Amy Bloom and Jane Hamilton
Dear Jh--
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StumbleUponI don't want a nation of women, either--although perhaps if we had one for a week it would finally stop all our cultural nonsense of women as dimwitted, casserole-making, tree-loving baby-kissers and guys as dimwitted, aggressive, narcissistic toy-collectors. In my world there are smart, sharp straight women who'd just as soon kick you as smile, but who will get you acquitted even when the whole world has seen the video in which you molest animals and kill a world leader, and while they're at it, they'll get you a good haircut and decent babysitter--and there are smart, kind straight men who diaper babies without needing a special "Dad's diaper bag" in burly blue denim and who have even mastered the parental art of cooking, listening, wiping up crud, and catching the loose frog without needing a magazine article about their specialness. I emphasize the "straight" because it seems to me that we are getting to the point where only gay men and women are allowed to demonstrate the range of human traits--straight people have to stick to the caricature of their sex or be deemed peculiar and "unmarketable," in every arena.
The Gore/Bush travesty continues to swirl and no doubt Gore is always happy when Clinton goes abroad. How can a "popular" president help so little? It makes me wonder what exactly the word "popular" means. I don't long for Nader, certainly, and nothing makes me think, "Oh, gosh, say yes, Mr. Gephardt!". Will vote, I might even send money, but I won't be happy. Why don't people just do what I want? And who would I choose--probably no one living or electable ... either of the Barbaras would have been OK: Jordan or Mikulski.
I can't wait to get my hands on the following: Harold Bloom's considered thoughts on Harry Potter, the psych. history of the guy who complained about Hillary's slur ("Well, yes, she knew I wasn't Jewish but I had mentioned that I had had a Jewish grandmother and in the heat of our terrible fight, she obviously remembered this ..."??!! Who writes this stuff?), your new book, the truth about Mr. Eggers (that's just mean on my part--but the idea of fabricated goodness and pomo cleverness is just different than true goodness and pomo etc.), a cloak of invisibility to wear at Camp David (and all over town, I'd wear it just to pick up berries at the Durham Market), the name of the next Supreme Court justice, tickets to see Nathan Lane as Sheridan Whiteside, Mark Doty's new poem and the next one.
Let us go, dear Jane, and scrub our steps.
xo amy
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Reader Response from The Fray (to be read after the final entry):
The right to trap: Who could possibly object? Making it a constitutional amendment would mean an all-year season on Representatives though. Perhaps the amendment should specify closing the season during elections so onlookers aren't hurt, and prohibiting pork-baited traps.
--Nick Nussbaum
(To reply, click here.)
Will "pretty good" do? This is an excellent philosophical question. If I considered that thoughtfully, I might say, "Well, in some things pretty good will do, and in others it will not." That's a pretty good answer--and wholly inadequate. No, "that's pretty good" is the kind of thing we say to children (or semi-competent colleagues) in order not to crush their spirits. Behind all things and people we regard as only pretty good is the hope they may eventually become genuinely good. When this hope is no longer viable, we say what we really think: "It stinks."
--Chewy Nougat
(To reply, click here.)
[ Notes from the Fray Editor: Blair Bolles would like to emphasize the difference between the Holy Roman Empire and the toga-wearers, and Ron Ray wants to tell us that discussing singalong Sound of Music is not middle-class, though he makes no attempt to place it elsewhere on the spectrum. Class discussion continues here.
Interested in polygamy? Try here. Polyandry? Here.
Looking for provocative solutions to the problem of deadbeat Dads? This is your starting place.
"Chewy Nougat" (see above) has another post here which asks whether it is possible to be good, rich and interesting, or only two out of three: Fray posters, of course, responded.]
(7/20)