Raquel - Need I say more?

Being of a certain age, yeah, I have to admit that the first pinup poster that I really dug was that of Raquel Welch (see, I was pre-Farrah and Cheryl Tiegs).  I didn't have the poster myself (actually, I don't recall having any posters - wasn't the style at the Donald home), but a friend of mine in Tulsa had one, and I remember perusing posters at the local Treasure City, a contemporary of Gibson's, precursors to the Wal-Marts and Targets of today.

Anyway, not to totally give my blog over to excerpted interviews, but I found this one, from ParentDish, to be interesting.  Ms. Welch has recently released a book, and it turns out she's not some bimbo, but has some very good observations on the society, not necessarily what I expected.  Have a look:

PD: What do you think of today's young people?   RW: Not that I want censorship, but now with the internet it's not The New York Times' all the news that's fit to print. It's every darn thing. It's too much exposure to all things in existence on the planet. Where do you find equilibrium in that? Their attention span is shorter and shorter and they are very glib. If everything is on top on you all the time you don't see the forest thru the trees. There's no music there.

PD: Any solutions?   RW: We used to respect our teachers and there were dress codes. People behaved themselves. There was hell to pay if you acted up in the classroom. You didn't get away with stuff. Are we raising a group of little animals out there? You're supposed to be nice to your fellow human beings. The human condition is wrought with pain and difficulty, and being civil is rule number one. I don't know how these kids are getting away after being rotten to people. I'm surprised at the meanness. They behave like a bunch of gluttonous sloths, a bunch of wild animals, and they end up on Jerry Springer.

PD: What do you do to keep the equilibrium and find peace?   RW: I'm very fortunate that I started studying yoga in my late 30s, which lead me in my 50s to touch base with my mother's faith. I was raised as a Presbyterian girl. I was coming into my heyday in the 60s, with drugs, promiscuous sex happening. Here I'm a sex symbol but I've never gotten into substance abuse, or became a sex addict because I had that sense that there were boundaries. That kept me sane and healthy all this time. There was an invisible compass in my head, a sense of decency that relates to my mother. I liked the feeling of doing something that was good and right.

PD: Tell me about the search for faith.   RW: I went on a quest for a church for a couple of years. I considered myself a Christian when I was growing up, although I fell away from it. It came very late in life and I hit a brick wall. I tried Buddhism, Hindi and this and that and I said, 'just stop it.' I found a renewed faith in a higher power and in certain precepts of behavior that lead to a happier existence. In my later years I needed to connect with that.

PD: So, would we ever run into you at church?   RW: I am a very happy God-fearing person who goes to church every Sunday. I've met the most lovely people there who have nothing to do with show business.

PD: How has your renewed faith changed you?   RW: I'm more open to other people, I'm more humble, more giving, more outgoing and happier with my age and my lot in life because I believe in something bigger than me. It started to be self, self, self, self, self. Actresses are big offenders of being self-involved. The Raquel in that poster is not me. I played her, but that's not me.