"I may not remember what it feels like, but I sure as hell remember what it looks like!"

Estelle Getty, best known as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, passed away on July 22nd. I watch The Golden Girls generally between 2-3 times a day. It's on early in the morning and I catch it while I'm getting ready for class. It's on from 12-1am as well, and as I'm drifting off to sleep or reading, those four crazy ladies who I always thought were "elderly" (seems they're all, you know, my mom's age) are cracking me up.

Estelle Getty was one of those women akin to Gilda Radner--trailblazing women comediannes who weren't afraid of jokes, timing, and going beyond their sexuality to be funny. I wish that she had been discovered earlier and had a longer career--wish that she had not been afflicted with dementia at a young age. She and others like her paved the way for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, for Ellen Degeneres, for the women of my generation to be who they are and be funny not because they have breasts and periods, but because they're intelligent people who know the world around them.

RIP Estelle--thanks for leaving Sophia here for us.