Sue's Morning Stretch: We're role models, Jennifer Lawrence reminds

Jennifer Lawrence, voting and family photos are on my radar today:

• Actress Jennifer Lawrence is such a breath of fresh air. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” star is hugely successful right now, yet she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s quite candid in interviews, as she was with Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America.” The Oscar winner joked about her mystery illness, although it could be something serious. As she has before, she talked about the trend where women are always picking on one another, calling each other fat, laughing at someone’s clothes, the whole “mean girls” movement. She reminds there’s a younger generation taking this all in and think this is how we treat our female friends, other women. “We grow up and we’re back in high school,” she says, and adults need to behave better. She’s right with that. So she might not mind if I say her I love her new haircut.
• Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was talking about her new book on “WGN This Morning” and the discussion turned to what we, the people, can do about the gridlock and acrimony in Congress. And sorry, but Goodwin says change there has to come from us, the voters. As a close observer of politics, Goodwin has noticed too many of us are just sitting back watching it all happen. When it comes to the political process, now, “We are spectators in this,” and have to change that, get involved. She’ll be talking about her new book, “The Bully Pulpit,: at 6 tonight at the Harold Washington Library.
• Think about your family photos. When were a great deal of them taken? On holidays. Family photos are for posterity, they are passed down from generation to generation. That’s why “You & Me This Morning” was recommending that we glam it up a bit for Thanksgiving. You don’t really want to be the one with the greasy hair and inn sweat pants for the rest of time, do you? And especially good advice from Melissa Forman: When you’re dressed nicely, do you really want to eat to oblivion?