Someone I've Met Has Been in the News This Week
@bagarad (14283)
Paso Robles, California
May 1, 2018 3:02am CST
I can't say I actually know her now, but we are Facebook friends. I did meet her, but when she was fourteen and lived at home. Her mother was my favorite roommate in college. Politically and religiously we rarely agreed but I still felt closer to her than any of my other roommates.
The last time I talked to my ex-roommate Kate Talev, she was very proud of her daughter's great start to her career in journalism. I lost touch with Kate a few years after that last visit. My letters weren't answered and I couldn't get through on the phone. Our relationship was growing ever closer as we aged and then the communication just stopped. We lived on opposite coasts.
I have probably mentioned Kate before. When we had been out of touch for so long I finally remembered her daughters might be on Facebook and I looked them up. Sure enough. They were there. But the news wasn't good. Kate was in an assisted living center because she had Alzheimer's Disease. She was in Texas by then, close to the younger daughter. I was broken-hearted, and Kate finally died a little over a year ago.
While the daughters on Facebook were my only source of information about Kate during the few years preceding her death, I learned more about the daughters and their chosen lives and careers. The older daughter's career is quite public. She's the only one of my roommates that ever had her photo taken with Barack Obama at the White House Christmas party. In one photo he had his arm around both the sisters. She's also the only person I know who has traveled on Air Force One.
This elder daughter is often on TV. You may have seen her the last couple of days in countless news replays. She is now an important person in her chosen profession. I wonder what her mom would be saying now if she were still alive?
I wonder what she herself is thinking about her part in what's making so much news this week. Is she regretting a certain decision? Or would she make the same decision again? I probably will never know. That may not be on her timeline. But I'll look one of these days.
Can you guess who she is?
Later edit: If you aren't able to guess because you don't follow USA politics very closely, here's a link to what I'm referring to with the video of this person and what happened to get her in the news.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house-correspondents-association-president-i-regret-that-comedians-speech-is-defining-a-unifying-night
13 people like this
14 responses
@changjiangzhibin89 (17243)
• China
1 May 18
How happy your roommate would be ,if she lived to see her daughters get on in life.
3 people like this

@changjiangzhibin89 (17243)
• China
2 May 18
@bagarad There were surely some diagreements between two generations and usually it was hard to bring the opposite side around to their point of view.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
2 May 18
I would really like to know what she would have thought of the media furor her daughter was part of. But I know she loved both daughters very much. She would have been kind even if she hadn't agreed with all they might be doing. Neither would she have been silent if she had an opinion.
3 people like this

@sprite1950 (30461)
• Corsham, England
2 May 18
How sad that Kate became a victim of Alzheimers but I'm sure she would be so proud of her daughters. Facebook, despite its shortcomings, is a great way of finding people we may have lost touch with. I think it's inevitable that we will lose touch with people as we travel our different paths in life.
2 people like this

@sprite1950 (30461)
• Corsham, England
3 May 18
@bagarad Yes I even found people I knew when I was a teenager. It's harder to find women because they often marry and change their name,
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
3 May 18
@sprite1950 Yes. That is a problem. Sometimes If we have mutual friends we can find them on a different friend's profile, as I've often done.
1 person likes this

@silvermist (19701)
• India
1 May 18
That was really sad the way you lost touch with your friend.Hope you keep in touch with her daughters on Facebook.
2 people like this

@LeaPea2417 (40052)
• Toccoa, Georgia
1 May 18
I can't guess. Who is she? What news channel is she on and what is her name. I may know who she is. Tell me.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
2 May 18
@LeaPea2417 I just edited the post to link to the site that has a video of her and an explanation of the controversy.
1 person likes this

@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
2 May 18
@LadyDuck I wouldn't expect people outside the USA to know something like this. I wouldn't know or care myself if I didn't know her. I've been following her career by watching the White House Press Briefings where they occasionally show a show of her asking a question. But she stirred up a hornet's nest with the selection of the entertainer for the evening.
3 people like this

@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
2 May 18
So am I. The disease stole my friend as it has stolen loved ones from so many others.


@mlgen1037 (29882)
• Manila, Philippines
1 May 18
Hi Barbara. I have no idea and I am not up to date with the current events.
1 person likes this
@mlgen1037 (29882)
• Manila, Philippines
2 May 18
@bagarad Yes, thats right. I am sorry about your friend. I think I better look about the daughter so I can understand.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
2 May 18
@mlgen1037 I just edited the post to link to the site that has a video of her and an explanation of the controversy.
1 person likes this

@arunima25 (93194)
• Bangalore, India
1 May 18
Sorry for your personal loss!! Even the girls must be missing their mom. Though I can not guess the name, Wish them both all the best in their journey
1 person likes this















