Two headline events loom large in my mind tonight. The first is a picture on the front page of this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a huge picture, above the fold, crowding out side stories. It shows Rick Santorum praying with about a hundred pastors in a town north of the Metroplex and, yes, they're laying on hands. Santorum claims he doesn't want to be the "pastor of the United States" and yet that seems to be the office he's running for. Is he one bit familiar with the Consitution? You know, that pesky business about separation of church and state? Put aside the fact that I disagree with him on every social issue, from abortion to gay marriage, and that I shudder to think of him as an international representative of this country--well, I disagree with his policies there too. But I can't believe Americans would ever think of electing a man who runs on an openly religious--and bigoted--platform. It scares the you know what out of me. The only laughable thing to come out of his North Texas visit was that someone gave him a cowboy hat--doubt it was a real Stetson--and local columnist and raconteur Bud Kennedy quipped that it probably had the worst crease of any cowboy hat ever. But that badly creased hat won't save us.
The other thing that bothers me is the new book telling all about a woman's affair with JFK when she was a nineteen-year-old, virginal intern at the White House. I am horrified by Kennedy (who is one of my heroes). As the resident medical authority on the TODAY Show said today, he was the president of the United States, forty-five years old, and he took her into a bedroom; she was nineteen, inexperienced, and not in a position to resist power. It was rape. There go the clay feet of one of my heroes, even though we already knew he was an outrageous womanizer. This was extreme, making you want to say, "Pick on somone one your own size."
But I am bothered about all the hoorah being made over this woman and her book. Sure, she was outed in 2002 or thereabouts and it caused her great pain in her life. I've heard there have been more "outings" but I don't remember ever hearing about it. If she hadn't written this book, which is getting a ton of play in all media, it might have remained a quietly forgotten episode. Now it's a "big thing." How does the author feel about Caroline Kennedy hearing about this? How does she feel about her own place in history--pretty shabby. Sure, she wanted to tell her side of the story--don't we all after affairs gone awry? But maybe she could have kept a diary. Or, hey, I know a memoir class where she could have told all and it wouldn't have gone beyond the room. Sorry, folks, but I see it as a publicity grab.
The good things out of the day: went to Half Price Books and got $29 for six grocery bags of books. Sorry but I expected more. So Jeannie and I went to Winslow's Wine Cafe and had a good lunch--I spent most of my $29. Easy come, easy go. The good thing? My book shelves are relatively neat.
And tonight was my memoir class--a powerful one in which women shared some heavy stuff. I was both grateful and inspired. Linda came for supper beforehand, as she usually does, and I fixed what I thought was a classic light supper: tomato basil soup, tuna salad, cherry tomatoes, and hearts of palm. Notice the funny color of some of the tomatoes--I didn't like those as well. But notice the new stoneware I bought at a garage sale double bargain.
The other thing that bothers me is the new book telling all about a woman's affair with JFK when she was a nineteen-year-old, virginal intern at the White House. I am horrified by Kennedy (who is one of my heroes). As the resident medical authority on the TODAY Show said today, he was the president of the United States, forty-five years old, and he took her into a bedroom; she was nineteen, inexperienced, and not in a position to resist power. It was rape. There go the clay feet of one of my heroes, even though we already knew he was an outrageous womanizer. This was extreme, making you want to say, "Pick on somone one your own size."
But I am bothered about all the hoorah being made over this woman and her book. Sure, she was outed in 2002 or thereabouts and it caused her great pain in her life. I've heard there have been more "outings" but I don't remember ever hearing about it. If she hadn't written this book, which is getting a ton of play in all media, it might have remained a quietly forgotten episode. Now it's a "big thing." How does the author feel about Caroline Kennedy hearing about this? How does she feel about her own place in history--pretty shabby. Sure, she wanted to tell her side of the story--don't we all after affairs gone awry? But maybe she could have kept a diary. Or, hey, I know a memoir class where she could have told all and it wouldn't have gone beyond the room. Sorry, folks, but I see it as a publicity grab.
The good things out of the day: went to Half Price Books and got $29 for six grocery bags of books. Sorry but I expected more. So Jeannie and I went to Winslow's Wine Cafe and had a good lunch--I spent most of my $29. Easy come, easy go. The good thing? My book shelves are relatively neat.
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