Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Stories of women

The New York Observer profiles the paradox that is Caitlin Flanagan.

I love to hate her and hate to love her.

It took her two years to write that nanny essay for the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Her gig with The New Yorker kicks off with a piece to run sometime this summer.

What does she do with her time? We know she has a nanny for the kids, and she doesn't change bedsheets. She does sew buttons though.

"Ms Flanagan’s frontier is one in which sophisticated women living lives full of complexity and contradiction on some level long for the clarity of a world."

Which is why I'm intrigued by her. The frustration comes from the fact that not only does she not provide any clarity, her depiction of the muddles demonstrates no keen insight.

On more serious matters, Salon launches Heroes of Freedom, a four-part series celebrating those who have fought to advance civil rights.

"I like to talk about the difference between what I call 'theoretical' feminism and 'practical' feminism," says Megill. With Haven, "It comes down to supporting women, not just women's rights. Supporting actual women, flesh and blood."

Too often the abstract obscures the concrete.

I remember seeing Une affaire de femmes and feeling like I was being slapped to snap out it. Wake up. The story's not over.

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