I've found the Washington Post to be a very good source of summer reading material this summer. Not for the recommended books in the book section but for the news articles.
First, there was the article on Hillary Clinton's scoop necked top written by Robin Givhan earlier this month. I didn't think it was that big a deal. Clinton's cleavage was not the only one pointed out in the article, but the Clinton camp and many readers took offense. As a woman endowed, my cleavage is pretty much always there. I didn't see that the top in question was all that revealing on Hillary. On me, it would have been a different story! I found the article amusing, much as I've found all the items ever written about politician's wardrobe choices amusing. I think that the Clinton camp should have ignored the article, instead of calling the article "grossly inappropriate" as they did in a fundraising letter. Hillary seems to try to emulate her husband in her speeches, but she lacks his warmth and sincerity. This is just another example of how prickly she can be.
Then there was the article yesterday about how the military plans to arm Sunni residents in a sort of "neighborhood watch." According to the article, the hope is to get these units up and running quickly so it isn't necessary to wait for citizens to go through long training programs. I don't know about you, but I'm scared. What assurance is there that these armed residents would stick to their assigned mission of protecting a very specific geographic area. Also, doesn't the highly divisive issue of Shiites vs. Sunnis pose a problem What's to stop Shiite insurgents from attacking the US supported Sunnis? I'm sure there are many, many details of this program that are not included in the Post article. Yet it still seems like a really bad idea.
Date Lab from the Magazine section today was good stuff. Like most people, I enjoy the really bad dates, though I have to admit, I also like the ones that lead to a long term commitment. I think there's been one. The picture of the daters says it all, and all I can say is, if I were the young female dater, I would be furious. But please, read it for yourself. I don't want to spoil the fun. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072401802.html
I've found time to read more than the newspaper. I'm currently about half way through Melissa Fay Greene's "Praying for Sheetrock." Greene, it turns out, was a paralegal in a legal services office that helped a handful of black men in coastal McIntosh County, Georgia pursue equality and fight a corrupt sheriff in the 70's. The many personal accounts of events in the county are astounding. It's shocking to read in such detail about the measures that the white sheriff took to keep the black people down. He had his share of abuses against whites in the county, too and the scams run against tourists are something out of a movie. Ultimately, the blacks suffered most, as the advances of the civil rights movement that were felt in other areas of the south, were far from McIntosh county well into the 70's. For example, the only black member of the school board was removed and replaced with a white man. This was done to ease the "theft" of federal funds meant for the public school. The public school was attended by the black children in the county. The white kids went to a private school, the school to which the funds were diverted. I know there's a tragedy just around the corner in the book. I just hope it isn't so big that civil rights never found there way to McIntosh county.
As for other summer activities, we took the boys to the National Gallery of Art yesterday. Our oldest was able to see some of the works of the artists he learned about this week in his art class. He was most unimpressed at first, but soon enough he enjoyed exploring the galleries. He seemed to really like "Daniel in the Lion's Den" by Rubens. We decided that the lions looked a lot like mean people. Our five year old enjoyed seeing all the naked butts. At one point, he said, "I see London, I see France, I see a lady's underpants." I ignored him. The lady next to us was not amused. Maybe she was a friend of Hillary Clinton.
Off to serve up lasagna. Until next time.
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