This groovy picture of the Stanfills taken in Boulder, Colorado, in 1969.
I have a sit down conversation with Eitan and Madeleine regarding garbage or, more specifically, how to make less of it. I ask for ideas and both hands shoot up: recycle! finish our plates! use both sides of the paper! Madeleine gets a star for the most creative: "if the mirror is broken, use bark to fix it."
Whatever other reasons may explain the lack of women’s voices on the nation’s op-ed pages, the lack of women asking to be there is clearly part of the problem. Many opinion page editors at major newspapers across the country say that 65 or 75 percent of unsolicited manuscripts, or more, come from men.
The obvious solution, at least to Catherine Orenstein, an author, activist and occasional op-ed page contributor herself, was to get more women to submit essays. To that end Ms. Orenstein has been training women at universities, foundations and corporations to write essays and get them published.
Uproars over the sparse numbers of women in newspapers, or on news programs, in magazines, and on best-seller lists regularly erupt every couple of years. A doozy occurred in 2005, after the liberal commentator Susan Estrich and Michael Kinsley, then editor of The Los Angeles Times’s opinion pages, got into a nasty scuffle over the lack of female columnists. That dustup is what motivated Ms. Orenstein to take her op-ed show on the road, which she has done with support from the Woodhull Institute, an ethics and leadership group for women.
“It’s a teachable form,” Ms. Orenstein said recently over coffee and eggs. “It’s not like writing Hemingway. You show people the basics of a good argument, what constitutes good evidence, what’s a news hook, what’s the etiquette of a pitch.”
Over the past 18 months several hundred women and men (though in fewer numbers) have taken the seminar, which can cost a group up to $5,000, Ms. Orenstein said (although she has also donated her services). She has not kept records, but said about two dozen former students have sent her clips of their published essays to say thank you. Suzanne Grossman at Woodhull didn’t have comprehensive statistics but said that the first pilot session for a dozen women at a Woodhull retreat produced 12 op-ed articles. (Some participants wrote more than one.)
“I try to convey the idea that there is a responsibility,” she said. “Op-ed pages are so enormously powerful. It’s one of the few places open to the public. Where else is someone like me going to get access? It’s not like I can call up the White House: ‘Hello?’ ”
About 30 women who also are not in the habit of calling up the White House gathered Monday evening for one of Ms. Orenstein’s seminars. Eighteen, mostly from nonprofit organizations, sat around a large conference table in Manhattan against a dazzling backdrop of New York City’s skyline at sunset, while a dozen or so listened in through a speaker phone in Washington.
They had been invited by SheSource, an online database of women experts, financed by the White House Project, a women’s leadership organization, Fenton Communications and the Women’s Funding Network.
Ms. Orenstein asked: Could every woman at the large rectangular table name one specific subject that she is an expert in and say why? The author of “Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale,” Ms. Orenstein began by saying, “Little Red Riding Hood” and writing the words in orange marker on an oversize white pad.
Of the next four women who spoke, three started with a qualification or apology. “I’m really too young to be an expert in anything,” said Caitlin Petre, 23.
“Let’s stop,” Ms. Orenstein said. “It happens in every single session I do with women, and it’s never happened with men.” Women tend to back away from “what we know and why we know it,” she said.
Next she asked the participants why they thought it important to write op-ed articles. Women shouted: “Change the world,” “shape public debate,” “offer a new perspective,” “influence public policy.”
“You are all such do-gooders,” Ms. Orenstein said laughing, “I love this.” She then proceeded to create another kind of list that included fame, money, offers of books, television series and jobs.
The Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an Episcopal priest and the executive director of Political Research Associates in Boston, frowned. “It’s not why I do it,” she said.
That, Ms. Orenstein declared, is a typically female response: “I never had a man say, ‘That’s not why I do it.’ ”
This photo taken in Richmond on the toe path. Not far West is the Teddington Lock, which is the limit of the tidal Thames but the three miles between Teddington and Richmond are only truly tidal for about two hours before and two hours after high tide. That is when the three separate vertical weir gates (one in each navigation arch) of Richmond Footbridge are raised. At all other times the weir gates are lowered into the water which means that there is always a minimum depth of 1.72 metres of water between Teddington and Richmond.
When the weir gates are lowered, three red discs (red lights at night) in a triangular shape are displayed under each arch to indicate that navigation through them is not possible. There is a lock that can be used when the gates are down. High tide at Richmond is about 1 hour after high water at London Bridge with low tide being between 3 and 3½ hours after low water at London Bridge.
"Hoist up sail while gale doth last. Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure."
