It is well written. I did find it basically falling into a holding pattern. Suddenly, in the last quarter or so of the book, a "really? didn't expect that" key turning point (her sister abused her).
The girl, around 10, caused a lot of trouble. But she was still only a girl. And in a lot of pain. The events took place some time ago (you can tell because the author is old and here she has a young child), so we know things (appeared to) worked out okay for her.
Lyle Denniston, the 95-year-old former SCOTUSBlog reporter, conveniently lists possible Supreme Court reforms. They are not comprehensive.
(He frames it as "changing" the Court.)
For instance, they can reform qualified immunity or address national injunctions. If you wish to count them as court reforms. But he does generally cover the gambit.
The No King's Act or an amendment doing that also can be tossed in. Ditto something about abortion or some other major "mistake" of the current Supreme Court. These are basically Court reforms.
We can expand the Court and/or (the first shouldn't foreclose the second) have term limits. Term limits, realistically, require a constitutional amendment. They probably do constitutionally. Also, realistically, it will be hard to pass legislatively since many moderates will think so.
I have talked about expansion. I respect the demand, though I'm wary about it. I doubt it will happen. If it does happen, we should also have the ability to do many other things.
Term limits should have broad support. Enough?
Well, push other reforms; maybe there will be more support for it to be a compromise. It's time for some amendments.
Take away some of the Court’s power to decide specific categories of cases. The Constitution says that Congress has some power to impose such limits, but how much may depend upon whether the Court would strike down any such measure as an unconstitutional interference with its independence, which the Court vigorously defends.
Dolly Parton has had serious health problems recently, so the news is not totally surprising. We just don't like to hear it. She was eighty years old.
My mom listened to a country music radio station while we grew up. So I had exposure to country music while growing up in New York City. I like various country music singers.
I like Dolly Parton. Erik Loomis provides a largely positive obituary here, including honoring her talent and business savvy. He references a 1960s song about a pregnant woman committing suicide after being abandoned.
She was a feminist. One thing he notes is that she did not speak out against her state's anti-trans legislation.
Parton is regularly cited as an LGBTQ ally. She was careful not to bluntly oppose certain laws. But people knew where she stood. In the 1980s, she said this:
“I got a huge gay following and some really macho-looking women,” Parton told Andy Warhol in a conversation for a 1984 Interview cover story. “To me, people are people. … Many of my friends are gay, male and female. I don’t judge people. I don’t care what people do in their bedrooms and people shouldn’t care what I do in mine.”
The anti-LGBTQ movement is based on hate, lack of empathy, and scare tactics. People, however, overall found same sex marriage not a big deal. Parton was accepting, loving, and knew it was not a big scary thing.
When asked, early on, she made jokes about gays now having the same problems as straights. [I heard a form of this on today's Gay USA episode.]
Of course, she didn't really think marriage was bad. She was married for almost sixty years.
[ETA: A Wikipedia page is available.]
Dolly was pro-labor, including all those people required to produce her music. Not just for one film.
She was loving, funny, and honored by people she worked with. As the actress Daryl Hannah noted on Bluesky:
I could tell you stories & you would love ‘em, but they wouldn’t make you love her more than you already do. We will always love her.
I sometimes watch DVDs with someone who has not watched many of the films that many have seen. I recently re-watched Enchanted with her. Last night was B&B. The animated version.
(Years later, we had the live-action version. Kevin Kline played the grandfather.)
Multiple familiar actors do the voices, including the person who later played the gruff police officer Lenny on Law & Order, though some might remember him from Dirty Dancing.
[Jerry Orbach had done some stage work.*]
The film has some good songs. It also has scary parts, including when wolves threaten Belle.
The "heavy" is also a rather cruel character. His flunky reminds somewhat of the flunky in Enchanted.
His being a sexist boor is one thing. Then, he goes next level. Again, I can see some parents being like the mother of "Chip," and thinking their children were too young for some of this.
True enough, the original fairy tales were rather dark. But we generally have a sanitized version. Up to a point. Not quite as dark as this.
I guess the original edit was deemed inappropriate.
The film is about true love conquering all -- both familial (Belle sacrifices herself for her father) and romantic (a beauty falls for a beast). Also, about the dangers of appearances. Dreaming of more.
And, of course, the power of reading.
The true symbol that all is well is when they kiss. For the value of a true love kiss, see either Enchanted or a Hallmark Channel film. A kiss is a standard finale.
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* Jerry Orbach, to be clear, did a significant amount of stage work. Many people only know him as "Lenny."
His first appearance on the show -- the actor -- was a one-episode guest role portraying someone else. If footnotes are not the place for trivia, what is?
Other Films
To toss it in there, since the film is so popular, they decided to do some spin-offs. Oh, you mean after the events of the film? No silly.
People like the enchanted castle stuff. So, looking at the plot summaries, the stories generally involve stuff that would have taken place during the film.
It might not be completely clear (it wasn't for me), but the "time skip" entry here suggests the film takes place over an extended period. So, there is plenty of time for additional "enchanted" content.
As to the live-action film, there was also one back in the day. Tubi shows me there are multiple live-action versions without all the enchanted details.
I once started watching the live-action version of the animated film that this entry discusses. It didn't really, including the lead, catch my interest.
It also tosses in various extra details, which aren't really necessary and might be counterproductive. Still, I think I will try to watch it again.
ETA: I did try to watch it again. Not interested.