Into The Arugula

At the top of the news today is the story of SueAnn Wade-Crouse, who was found dead in her garden last night. Her husband of 20 years said that this photo was taken shortly before she walked into her garden, for the last time, carrying nothing but a gallon of balsamic vinegar.

Obviously shaken, he said that he suspects that an autopsy, ordered by the Travis County Medical Examiner, will reveal that she died from an arugula overdose. “She knew it was lethal in large doses,” her husband said, “but she just couldn’t seem to stop herself.”

One source that declined to be identified, said that SueAnn had recently been feeling overwhelmed by her arugula, and spoke of wanting to go into the arugula and never come back. “One day I went over to her house and found her just standing in her garden, staring at her arugula, tears in her eyes,” said a close source. “Now I wish I’d taken some of her arugula. This will haunt me forever.”

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

I had to start Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Bright-sided twice because at first, her negative attitude put me off. But then I realized, Duh!, that’s the crux of the book – her raging against what she calls the "cult of optimism." So, I decided to give her another chance, and I’m glad I did.

Ehrenreich is probably best know for her 2001 best seller about the working poor, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which I found to be a startling eye-opener, and the 2005, very good, and yet less-well-received, Bait and Switch, which was about trying to find a white-collar job at mid-life. As a quick aside, I saw an interview with Ehrenreich in which she was asked, “You seemed to make much closer ties with your fellow workers in Nickel and Dimed than you did on the white-collar job hunt. What was different this time?.” Her response rang true, but really bothered me. She said, “There's a lot of camaraderie in the blue-collar world I entered in Nickel and Dimed. People help each other and look out for each other; they laugh together--often at the managers. The white-collar world doesn't encourage camaraderie, far from it. There it's all about competition and fear--of losing one's job, for one thing. Other people are seen as sources of contacts or tips, at best; as competitors or rivals, at worst. And among the unemployed add shame and a sense of personal failure, the constant message that it's all your own fault. All this discourages any solidarity with others or real openness.”Click on Read More...

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 34

#34 – “Always wear a slip. You don't want anyone seeing through your skirt. That looks cheap.” (Photo - Me, my sister Honey and mom. Mom and I in suits and hats, gloves and corsages, on our way to Europe - 1958)

Admonitions to not “look cheap,” is a reoccurring theme in the one hundred things my mom taught me a million times, but I have a little trouble wrapping my head around the concept of "cheap." Is that like prostitute cheap or like Wal-Mart cheap. I’m not sure, but knowing mom, I think that looking cheap is the antonym of looking classy. But then do we all define classy the same? I define classy as self-assured, smart, accomplished, courteous and respectful in all situations. I suspect that others, including mom, define it more by the way someone dresses.

So, if not wearing a slip and therefore revealing what’s under your skirt is cheap, let’s examine that. The evolution of my underwear-wearing is very upside down, and circular. When I was young and solid and would have looked good in a burlap bag, I wore just about every piece of underwear available – bra, panties, girdle, hose and slip. Now, when I need all the help I can get to keep it all contained, I do good to put on a bra. Except of course when I want to look better than I really do. In those instances, I have an arsenal of garments scientifically designed to contain and smooth out virtually everything from the tops of my shoulders to my ankles. So what the hell? Click on Read More