It pains me to say this, and you can probably guess how I would have voted, but Massachusetts democrats have tended to take voters for granted. Frank Rich parses the election results. Meanwhile, contributors to "On Leadership" agree that the Administration must regain message control, as presidential speechwriters share some interesting insights on the State of the Union address.
Jennifer Garner slams sanctimommies. Another woman writes about her need for a proverbial wife--not an actual one--a concept all the more ironic with the latest women-out-earn-their-husbands studies. And even though she admits to oversimplifying 'the good old days,' I still fault her for oversimplifying to the point that her argument is useless (not the part about needing a proverbial wife, but the part about how people were happier when roles were more clearly delineated). On a happier note, here's a realistic but inspiring portrait of a timeworn marriage.
I want to keep an extra $.18/month as much as the next taxpayer, but when I consider the big picture, it's a small price to pay for health benefits for the families of police officers and firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty. Similarly, I'd hate to make the homebuying process any more expensive, but I'd be willing to cough up an extra $10 for environmentally friendly farming once every real estate transaction.
Kathleen Parker eloquently verbalizes my feelings about hunting (which, in the column, is part of a political-imagery analogy).
Listen up, millennials: having your mom or dad call potential employers to advocate on your behalf calls your maturity into question. Parents were among those that complained to the Post over graphic earthquake images. This is one of those tricky 'I'm not a parent so can I really say' things, but if I were to be so bold, I'd say, 'get over it.' Also on the theme of the potential harm of overprotective parenting: it's admirable that parents acknowledge the dangers of driving, but sheltering their kids from the seriousness of the responsibility means forgoing a teaching opportunity:
It has become harder for teens to grow up, Allen says in a recent book, "Escaping the Endless Adolescence," because parents too often try to eliminate risks and obstacles rather than teaching teens to manage them safely. "Parents are scared to death about their teens driving," he said. "But they won't grow up if we just lock them in a room to keep them safe."
I feel compelled to pass along the Post's high recommendation of Jane Bryant Quinn's "Making the Most of Your Money Now", but I can't tell you that I'm going to buy or read it (yet). According to its review, "Remembering Survival" is excellent. The review itself is a bit blah, but it's interesting from the perspective of the Mendelsohn piece I linked to the other day. Also recommended are "Daring Young Men" by Richard Reeves and Solzhenitsyn's In the First Circle. On a trivial note, I'd be interested in why the author's last name was transliterated as it was: the last three vowel sounds are not exactly interchangeable in Russian, nor are they especially well distinguished by the letters chosen for them.
It's great that Laura Linney is getting the recognition she deserves. Reading that reminded me of what a great movie "The Truman Show" was.
Robin Givhan on fashion and size. An excerpt:
Just how big does a model have to be before folks are satisfied that she represents some ever-shifting vision of what a "real" woman looks like? Must she be precisely 5-feet-4 and a size 14, which is the fashion industry's accepted stats for the average woman? And if she is, will that transform the fantasy photographs in fashion magazines into the equivalent of catalogues? After all, a large part of our fascination with Hollywood is because it's populated with absurdly stunning men and women who are so far from average they ignite our wildest desires and persuade us to pay good money to go to bad movies.The Post's travel section is only occasionally useful, so I was delighted to find a guide to what the TSA allows as carry-on food. Pies, in case you were wondering, are "allowed and subjected to additional screenings if need be." See also some tips on protecting your valuables from the likes of Cybill Shepherd's son.
I haven't faulted the Travel Section on inspiration; on that note, Burundi and Montreal beckon.
Biology may be the deciding factor in why I'm hardly attracted to Jewish men.
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3 comments:
So much to comment on this morning. Great roundup!
