I actually stole that title. But it's fitting. It's all good. "Humans Being" is a Van Halen song that was -- get this -- recorded for the soundtrack to the Bill Paxton/Helen Hunt tornado-chaser film "Twister." http://youtu.be/LzwUNV2xIq0 Former lead vocalist Sammy Hagar implores those emerging from stormy chaos to "shine on", you'll notice, as the song (and video) comes to a ferocious end.

I believe that Oklahoma will indeed shine on. Simply put, they have no choice but to shine on. And that's just until the next inevitable twister spins their way. It's commonplace there.

But, here's what isn't. Did you see the story of the woman being interviewed while standing atop the wreckage that once constituted her home, resilient as they come, saying "This is life in the big city" (Moore, OK??) and also lamenting that her dog was somewhere beneath said wreckage? She had called him to no avail. The reporter appeared unfazed by this, asking, of all things, "Are you able to comprehend what happened here?" You can check the clip out here:  http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/oklahoma-woman-finds-dog-video-tv-rubble-garcia.html

The survivor, Barbara Garcia, comprehended fully what happened on Monday, May 20, 2013, and said as much to the news anchor jutting a microphone into her face. She had, in fact, just described the scene in great detail. If you watched the clip, or watch it after reading this, or have already seen it, you know that her dog was sure as heck beneath that rubble. And, as if on cue, crawled out from beneath it, merely a foot or two away from Ms. Garcia just as she was answering the idiotic question asked of her.

Here's where it gets even worse. Garcia bends over, laid out herself on what was left of her house less than an hour earlier, to lift rubble off her pooch and gets zero help from the anchor or her cameraman. He doesn't even have the sense to zoom in on the adorable pooch's head, poking out. Dude...you either zoom over or you zoom IN. I guess this is just another example, a different kind of example, of humans being.

This much I do know for sure, though: Barbara Garcia, of Moore, OK, will definitely shine on, her dog by her side.  

First things first: I hate this whole "this is the new that" stuff; Paninis are the new hoagies, rats are the new ferrets, breathing is the new being alive. It's tired.

That said, my headline stands. As far as TV, literature, blogs -- whatever -- are concerned, the crazier, more outlandish, more dysfunctional the family, the more it will resonate with a salivating audience. That's clearly the studio mogul mindset.

Salivating to relate, maybe; sure, we all think our family was a bit off, cause for embarrassment on more than one occasion, so there's a bit of "misery loving company" going on. But, ultimately, in retrospect or not, many of us look back at a family that had its collective quirks but was ultimately a pretty damn normal, boring, functioning family. Do I understand Hollywood cranking up the quirk for laughs and to keep our attention? Obviously. Yet, while doing so, the Cleavers became the Cunninghams became the Bluths became "Modern Family." Funny shows all, but at the same time dysfunctional became something to strive for, the willfull suspension of disbelief something as easy to dismiss as the notion that drama and issue-free is possible.  

      http://www.ctfamily.org/blog/2013/05/13/vinnie-penn-connecticut-talk-radio-and-the-pro-family-cause/

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A task force of elected officials in Newtown on Friday recommended tearing down Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in December, and rebuilding on the same site.

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