Missy on Main Street

06/05/2026

I love it.
Didn’t realize she was writing about me & Hubs but always love when Taylor includes us in her music 🤭
Two more weeks til we finally meet Emily?! B”H for friends like these.

06/01/2026

We are ready for it ✨

05/28/2026

Bambi has always been a deeply personal Jewish story - sleep during the early years of Bubs’s life often felt like the little prince in the thicket w his mom. Looking forward to the new translation - Zipes is a master storyteller whose academic work in lit & folklore I still enjoy reading “for fun” decades after discovering him in college - and holding tight to the love song that never ends.

Get ready for a jolting bit of news: Walt Disney’s 1942 film classic “Bambi” was not dreamed up by anyone at the Disney studio.

Instead, the film was a saccharine whitewash of a 1922 novel depicting the harsh realities of life in the forest for its animal inhabitants. Written by Felix Salten, an Austrian Jewish journalist and author, Bambi: A Story of Life in the Forest was also a parable about antisemitism.

Princeton University Press released a new edition of the novel, now faithfully translated from the original German by Jack Zipes and complemented by lovely, stippled illustrations by Alenka Sottler. A full century after its original publishing date, the authentic story of Bambi and its larger political and moral messages is coming to light.

Anyone familiar with the original Disney film will probably immediately think of the tragic scene when Bambi’s mother is shot and killed by a hunter. Other than that shocking incident, the studio made the story into a happily-ever-after tale where Bambi grows up, “marries” Filene and has a family with her, and becomes a confident leader of a forest where all the animals live together in harmony and only human hunters pose dangers.

In contrast, Salten’s original novel is “an allegory about the weak and powerless in the world,” as translator Zipes writes in his introduction. The story’s grimness is readily apparent.

Many of the animal characters have colorful personalities, but also live with the understanding that life can end in an instant. Bitterly cold winters make food scarce. Summers can be so hot that “the forest was stunned as though hurt by a blinding light. The earth and the trees, the bushes, and all the beasts, inhaled the intense heat with a kind of sluggish satisfaction.” While many of the animals share treasured friendships, animals are also predators. A dog kills a wounded fox. A polecat devours a mouse. Jays fight one another over food. Bambi charges at male competitors over Filene, prepared to kill.

Bambi’s harsh experiences in life, facing constant threats and frequent losses, turn him into a loner—similar to the fate of the writer who conjured him.

The human hunters, known only as “He” or “Him,” are the most petrifying enemies, whose scent instills terror into all the animals, sending them fleeing to safety in nests, burrows, and hideouts in thickets of the forest. Bambi learns to walk in total silence, sidestepping every twig and leaf that might rustle. But inevitably, “He” will catch some animals unaware, leaving the forest bereft of several inhabitants.

Read the full article: https://aish.com/bambi-was-jewish/

05/28/2026

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and coffee from a resort mug makes the work hours fly by!
What are the little ways that Disney shows up in your days? (obscured by said resort mug, Tinker Bell on my tshirt.)

05/28/2026

Carousel of Progress has been a family favorite since Zaide first saw the show at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing.
So much so that I’m *still* salty that it was closed during “extra magic hours” last month.
So much so that Bubs & I regularly listening to that original show recording that I found on LimeWire in college.
So much so that I was *just* saying to him, “I wonder if it’s going to get an update since we’re absolutely living beyond that final scene these days.”
AND WE ARE!
According to the article linked below, TCoP will go dark in early July & reopen sometime in 2027 (hopefully w new theater seats, the current ones are the worst part of the experience) which gives me extra incentive for a day trip next month whilst traveling w Abba.
There’s a privilege that comes with seeing this show updated multiple times during the course of one’s life, and I hope I get to enjoy it with my father in years to come!

05/27/2026

So that released an Extra Magic Music Hour this week in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.
The rub comes from the lack of context: other hours dedicated to celebrating different identities have typically been hosted by someone in the Disneyverse who’s a part of said demographic. They share the history behind the songs’ inclusion, adding personal anecdotes and authenticity to the playlist.
Which is really noticeable when it’s your history being quietly tolerated instead of vibrantly embraced.

05/26/2026

First film of our 29th summer of seeing movies together 🍪🦏✨

05/20/2026

It’s been three weeks since I left my pink - with the raspberry boot & covered in stickers by & - on the bench at DAKL’s bus stop headed for Hollywood Studios. Despite an immediate report of where it was left & when, it still hasn’t been returned to Lost & Found. I admit to going a little overboard in ordering replacements, & ultimately went w a different spread bc the memories hurt - who keeps a canteen they find at the hotel?! People who go to the bad place, Missy, that’s who. So let’s make sure the entire internet knows, this one’s MINE!

05/20/2026

Bubs & I stayed at CBR last May. It has a lot of great amenities, like Coke Freestyle machines & Skyliner access. The fish tacos in the food court are pretty good. Walking around the lake there is nice… all accessible when MomMom & I stay at the Riviera next year.
Our morning coffee stroll just got 1000x more delicious.

05/20/2026

I spent a decade away from Disney & missed the entire resurgence of Family Pop that came with all the shows exploding across its cable channels at the time.
Thanks to DisneyHits currently being the only station I can tolerate these days, I’ve been catching up on all I missed.
And now I’m guessing there’s another movie to add to the watchlist? Bubs & I are halfway thru the High School Musicals…

32K likes. "Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato - One and the Same (From "Princess Protection Program"/Official Video)"