Tag: TheSideTrek

Posted on

RepubliCants

Big Government Bad. Amend the Constitution for a Federal ban on abortion. Old white guys make the rules about women’s bodies. Don’t take away our Medicare. Until 2020. Bail out big banks. Increase funding to the Defense Department. Bring back NASA. Nation-build around the world. Keep our Empire in tact. Military bases in Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Saudi Arabia… Oh, and the wars.

Small Government Good. Cut funding to PBS. Slash student loans, grants. Borrow money from your parents to go to college. Decrease funding for Veterans’ health care. Repeal Obamacare. Replace it with? Stop infrastructure projects. Where will we drive our cars? On dirt roads and rope bridges?
Drill baby drill.

Posted on

British Roar

The Tiger has been silenced. A new cub roars. PGA winner Rory McIlroy. Second major at 23. Youth be served. 1989 babies are talented. Northern Ireland proud. England’s elder invitee David Lynn runner-up. Brits rule.

Olympics left me lacking. Didn’t watch much. Too many obscure sports. London was the star. Imagined brilliantly. Hope you will compliment them now, Mitt.

Back home, weekend fare. Little Necks Nectar. Summer Supper- RecipeDetours.com.

Posted on

Life Works

The article that is striking more debate than the lightning outside, is in this month’s The Atlantic. Anne-Marie Slaughter, former high-powered State Department director, has the guts to tell the truth. Women cannot have it all. It is possible to work and have children. It is not possible to do both well. A luxury quandary many women do not have. But, those of us women who cracked the glass ceiling and rose above middle management either made the decision not to have children, or sacrificed family for a career. There, I said it.

Reality bites. Something has to give. Having made the right moves for my family, it still hurt. My career, sometimes my sanity. What the wonderfully complete and complex article does not talk about is how those who are career-only employees also suffer the consequences of so-called work/life balance. Someone has to see the patients or take care of clients while parents are tending to stuffy noses or attending soccer games. There is resentment on both sides of the fence.

In this economy, the next generation will have fewer choices. Whoever has a job will work. No matter the gender.

Posted on

Mile Marker

97 degrees today. Reminiscent of hottest June day in Manhattan at PithyV’s 76th Street flat off Park Avenue. 30 year milestone. Dr.Husband may say millstone. Seems like yesterday.

Maybe not. Let’s see. Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterand, Brezhnev, Begin, Trudeau led the world stage. McCartney-Wonder’s Ebony & Ivory. Kingsley’s  Ghandi.

Suite at the Carlyle, before our first SideTrek cross-country. Route 80. I drove on highways, then. With a little help from friends. Stops in Santa Fe for a full lunar eclipse, seedy casino motel in Vegas, ending at 1808 Pacific, SanFran.
A long and happy ride.

Posted on

Mad Notes

The funniest thing I’ve seen in a while, the Obama-Dylan show. Best quote, George Will calling Trump a ‘bloviating ignoramus’. Best restaurant continues to be ABC Kitchen. MichelleO just had dinner there. Meryl was a cool sighting. For all who are bored with MadMen discussion, have heart. RHONY starts next week.

A final ‘mad’ note. I’ve had lively interactions with wise and wonderful women over the past days who think my perspective on Joan’s decision was askew.  When she took charge of the negotiation with Pete for a NON-silent partnership, that changed the landscape. She took control of her destiny. If she had done it for the money, she’d still have been considered a secretary slut at work. This deal put her in a different arena, using her leverage for a once in a lifetime game changer. It gave her equal status with the boys. Look at their behavior. ‘Whore’ is in the eye of the beholder. I make no distinctions for gender. Only 2 more episodes.

Posted on

Mad Women

1967. Things tipped earlier in Manhattan than in the ‘burbs. Peggy took her shot. Go, girl! Without good looks, she needed extraordinary drive, focus and talent to succeed in the mAd men’s world. Joan made a decision to use her physical assets to control her financial future, rather than continue to have them used and abused by Roger or even her own husband for no return. Megan’s beauty got her Don, and an easy chair at the copywriter’s desk. Making her Peggy’s peer. Megan has ad talent. But, she’s determined to be an actress. So, she’ll need to re-deploy her other skill on a casting couch to launch her new career. ZooBeeZoo.

Poor Don. He’s confounded and befuddled. When Joan strokes his cheek and tells him he’s one of the good guys, it’s clear. He’s not in Kansas anymore.

Here is Matt Creamer’s review. Don’t agree that Joan and Peggy were competing against each other to be Queen Bee. They both ended triumphant this week. If Don had talked Joan out of doing the deed and they got the account anyway, she wouldn’t be a partner. If Peggy had stayed, she’d always be Don’s protégée.

Posted on

Weekend Sol

Lots of sun, son this weekend. Ben Piccata. RecipeDetours.com.

Taking time out from Facebook, still think it has jumped the shark. How to monetize the advertise to thirteen year-olds? Any money to be made has been. Spanish banks out of pesos. Uh, Euros. Jamie Dimon cannot intervene in every trade. Get real. They take like a nano- second. Joshua voted out, finally. Could never stand his screeching. Love Phillip ‘Cocker’. Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation collection has moved to rave reviews. 

Elaine’s landmark on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is sorely missed and no replacement has yet been found. Wish I could buy it. Those were the days.

Posted on

Love & Marriage

Go together like a horse and carriage. Can’t have one without the other. Fine. I personally do not care if men marry women, women marry men, women marry women, men marry men. Local gentry can make it elementary. All I care about is that if you have kids, be parents first. That rarely seems to happen. Live together. Get married. Whatever. Just take care of your kids if you have them!