godey’s Lady Book, was one of the most influential women of the nineteenth century, campaigning for a united America in the years before the Civil War and championing education for women. Hale is credited as the individual most responsible for making Thanksgiving (one of the most undeniably pro-American annual celebrations) a national holiday in the United States in 1863. Does she deserve our continued gratitude? You betcha!
Sarah, the matriarch of the Old Testament
Married to Abraham, Sarah was infertile but didn’t blink at making the decision to ask her servant Hagar carry a child for her. Sarah is often cited as the first woman in recorded history to endorse surrogate pregnancy. Like Palin, she too went rogue. She distanced herself from Hagar, and even disinherited Hagar’s child in favor of the child she bore herself later in life. It’s a cautionary tale that Republicans would do well to recall. But she’s primarily remembered for her initial decision, and Sarah’s example paved the way for countless couples to consider alternative means of expanding their families. A maverick and a matriarch!
The only thing harder to believe than Sarah Palin’s relinquishing the spotlight is that she plans to donate those designer duds to charity anytime soon. She has said that her only plans so far for 2012 are to enroll Trig in kindergarten. Should we believe her? Only she knows for sure. The future’s not ours to see, que sera, Sarah?
