Monday, September 30, 2002
In all ladylike honesty, this is bullshit! I had a hit TV show, I’ve done some pretty notable movies like Return to Skank Mountain, and my pictures as a kid look so much like Little Debbie they officially have to pay me royalties. Why the hell can’t I get a credit card?

I would say it’s racism, but I’m pretty sure all the credit card companies are mostly run by white people. And I basically pass for a white person, nobody really cares about if my granddad is Puerto Rican and my step-mom is Navajo. I can’t really say it’s genderism, or whatever that word is either, since my official birth name is Charles Coleman since my mother couldn’t spell “Clarissa.” Unless they have in my credit report that I somewhere attempted to buy large quantities of tampons or a girl’s bike or something they wouldn’t know I’m a woman.

Which leads me to the obvious conclusion I’m dealing with star-ism. Someone at the credit card deciding branch, the place where they pick who gets and doesn’t get a credit card, they figured out I’m Clarissa Coleman the B-grade or higher actress and refused me the dignity of a credit card. My reputation is torn to pieces like so much duck-feeding bread and they humiliate me on paper because they hate celebrities.

It’s ridiculous discrimination. I wonder if Tom Cruise goes through this sort of thing. Goes in to get a gas card so he can stop at the BP when he doesn’t have any cash and they give him a big fat “No!” stamp. He’s like, “I’m Tom Cruise! I have bundles of cash! Thousands of dollars!” They’re all shaking their heads, smirking their middle-class heads off, and they get to go home thinking they really stuck it to Rain Man’s brother today. Screw that!

I thought this was the land of the freebie and all that. Where’s my credit card? I slogged through countless hours of trying to remember my lines and fixing my own make-up when the idiot lady couldn’t cover up the bags under my eyes after an all-nighter, and this is the thanks I get? I don’t think America appreciates its celebrities. I fought hard for this country, you know—in the pages of Entertainment Weekly and on the cut celluloid of Police Academy VIII: Back in Blue Again. Where’s my parade? Hell, forget the parade, where’s my Master Card?

All I want to do is buy some lousy vest worn by Robert Plant on the latest Plant-Page tour on eBay, is that beyond my scope? I make a decent penny from my acting and the commune pays for the gas to auditions and stuff. I can afford a $300 Robert Plant vest, you know. I shouldn’t have to beg and scrape and go to the Shell station for a money order when I’ve worked this hard. I deserve a credit card. We all deserve credit cards.

That’s right, I’m speaking for everybody out there. The Sean Connerys, the Jennifer Anistons, the Baldwin Brotherses—even the Screeches. Can’t Screech catch a break? And what about me? Let’s not forget me. In fact, let’s focus on me. Let Screech and Jennifer Aniston write their own commune columns.

You know, it occurs to me that it may not be celebrity-related at all. I listed my positions and salaries as an actress and commune columnist—is that it? Is it because I write for the commune I can’t catch a credit card break? A clear-cut case of commune-ism.

The more I think about it, the more I’m sure that’s what it is. Nobody at the commune has a credit card. Not that I could blame the Visa people. I wouldn’t trust them to pay me back enough for a local phone call.

Hey, Visa, if you ever want more detailed financial information on these dildos, let me know. You slide a little $600-limit action my way and I can be an endless source of info about these deadbeats. One lousy little credit card, that’s all I ask. I've Been Scammed,
Pulp Fiction-Style
Scholars of the Coleman Dynasty may know that my favorite movie is Pulp Fiction, I’ve mentioned as much in a recent article in Hollywood Refugee magazine. “But Clarissa,” you say, “isn’t your favorite movie Cannonball Run 2?” Not since I saw Pulp Fiction last month, pal.

I've Just Done My First DVD Commentary
The DVD production staff got all six of us kid stars back for the commentary—me, Tim T. Toolkitty, Jeffy Smurtz, Franz Golgannis, Pockets O’Shannon, and Dina Frazell, who played the tough girl back then because you couldn’t have lesbians in movies.

The Child Star Collector's Guide
Birth control pills become collectible when they’re not taken and result in pregnancy—obviously birth control pills that are taken cannot be collected, at least not without grotesque invasive procedures.

Wearning to Pway Guitah
I really miss my Conan gig. It was a way to stay in the public eye and get a free bowl of corn flakes, plus sometimes I would sneak into the green room and meet A-list celebrities like the girl from Law & Order: Misread Miranda and the little girl starring in Daddy All That.