A quiet weekend!

It was a quiet weekend, cooked mussels and shrimp. Ran 7 miles on the treadmill on Saturday, and 5.4 miles outside yesterday. And it's gorgeous out now...70 degrees, very Fall-like. Yeah!

I saw two movies, He's Just Not That Into You and finally, three years late, The Devil Wears Prada. Yes, two totally chick movies, since the boy was at work. I enjoyed them both. I could relate to Jennifer Aniston's character, dating seven years!, quite a bit :-) And I definitely saw some of L's assistants in the Anne Hathaway character Andrea.

Hopefully this will be a quiet week, leading to another relaxing weekend. Monday is off to not a bad start. Yum, I'm a big fan of the peanut butter cookie larabar. I will have to stock up. I've never understood the fascination with bars, but this one tastes good and is a better snack than my Lance Whole Grain sharp cheddar crackers, though they are both tasty.

I cannot believe it is already August 31; the summer has flown by, although it's not Labor Day yet for an entire week. I love the turn to more fall-like temperatures here, but I'm sad that it gets dark so much earlier and my great evening outdoor runs are coming to an end soon. I should try to get up earlier, but I can't.

Recent Reviews

So I've actually been reading and seeing a couple of movies lately:

• Julie and Julia...both the film and the book. I marginally liked the movie lately, if only because the protagonist author seemed so unlikeable to me. (Plus the gratuitous slams at Republicans irked me!!!) But I loved the film about cooking, Meryl Streep was fantastic, and it was nice to read a happy book about happily married couples. Rare in Hollywood, and in print. The book did a better job at setting the post 9/11 stage, the angst at turning 30, and the desire to do something memorable.
  
• I read The Middle Place, mostly at the DMV. It was a funny, relateable memoir, and it made you think that cancer can happen, bad things can happen, but you can survive.
  
• Having missed Star Trek thanks to United Airlines, I did see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past enroute home. It was a fun movie, I really thought Jennifer Garner looked beautiful, and Matthew McConaughey was perfectly cast. It helped that portion of the trip go by much more quickly.
• I started the American Sphinx book, but took a short break from it. I'm going to finish that before starting Steve Hayward's Age of Reagan Part Deaux.
  

The Last Ten Days

Sooo....the last ten days in a nutshell:

• Met mom and dad, and we went to he Argonaut. Calamari and burger.
• Someone ran into S's car.
• Walked around the mall for 5 miles, saw the renovated American History Museum, finally. Then Granville Moore's.
  
• Went to Woodlawn, the home of Nelly Custis.
• Went to George Mason's home, Gunston Hall.
• Made sea bass.
• Dropped mom & dad at the airport, got car inspected, got paperwork signed for S.
• DMV day!!!!
• Las Vegas. Plane left late on Wednesday, and Star Trek did not work. So I finally got in at 3:30 am on Thursday, east coast time. Stayed at Bally's.
  
• Hung out at the pool, and then went to see the Beatles Cirque du Soleil.
  
• Then, the infamous party bus, with the diverse group of 50 somethings, 40 somethings, 30 somethings, and the 21 year olds.
  
• The next day started with a facial (and a warning about eye lines), followed by browsing and the bachelorette festivities. Dinner at CatHouse in the Luxor. I will never forget Thunder from Down Under at the Excalibur. Then Voodoo Lounge at Rio, which I did not enjoy very much.
  
• Saturday was blah. I should have gone home. We didn't do very much, though dinner at Ah Sin was an experience. And great conversation with C about football!! I will never get so many "free" things again. Then we traipsed to the top of the Eiffel Tower and then watched the fountain show at Bellagio.
  
• Then home, though not without a "missed" connection. That Wolfgang Puck spinach, goat cheese, and mushroom pizza, not to mention the Sammy and good conversation with Jen, got me through, until I finally arrived home after midnight.

The end?? Eh. I had a good time hanging out with the girls, though I wished I had seen J more. Oh, well. Back to the grind.

Timely

After my recent visits to the marriage bureau and Social Security, this is timely.

About 70% of Americans agree, either somewhat or strongly, that it's beneficial for women to take her husband's last name when they marry, while 29% say it's better for women to keep their own names, finds a study being presented today at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco.

I've been more lazy, rather than passionate, in the now year-plus it's taken me to change names. I am not opposed to it, but I'm no where near the camp that 50% think a woman should be forced to take their husband's name. I'm not agnostic...I think it makes a lot more sense if you have children, and I think it makes sense to signal to society that you are a couple, a family. But no way would I ever require it.

