Well, here we are - January 1, 2008 - and I am starting on my Oprah-defined life path for the year.
A little about the project...
I will be following the suggestions and advice prescribed by Oprah Winfrey on her television show, on her website and in her magazines. Why? Well, for several reasons. On one hand, I am concerned about the manner in which power is wielded by celebrities and on the other hand, I am doubly concerned about how willing we are to hand over our power to our gurus.
I believe the most influential American public figure today to be Oprah Winfrey. Many of us allow her to dictate what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, how we cook, exercise, organize, and how we vote. We are convinced by her powerful public persona that her way is the right way. The road to happiness and success.
Granted, Oprah is admirable. Her career path is stunning and nothing was handed to this woman on a silver platter. Amazing. So amazing, many want to be just like her. In the earlier years of her syndicated television program, women were able to relate to her struggles. We still imagine that she can relate to us and we to her. But is this remotely possible anymore?
Due to her overwhelmingly privileged lifestyle, can she actually be the voice of the American woman? Does she still understand the everyday stresses on "real life" women? I don't believe this is possible. Surely, she can empathize, but can she still speak for us? Well, she does. And we listen. We fall in love with her decorator, her doctor, her chef. Why? Because she tells us to. Oprah defines how high we set the bar for ourselves and based on her suggestions, we challenge ourselves to meet tough expectations.
Well, I'm interested in seeing what happens when an average American woman (I'll give you all my stats in my next post) tries to keep up with Oprah's advice to (as her website touts) "live your best life." Can I keep up? What will the financial, emotional and time costs be? I'll be keeping track of all of these costs and sharing them with you regularly. I'll be using the show, website and magazines to help me design my life. In fact, as I prepare for a New Year's Day gathering at my home today, I am checking her website regularly for guidance. I'll let you know what everyone thinks of my Mushroom, Goat Cheese and Caramelized-Shallot Pizza and will report to you if anyone realizes there is spinach hidden in my Blueberry Oatmeal Bars. Wish me luck.
Please do feel free to leave me comments on this site. I'm very interested in your feedback. And your vote in the polls in the right-hand column will be helpful. I'll be tabulating all of these numbers for a report at the end of the project on December 31, 2008.
Thanks so much for your interest and have a very happy, healthy, joyous New Year.
Best,
Living Oprah
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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13 comments:
this is quite the feat...one whole year.
at least it's comforting to know that you're voting for barack. will you perhaps sport a gigantic diamond pinkie ring like her, too?
i'm adding you to my blogroll and will be blogging/telling people about your experiment...
cheers to you on your first day of success.
tif
i'm very interested to see your results. i like the fact that you are keeping track of your costs because of how the oprah industry generates capital for the various people/companies/books (publishers) that she champions.
i've been reading marjorie perloff's discussion of "the donahue show" in relation to the danger of modern poetry to succumb to what passes these days for "the real". it is disturbing that people model their lives after a model instead of creating their own lives, but seems like in a climate of perpetual fear, a model of what to like and then, obviously, what to buy in order to survive, seems very comforting.
i definitely see that instead of providing open-ended options for people to explore their own diverse ways of living (especially apart from the television) oprah is constantly keeping people coming back to her for answers. i'm very interested in seeing a real-life and conscientious example of what this can result in.
good luck.
I'm really excited about this.
Can we call you O?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
If the cost of spiritual fulfillment is eating spinach-blueberry-oatmeal bars, then I don't know if it's worth it.
Best of luck though, I'm looking forward to following this.
Hi Living Oprah! I'm excited about your very ambitious and interesting journey for 2008. I find your question very interesting and I look forward to following along as you explore for answers. Happy blogging!
Good luck with this. I can't wait to see how long it will take Oprah to start reading this. Think she'll give my class a trip to Disney? I keep asking her for it in all the letters I write. In any event I hope you find great success with your O adventure.
Perhaps the greatest challenge is the process of "conscious living" and self-awareness. Whether you are doing it for/with/beacuse of Oprah or just simply living a life more fully aware and in-tune, watching, witnessing and actively participating in creating consciously I do believe you'll live more fully and more meaningfully. I wish you great luck and success! Rumor has it that Barack likes blueberry oatmeal bars laced with spinache -- so that makes them A-OK in my book.
Best wishes for happiness, health and a year full of self-awareness.
Peace,
Whit
I am a sort-of-Oprah fan myself, but her shows are starting to bother me. They seem to polarize issues as though they are discrete, single, Problems That Can Be Solved. I am finding, in my middle years, that depression, weight gain, messy houses, dying parents, etc., all become organically connected in complex ways. As our lives evolve, these kinds of issues overlap and interact with each other in ways that Oprah underestimates. It would be more helpful if she could emphasize how interconnected, complex and organic the issues are with which her audience / demographic struggles. It's as if she needs a mini-series structure, like PBS does sometimes, to take more time than one hour/day for the harder issues.
I wonder if you should track the publishers of books, manufacturers of foods and makers of other products that you consume, purchase/obtain...
Seems possible that you might find some very interesting connections when the year is done.
I was linked to your Blog by a friend of friend of friend... sort of thing. Very interesting! I'm not a fan of Oprah myself, even though I'm in Chicago too, but I'm really fascinated by this experiment of yours. I'll be following along and I'll mention it to my live journal.
I tend to think Oprah lost touch with regular women sometime before Dr. Phil came around and Julia Roberts started calling O her best friend. So... years and years ago. But that goat cheese pizza does sound tasty!
Very cool. I just had a discussion with my wife (on which we disagreed) how I thought Oprah was both a model but also was promoting too much of a superwoman state to all her watchers. I have the feeling that her show ends up depicting a state which no woman can truly achieve, which creates inner tension. While she promotes the current hard conditions that women have to follow as archetypes (mother, professional, spouse, etc.) ; I think the temporary relief she provides through sympathizing is not equal to the psychological pressure her show ends up applying to real women.
So that Living Oprah experiment with a "real life" woman should yield some very interesting results. Good luck to you!
What an interesting experiment! I randomly stumbled across this website from my desk in London and I must say I'm rather looking forward to following you along on your journey this year, it's going to prove rather interesting and I don't doubt that you'll pick up some fantastic and very valuable domestic/cooking skills along the way!
I used to be quite the Oprah fan myself years ago however, through time I've noticed that her show's have started to lack the draw and raw honesty that they once held instead, becoming condescending, patronizing and formulaic. I think you described it well when you stated that we once used to relate to Oprah, that she used to speak for a world of women who wanted to be heard however, I believe as it seems a lot of you also do, that Oprah has lost her ability to genuinely speak for, and to us as time has gone on and her wealth and detachment from day-to-day life has increased. I also believe that Oprah has lost the genuineness she once had; I now find her displays of emotion and affection fake and contrived for the cameras and her audience I think her insincerity is what disappoints me the most as I once adored Oprah and actually looked forward to watching it when I could. I think she lost me somewhere around the Inyanla/Dr Phil period.
Anyway, best of luck... Oh, an I'm quite interested to know what you're planning on doing when they broadcast 'Oprah's Favourite Things' episode so that you're not out of pocket half a million dollars?!
Peace
x
Hi there, heard you on NPR yesterday. Great interview. Re: baking, to me, it's magic. You take ingredients that are in one form - liquid, solid, oil, water - mix them together, subject them to heat, and they all become transformed into something completely different, both physically and in taste. It's alchemy! I feel connected spiritually when I bake. Thank goodness that people say I'm good at it! But I'm not great with meats, veges, salads, etc. They seem boring because they stay the same, no matter how you flavor them ....
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