The term “housewife” is antique, a relic of a bygone era. It isn’t used in polite conversation anymore because it is considered an insult. It appears a sneer, as the “Desperate Housewives” whose life is an unreflective farce where the comedy writes itself. Yet this role was once the foundation of family and community, a bedrock that shifted tectonically never to be the same.
Monthly Archives: September 2007
Equinox
In time, a people and their culture come to resemble the land they live on and the climate around them more than anything else. I state that as a truism that seems to hold very well through history. Athens was a stable democracy as long as the wheat production went well, but descended into anarchy when the crops went badly. Sparta was comparatively rocky and always had poor yields, so the culture became one that stole from outsiders but valued order internally. Athens and Sparta were close together, but had very different pieces of land they inhabited.
Writing Back
I enjoy getting mail about this blog. Really, I do. While I’d like to respond to them, both in private and in public, this format doesn’t seem to be advancing the discussion I think we all want to have about the publishing industry. Or starting the fight we want to have, as the case may be.
Street Life
One of the great changes in my life has been the loss of an active life on the street. Part of this is due to my moving from Miami to Saint Paul, the latter being a rather cold and quiet city. Some of this is a decline in a public life for everyone that I find disturbing.
Cartoon
The trees are more vivid with color, and are made alive by a frisky wind. This time of year is a challenging and spooky one for many people because the energy of summer flails out in one burst, but we all know what happens when it is spent.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 