Robert Southwell
Today I have a free hour between meetings and so visit the National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square. The showing exhibit "Face of Fashion" presents the iconic photos of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Paolo Roversi, Mario Sorrenti, Steve Klein and Corinne Day. Day "discovered" Kate Moss in 1989 and took this photo 'Kate's Flat' in 1993. The gallery is small but each image packs punch including Klein's bloody and snot covered image of boy-toy singer Justin Timberlake never published. Klein also shoots Brad Pitt and Angelina Jollie suffering suburbia when the public became interested in seeing the couple together in '04.
From the NPG I have lunch with old friend Najib who founded London company First Credit which buys non-performing loans that are repackaged and sold to new buyers. The company I learn is to be sold for over $700 million this year.
Madeleine voice mail on my mobile: "Hello, it is Madeleine. I have a wobbly tooth. when Aggie was in the middle of reading us a book, I interrupted and said: 'what is this?' I interrupted and said 'what is this wobbly thing in my mouth?' and asked if it is a wobbly tooth and Aggie said it was."
Eitan and Madeleine practice Yoga Tuesday mornings in the Tim Berners-Lee School Hall (Berners-Lee, FYI, is credited with inventing the World Wide Web and is an alumni of the school). At the same time as yoga, the school ochestra bangs together fight songs creating quite a ruckus. The Initially aggrieved yoga instructor and mum complained to our Head Mistress but to no avail - space is money, after all. The kids contort themselves in may favorite poses including the Downward Facing Dog, the Lotus pose and the Tree pose. I sit nearby and read a book.
In London I learn that it is illegal to hail a cab while the cab is in motion. The cab driver is supposed to ask each of his passengers whether they are suffering from any 'notifiable disease such as smallpox and the plague.' A driver is allowed to urinate in public, as long as he is on the rear wheel of the vehicle with his right hand placed on it (the cab, that is).
It is also illegal to be drunk in a pub. Or to serve somebody who is drunk. Or buy a drink for somebody who is drunk. It is also illegal to dance in a pub where dancing is described as "the rhythmic moving of the legs, arms and body, usually changing positions within the floor space available and whether or not accompanied by musical support."
Watching Sir David Attenborough's "The Life of Birds" we see two Kirtland Warblers mating (neither kid has any interest in knowing). I ask Eitan if he thinks that there may be a connection between smootching, love and children and we agree that there are many mysteries yet to it all.
Some of the world's most famous architects have thrown their weight behind plans for a 30-storey sky-scraper on the edge of the City of London. The public inquiry into the "Walkie Talkie" (pictured) at 20 Fenchurch Street opened yesterday. The inquiry, which comes amid a growing concern about London's changing skyline, is set to pit an array of traditionalists against modernists including Frank Gehry, Lord (Norma) Foster and Lord (Richard) Rogers who all support the building. London's Mayor Ken Livingstone is also an advocate as he tries to increase living and work space in the back-drop of the world's dearest property values. Against the structure are many local councils and heritage groups who bemoan the loss of London's flat line and mostly uninterrupted views of St. Paul's Cathedral. (Picture from the WWW)
Other London high-rise controversies:
But what is the tie for? “Neckwear has long been a way of finishing an outfit, displaying wealth, and drawing attention to the face and framing the head,” says Sonnet Stanfill, the Curator of Contemporary Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who refuses to take sides in the tie spat. “It allows colour into an outfit, and allows an expression of one’s personality. The contemporary interpretation of ties continues that tradition.”
Sonnet in The Times today. Photo from the V&A.
This photo from several weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon strikes me wistful and I think how quickly parenthood slips by - even while paying attention.
Teenagers in the UK blog 4.5 hours per week on average according to The Times. This compares to reading which occupies two hours - including homework.
Moe's beloved car, purchased used in '63 to drive across the US of A with his young bride Grace Manning post-Peace Corps, remained parked in front of 1860 San Ramon or 1530 Euclid Avenue until sold in 2000. The 544 was the first production car with seat-belts as standard and I recall the smell of the red seats on a summer's day - or the hot black dash-board when parked in the sun. The thing had excellent gas mileage even then, a six piston engine I could understand, and rarely broke down (excluding an epic return-trip from Yosemite on the freeway in a snow storm, circa 1979). She was always reliable for the 0600 pool-run (Katie in the back seat, me up front) and afterwards Moe took her to San Francisco on the ferry or, when that service stopped, the North Berkeley Bart station. The 544 was profiled yesterday in the New York Times, which Moe points out, refers to her as "humpbacked" and treasured by many people today. While cars now may be more airo-dynamic or stylish, none elicits the short honk and quick wave of two guys passing each other in a vintage 544.
