RIP Bea Arthur

Bea Arthur died today. We shared a birthday, and we shared being the butt of jokes about masculine women and women with facial hair and women who prefer comfortable shoes, but she did that on the national stage, and for many, many, many years, with grace and humor.

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider / She didn’t’ care if the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her / She was a sister who really cooked.

Isadora was the first bra burner / And you’re glad she showed up. (Oh yeah)
And when the country was falling apart / Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.

And then there’s Maude.
That old compromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizing, / Right on Maude

She was, most famously, Maude, which by my accounting is one of the funniest shows that was ever on television, – and it was about a feminist! – followed closely by The Golden Girls, where she played Dorothy.