Short Takes
October 22, 2009
If Only
Strolling through his Camden, New Jersey neighborhood in 1949, Howard Unruh killed 13 people in 20 minutes. He was a quiet guy, a World War II vet who lived with his mother; he could never explain his killing spree. Last week, he died. From his obituary: “Mr. Cohen fled to the roof of his apartment… as his wife, Rose, 38, hid in a closet and pushed their son Charles, 12, into another closet. Mr. Unruh shot Mr. Cohen in the back, sending him plunging to the street. He also shot Ms. Cohen, firing through the closet door, and Minnie Cohen, 63, the druggist’s mother, as she was trying to call the police from a bedroom. Charles Cohen was unharmed.” I get the meaning of that last phrase, but the line stayed with me. Charles Cohen, unharmed? Really?
October 21, 2009
Shriver: More Reader Blowback
1) “Women are working — in largely underpaid jobs that men have generally found to be beneath them (secretaries, nurses, grade school teachers). And what about all those much-touted Ivy-league educated mommies with the muscular earning power who opted out (the big story of only a few years ago)? Are they back in the trenches?”2) “Shriver’s rank and privilege allow for this skewed report to raise the indignant fist higher in the air, but what is it really saying? Women’s lives still suck and now we’ve got to do it ALL. Rah. Rah.”
3) “The cultural changes — the change in the relationship between men and women, primarily with the man not being ‘the provider’ as in the past — are huge. It is a huge blow to the male ego in most cases, in my view, at least to men in my generation. They can’t handle it. They don’t understand their role any more. They don’t like doing too much ‘women’s work’ and find it demeaning, and it makes them feel unmanly. In many cases, they’ll do it when the spirit moves them, and then want praise for it…. Men seem to think not only should we work outside the home and make money, but also do the heavy lifting at home and be in charge of housework and children by default.”October 20, 2009
Shriver Report: Women Talk Back
Maria Shriver struck a nerve — but not, I suspect, the one in her happy headline. Thank you for your raw and angry letters. Here are excerpts from two of them:
1) I was told that teaching was an exceptional job for a woman because the vacation times matched those of my children. It mattered little that I graduated summa cum laude and even less that I was an accomplished instructor. It mattered most that I was a woman with children and that the teaching position fit that status."2) What annoys me the most about women ‘working’ vs ‘not working’ is this: staying home with your children is not considered a job, even though, when you do leave the house to get what is deemed a respectable job, you have to hire someone to do the one you left behind.I happen to love taking care of my children and my home; little in this world is more important to me. But life happens — divorce, recession, slump in the housing market — and before you know it, there I am, shoving my way through the subway turnstile, slugging it out 9 to 5 just to make ends come within 100 miles of each other.Do people have worse problems? By far. But I would at least like to feel respected for the decision to stay home with my children when I felt they needed it most. It’s a job and it pays very well — just in a different currency.October 15, 2009
Our Chefs Can Take the Heat
In August, I raved about Canal House Cooking, Vol. 1, which became my go-to summer resource. Good call, as it turns out. Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer’s first effort has been named a finalist in The Tournament of Cookbooks. Their competition? Big time chefs like Thomas Keller and John Besh. Now I really can’t wait for Vol. 2. (If you don’t have Vol. 1, this is all meaningless, right? Solution: Get Vol. 1.)
October 5, 2009
Zut alors! Big Macs at the Louvre
Just what you want when you visit the Louvre — a McDonald’s burger, fries and a Coke. Well, soon you can chow down. Another good reason to love the d’Orsay.