Self Hypocrisy

So the recent Self magazine covershot of Kelly Clarkson looking a size 6, when she is more like a size 12, has been generating lots of controversy. Self editor Lucy Danziger wrote one of the most hypocritical responses I can recall, basically saying it's ok to airbrush, it makes things honest. She even revealed she air-brushed herself after she ran a marathon!!

Her idiocy:

Did we alter her appearance? Only to make her look her personal best. Did we publish an act of fiction? No. Not unless you think all photos are that. But in the sense that Kelly is the picture of confidence, and she truly is, then I think this photo is the truest we have ever put out there on the newsstand.

Here was my comment:

I find this response to be completely hypocritical. And I am disgusted to hear you would admit to being retouched after running a marathon. How vain are you???? There is a stark difference between slimming yourself down for a photo to appear in a national magazine and choosing a more flattering shot for a Christmas photo. There is also a difference between smoothing a wrinkle in a blouse and shaving off arm flab or other unwanted fat. As a woman in her 30s, I feel secure about my body. But many of your readers don't, and many young women don't. You admit that the cover has to sell magazines. You've basically conceded someone a bit plump won't. What kind of message does that send about "being your best self?" I am seriously considering not renewing my subscription because I have lost all respect for the editors of this magazine.

I hope someone loses their job over this. You should not edit a woman's magazine, devoted to being your best self, if you are this condescending and dishonest.

Books

I just finished A Magnificent Catastrophe on the 1800 election. It was a quick read, and a pretty fascinating one, of the first real presidential "campaign," and it truly exposed how vitriolic those races were, even 200+ years ago. Jefferson and Adams, who lived such parallel lives, until they died on the same day, are both fascinating men. I'm looking forward to reading American Sphinx next, on my current kick of reading about the founding fathers. I go back and forth between my favorite, though it certainly is not Jefferson, who seemed like such a hypocrite at times. Hamilton was selfish, impulsive, and deserves more than his share of blame for Adams loss. Adams was stubborn, but he really deserves a great deal of credit for his inspiration and conviction at that time. I think both he and Jefferson partially redeemed some of their less than admirable qualities through the letters they shared in the last decades of their lives. I guess ultimately, Washington was the most noble, though in some way he seemed the least "bright" in the intellectual sense. But his honor, foresight, and his courage really seemed to be the guiding light of the founding brothers. A few have suggested it was Benjamin Franklin who was the wisest of them all, but I need to read up on him. Anyway, I enjoyed the book, its exploration of the role of belief vs. deism, the crucial roles a couple of states played (PA, NY, SC, Delaware), and how absolutely vindictive the press and certain candidates were. And I guess I should say my least favorite of them all is Aaron Burr. I have yet to read of a redeeming trait he possessed!

Fun Weekend

We had a nice weekend with friends. Jenny's shower was on Saturday morning, and then we had the group over for fajitas Saturday night. It was great to see PK again, and his month back "home" has gone by too quickly. He came over again last night for croaker tacos after the boys went to see the Real Madrid/DC United game. I went to see Julie & Julia which was mostly terrific. Meryl Streep was SO Julia Child, and her marriage with Paul was just happy and sweet and endearing. It definitely made me a bigger fan of her. The Julia character grew to be annoying after a bit--narcissistic and self-absorbed. But I'm still going to read the book, just for the cooking/foodie part! And it was nice to see a feel-good movie, with (mostly) likeable characters, as opposed to violent, unhappy, depressing flicks. It was a nice afternoon, followed by a trip to Target. But sheesh, I spent a lot of $$ this weekend! And I still need a Vegas outfit.

Who Killed Detroit: Another Take

This Freep piece links to an article by David Frum, who offers yet another hypothesis as to who or what killed the city of Detroit. Beyond the obvious, race relations and "the city’s defiant rejection of education and the arts" is cited.

A city that celebrated industrial culture spurned high culture. The Detroit Institute of Arts is very nice. But it does not begin to compare to Cleveland’s museum, let alone the Art Institute of Chicago. Detroit has a symphony orchestra, but its history has been troubled and unstoried in comparison to Philadelphia’s or Cleveland’s. On the plaza in front of the Detroit municipal building is a huge bronze replica of Joe Louis’ fist and arm, as if to say: “Here is a city ruled by brawn.” Brawn counts for very little in the modern world. The earnest redevelopers who hoped to renew Detroit by razing its history instead destroyed the raw materials out of which urban renaissance has come to so so many other American downtowns. A couple of days after I returned from Detroit, I telephoned a friend who had lived and worked in the city for many years. My friend, it’s relevant to mention, is the son of an Irish cop, ardently Catholic and defiantly conservative. Why did Chicago recover and Detroit fail, I asked. What doomed the city? He thought for a moment. “Not enough gays.”

