Products |
Mother’s Day 2013
By
Published: May 02, 2013
Category:
Beyond Classification
The first champion of Mother’s Day was Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." After the Civil War, she saw the possibility of equally deadly conflicts starting in Europe, and so she conceived of a "Mother’s Day for Peace." And she wrote a proclamation that was less about being nice to Mom than it was about disarmament:
Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.
Not raising your sons to kill or be killed — makes sense. Greeting cards and candy and Sunday lunch in Sunday clothes came later. I’m disdainful of holidays that are more about commerce than communion, but now that my mother is 96, I’ve finally come around to signifying the day with Things as well.
The most amazing present: the young man who paid off his mother’s mortgage. The back story:
“At one point in my life I hadn’t been home for two and a half years, I hadn’t spoken to anyone or sent any emails," he said. "I remember the day I came back, I had all my luggage with me and I just knocked at the door. She opened it, she said ‘Hi’, she smiled at me and she just asked me what I wanted for dinner. You know, she didn’t ask me any questions, she just let me come in with everything I had. I guess it’s unconditional love."
He valued his mother more after his father died. He began saving his money. "What I did for my mother can’t even amount to 1/10 of what she’s done for me," he says. "I can’t even say that you can compare the two." Watch…
BEAUTY
Prada L’Eau Ambree Body Powder: Because she’s old enough to remember powder puffs. Better reason: $62 at Neiman Marcus, $30 at Amazon. ”
Clarisonic Pro Skin Care System: Mom may never visit a dermatologist again. My wife has used this for 5 years — last week, at a club, she got carded.
Egyptian Magic: It’s just olive oil, bee’s wax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and bee propolis. And the combination is indeed magic. Burns, scrapes, skin irritations, diaper rash, sunburns, eczema, psoriasis — it’s the go-to cream.
T3 Bespoke Labs Ionic Ceramic Tourmaline Hair Dryer: No more bad hair days — ever. The T3 dries your hair 50-60% faster than your current dryer. The negative ions generated by the T3 add seal moisture in your hair. The negative ions flatten your hair, essentially eliminating frizz. What more do you want?
BOOKS
What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most: Elizabeth Benedict collected essays from women not inclined to platitudes. A strong, smart, complex anthology. [To buy the paperback from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.] You may recognize Elizabeth Benedict’s name not only for her own work but for her writing as a Guest Butler. On Tuesday, May 7, at 6.30 PM, she’ll be speaking at the New York Society Library, 53 E. 79th St. with Margo Jefferson, Martha McPhee and Roxana Robinson. For a reservation, click here.
Strike Sparks: Sharon Olds says, "I’m not an intellectual, I’m not an abstract thinker. And I’m interested in ordinary life." Translation: These poems read like stories.
Colette: In 1928, Colette was just coming off the huge success of three sexy novels. “Break of Day” is many things, but above all, it’s a love letter from Colette to her mother, in which she asks a remarkable question: Who obsesses a woman most — her mother or her man?
D.V.: Diana Vreeland was a character-and-a-half. “Pink is the navy blue of India,” she said. “Wash your blond child’s hair with dead champagne,” she suggested. “The bikini is the most important invention since the H-bomb,” she announced. Here she tells her life story. Is it true? Who knows?
I’m On My Own and So Are You: Judy Resnick’s tough love, extremely effective guide to financial independence for women.
Beautiful Ruins: Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, the Amalfi coast, a small hotel, Hollywood and more — like: a great plot.
FOOD
Zojirushi Vacuum Drink Mug: Hot stays hot. Cold stays cold. Taste never changes. If there’s better out there… news to me.
Pu-erh Tea: Health buffs swear by it’s good for you. But the sweet clear taste is a sufficient lure. And the packaging! Four stars for presentation.
Canal House Cooks Every Day: Let us pass over my Kitchen Door Johnny crush on Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer and simply consider 250 recipes for every season, using ingredients of the season.
THINGS
Timex Easy Reader Watch: The ultimate in simplicity.
Battery Powered Votive Candles: With remote control and timer.
Large Print Computer Keyboard: “With Vivid Black Over-sized Letters on Yellow Background tested to deliver the best contrast for the Visually Challenged.”
Shure Sound Isolating Earphones: Great that Mom has an iPhone. Not great that she’s using the lousy earphones Apple bestows on iPhone buyers. Give her the sound that the musicians made, the sound professionals hear.
Yamaha Home Stereo Reader Review: "The Yamaha system is the best I’ve ever heard, and easy for a low-tech person such as myself to install. When my high-tech brother visited and said ‘What’s this?’ and popped his iPhone in to test it, his only comment was ‘Wow!’ Great system, great price for a boatload of features. Had to thank you!”
Moleskine Notebooks: It doesn’t get more old-fashioned than this. Moleskines have a leather-like cover, an elastic band to keep the notebook closed, an inner pocket to hold business cards, acid-free paper.
MUSIC
Bach: The Goldberg Variations: A played by Glenn Gould.
Joni Mitchell, Blue: Sounds as if it were recorded yesterday. For Boomer moms, this is what a Sinatra CD would to my mother.
Krishna Das, Heart As Wide As the World: Hindu chants. Safe for non-Hindus. Comforting considered just as music.
Bombino: The hottest, sexiest, most original music I’ve heard in ages. I put it on, push my walker away and dance.
The Opera Album: Thirty-seven of opera’s greatest hits, performed by singers you’ve actually heard of. One hundred and forty-eight artfully remastered minutes of music, on two discs, for about the price of a single opera CD.
Aretha Franklin: Mom knows the classic hits. "Spirit in the Dark" is a neglected masterpiece from 1970 — marked by Aretha’s astonishing piano playing on ten of the album’s dozen songs.