That proverbial wife meme irritates the hell out of me. First of all, as the daughter of an undersharer in a bad marriage, I can tell you firsthand that if any person had asked her if she was happy, she would say, "Yes!" and put on a brave smile. I don't know why more people don't point out that back-in-the-day it's entirely possible that women might have been either lying about their state of happiness or not self-aware to state how they really feel. I would DIE (I mean full-on Sylvia Plath myself) if I had to be a stay-at-home or more accurately for my family history, clean someone's house. I wish these articles would just start telling the truth. Some moms are happy working, some moms are happy staying-at-home.
As for the needing a wife theory. First of all, the most stereotypically wifely thing I do is make my husband's dentist appointments. He washes the clothes, b/c he has less of them and needs to re-up more often than I do. We both make our own doctor's appointments. And we split the baby duties as fairly as possible considering that he works away from home while I work from home. We're both happier this way. We can still talk to each other about a variety of subjects and no one feels a burning pile of resentment. But I will admit that we had to have the "decisions" talk early. We decided that whoever is on baby duty has decision-making authority. We can't get mad at each other for not doing things "my way" and we must respect that it's a learning process for both of us. It was a little hard for me to hold my tongue at first, but right now I'm sick. I haven't seen my baby for the better part of two days and I can trust completely that my husband is taking good care of her. I try not to reverse sancti-mommy, but I would posit, that working moms would be a little happier if they trusted their husbands to do their fair share of the work.
Oh wait! Just realized that this op-ed writer is one of my absolute favorite writers in the world, Sandra Tsing Loh. Hmm, well, this is interesting, b/c I based my whole write-at-home mom schedule on a negative column she did about being a write-at-home mom -- back w/ the first husband. And based on my history with her writing, I would say that it's not that she needs a proverbial wife, but m/b a husband who isn't also in the arts. Her first husband was on the road a lot, b/c he was a musician. And that meant that not only was she trying to write from home, but she was also responsible for most of the child care. That's a bad situation. So back to my original point: I think when working women complain about need a wife, what they really mean is that they need a husband or partner that's way more helpful.
Re: Jennifer Garner. Though I agree with hating when mothers slam other mothers on the internet, I don't think it's indicative of real life. So far IRL I've run into only one sanctimommy, and she's only that way b/c of her own issues. The internet attracts extreme points of view. And Ms. Garner probably also doesn't appreciate when people on the internet slam her for a number of other silly things as well. Complaining about people slamming each other on the internet seems like a kind of non-point to me. B/c it's the internet and people are going to slam people for all sorts of things. That's why it's the internet as opposed to a reasoned IRL discourse.
I adored that column on time-worn marriage. But even towards the beginning, I considered that the real romance of marriage. Before when I got sick, I downed two pills with half a bottle of wine and crawled into bed. Now I'm in my pajamas writing with a hot cup of theraflu that my husband made for me -- and that folks is why you get married. More for the in sickness bit than for the in health bit.
Yes, I would say to parents to get over it. It's not the news job to protect your children from the news. It's yours. Though, I will say that children take the news much more seriously than adults do, so I can understand parents not wanting their children to see this images, but IMO it's fairly easy to make sure that your 3yo doesn't see Haiti coverage. Actually parents are luckier than mine were, b/c you could technically turn the TV to PBS kids and not have to worry about your kids seeing something that will give them nightmares. Also, we can get our news online and read storybooks to our children over breakfast. We're really, really lucky. And other than there not being enough changing tables in men's bathrooms, so far I'm not seeing that much to complain about.
I would argue that even catalogs don't cater to the average woman. One thing that has been most frustrating about getting used to my new weight is that all of the online sites have size 0-2 models, so I have no idea how an outfit will look on me -- like at all. One of the best things about Essence magazine is that they do a "great fashion at any size" section. I didn't appreciate it b/f the baby, but now I love that I can get great ideas every month. Now Essence is one of the few magazines that's actually thriving during the recession. Should white fashion mags take note? I think so!
Oh, wait! Is genetics why I'm in an interracial marriage and why I have always found Jewish men oh-so attractive? :)
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