Restacked. Very interesting and thoughtful as always, Kimberly.
I loved your reference to "that land of prudish fear where every arbitrarily-decided rule must be followed to the letter, no matter how absurd". This is a lot of NYC, especially the bureaucratic parts, which are everywhere.
Thanks Joanna. Binary thinking is very much the problem. It is certainly what gave us the idea that a man can become a woman and Covid rules. There is this idea that we can only occupy two states and that there is no in-between. Rich or poor, male or female, sick or healthy. The magic bullet is sought to control whether the switch is flipped on or off. There is no acknowledgment of the vast land in between the two extremes.
Hypocrisy, being the homage vice pays to virtue, would be a nice change about now. Alas, as you describe, virtue is not on anyone's radar. In the semi-aristocratic South I knew in the 50s and 60s, it was possible to be a bit of a mess, yet still have good manners and dress well. Semi-aristocratic = not rich, just well bred. Flaws in that? Lots. Still, a swing of the pendulum to the center such as you described might be refreshing. More hypocrisy, please!
I feel like the South was the last hold out for any kind of manners. We Yankees gave up on that quite a while ago, and it’s only fossils like me who care deeply enough to not inflict our nakedness on eyes that have no business seeing it.
Restacked. Very interesting and thoughtful as always, Kimberly.
I loved your reference to "that land of prudish fear where every arbitrarily-decided rule must be followed to the letter, no matter how absurd". This is a lot of NYC, especially the bureaucratic parts, which are everywhere.
Thanks Joanna. Binary thinking is very much the problem. It is certainly what gave us the idea that a man can become a woman and Covid rules. There is this idea that we can only occupy two states and that there is no in-between. Rich or poor, male or female, sick or healthy. The magic bullet is sought to control whether the switch is flipped on or off. There is no acknowledgment of the vast land in between the two extremes.
Hypocrisy, being the homage vice pays to virtue, would be a nice change about now. Alas, as you describe, virtue is not on anyone's radar. In the semi-aristocratic South I knew in the 50s and 60s, it was possible to be a bit of a mess, yet still have good manners and dress well. Semi-aristocratic = not rich, just well bred. Flaws in that? Lots. Still, a swing of the pendulum to the center such as you described might be refreshing. More hypocrisy, please!
I feel like the South was the last hold out for any kind of manners. We Yankees gave up on that quite a while ago, and it’s only fossils like me who care deeply enough to not inflict our nakedness on eyes that have no business seeing it.
I feel somewhat called out in that i wear sweat pants out sometimes. But only to the dollar store lol.
Me: “Don’t wear sweatpants to the grocery store”
Also me: Wears scuffed combat boots to host the piano recital 🤣🤔😂