Turning the World on With a Feminist Smile

She could turn the world on with a smile.

Another heart-breaking celebrity loss, even with 2016 now behind us.

I grew up watching Mary Tyler Moore, in two of America's best and most ground-breaking television sitcoms.

The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 60s was an incredible blend of home and workplace comedies. It's type of humor and  relationship between characters paved the way for many more comedies of its type, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, The Office, Parks and Recreation, and dozens more.

Mary played played Dick Van Dyke's adoring wife.  She was goofy and nervous at times, but was a loving equal to her husband.  Like any sitcom character, she got herself in messes, but she also got herself out of them with wit and charm, often showing more strength, charm, intelligence and common sense than her husband.  She had a deft comedic touch, in a cast of experienced, gifted comedians, and she more than held her own with them.

Several years later, she starred in her own comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which took both the office comedy and feminism to a new level on television.  She played an unmarried career woman, in a challenging career as an assistant producer of a local television newscast.  She was surrounded by one of the most gifted supporting casts in TV history, and shined through it all,  She presented feminism with a friendly, smiling face, facing the resistance that many women felt when they tried to stand on their own.  But even with everything thrown at her, she was "gonna make it after all."

During the time she was doing The Dick Van Dyke Show, she suffered from an unknown illness that weakened her considerably, and was eventually diagnosed as Type One Diabetes.  She handled it with grace and aplomb, and became a leading spokesperson for diabetes research, particularly for juveniles.  She was also an animal rights activist.

She showed me, as I was growing up, that a woman could be beautiful, funny and intelligent.  She could make every day seem worthwhile.

Here's to you, Mary.  You got spunk.  And unlike your crotchety boss, Lou Grant, I like spunk.

Thanks for leading the march, Mary.  Thanks for the example and inspiration, The Women's March continues!