Detroit confirms the lessons taught by Jane Jacobs and Russell Kirk. Preservation is as vital to urban health as renovation. Indeed, they are inseparable. The preservation of the old incubates the new.

Not sure I fully agree. I agree somewhat. Downtowns thrive because there is culture, and arts, and music, and a reason to voyage out of the safe but boring suburbs to venture out of your safety zone. Downtowns exist if there is shopping. And sport--and Detroit has the Lions and Tigers and Wings, and once upon a time, the Pistons. They exist with fantastic restaurants, Polish food and Mexican food and Greek food and Eastern market and produce stands. They exist because there are fantastic summer festivals, and parks like Belle Isle and Boblo. They exist because of the Grand Prix and the freedom festival fireworks, when those aren't being tarnished because of videotaped beatings. They exist because people feel safe to wander, to duck into hidden diners and wander into art museums because you can walk. They exist because the music--the Motown music--is culture that is every bit as important. And yes, the DIA is fantastic, with its Diego Rivera murals and its Egyptian mummies.

They exist because after the riots, things are rebuilt. Trends are identified and captured into miniature golf courses or tasty mussels or great thrift stores or used book marts.

They exist because families of five from the 'burbs can venture side by side with city families, and not just those headed by a single mom of five with four baby-daddies.

And this:

As the white working class departed, Detroit became a black-majority city, governed by a deeply aggrieved and flagrantly corrupt political class. Political dysfunction spiraled the city into another cycle of dissolution and abandonment — and the abandonment in turn provided the politicians with fresh grievances.

There were primary elections in Detroit earlier this week, and the top candidates seem to be decent. No Monica Conyers or Kwames among them. Not teriffic candidates, or politically diverse candidates. But a far better group than in the past. No Coleman Youngs. Not "hit Eight Mile."

[I]ndustry’s demand for unskilled labor would first cease to grow, then diminish, then disappear. For many migrants, the promised land soon proved a mirage. Or maybe worse than a mirage. If the promised land did not yield the hoped-for industrial jobs, it offered something else: generous new welfare programs, the ashy false fruit of urban liberalism. The children of the parents who accepted the fruit grew into the criminals who drove first the middle class and then the working class out of the downtown and then altogether out of the city.

The worse of liberalism, not the best of liberalism (and I mean small l liberalism, not big L), thrived in Detroit. And continues to thrive. It sent away my dad and my aunt, and it sent away us. What remains are only those who can't leave.

I'm not ready to completely give up on Detroit. That's why I pick over those pieces of those who visit and ponder and question why. But the Frum piece is incomplete. Perhaps if I could, I'd come up with my own hypothesis. It would begin, and end, with the riots, and white flight, and the horrid education system, and broken families, and corrupt, racist governance. It would rise again because of its food and music and a halt to decades of deterioration. And because a younger generation was given a reason to stay, and not just more handouts. Cash for a clunker?

Our neighbor said something last night, about not needing to go abroad to serve in a Peace Corps. There are cities and neighborhoods where young, idealistic kids can go here to create renewal. I wish I had that kind of heart. Maybe someday. Instead I'll keep rooting for it.

This nails it...

A good column by Howard Kurtz on Clunkers for Cash and health care reform...

I may be in the minority, but how can the administration declare the clunkers program a success when a billion-dollar effort that was supposed to last till November ran out of money in five days? Isn't that a pretty spectacular miscalculation?

Also, isn't it apparent that the $4,500 payments for older gas-guzzlers was extremely generous? That's a huge chunk of change to spur people who probably would have bought a new car eventually anyway. It's a nice short-term boost for the auto industry, and a small boost for fuel efficiency, but is it worth the additional $2 billion that the Senate seems inclined to join the House in approving? Does it further the impression that the administration is just shoveling money out the door?

There was no single day when the Gang of 500 got together and declared health care to be in trouble, but the White House is clearly on the defensive as Congress decamps for August. In retrospect, Obama failed to focus sufficient attention on the what's-in-it-for-me question for the majority of Americans with insurance. Given the sweep and complexity of the proposals, many folks are skeptical of Obama's assurances that their coverage will remain unchanged. And with a 1,000-page bill that the Democrats haven't figured out how to pay for, the whole thing is vulnerable to attacks and distortions, on lots of sections and sub-sections.

I predict that Obamacare will end up the same as Hillarycare: DOA. And I hope the other result, bye-bye Democratic Congress, will happen, too.

And it's not a quite what's in it for me, phenomenon, either. It's a this is completely stupid to be throwing away so much money and go further into debt and then eventually raise taxes, thing.