| 11-28 TABLE of CONTENTS:
Excerpt from "I Want a Wife"
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by
Rita Mae Brown.
Remember this one?
"...I
want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I
want a wife who will wash the children's clothes and keep them mended.
I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, arranges
for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life
with their peers... I want a wife who take care of the children when they
are sick... My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the
job... Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of my
children while my wife is working.
"I want a wife, who will take care of MY physical
needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean... A wife who will pick
up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended,
replaced when need be, and who will see to it that I can find what I need
the minute I need it. I want a wife who... is a good cook... a wife who
will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the means,
serve them pleasantly and then do the cleaning up... I want a wife who
will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pains... I want
a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can
continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest.
"My God, who wouldn't want a wife?"
-- excerpted from Judy Syfers's wonderful magazine article that has been
anthologized often, "Why I Want a Wife" and strikes to the bone
the problems of the patriarchal system of social order.
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11-28 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
B. 11-28-1853, Helen Magill White, raised
a Quaker, thinking she was as deserving of the same education as men, organized
Howard College in Massachusetts.
B. 11-28-1904, Nancy Mitford, English-born
American writer, the eldest of six sisters.
Wrote a number of light-hearted novels. She worked in France at refugee
camps for those escaping the Spanish Civil War and then later worked with
the Free French in World War II. Settling in France after WWII, she wrote
several acclaimed biographies including Voltaire in Love (1957)
and Madame du Pompadour (1954). Her sister Jessica Mitford (B.1917)
also was an acclaimed writer.
B. 11-28-1904, Helen Jepson, American soprano
and vocal teacher.
B. 11-28-1909, Rose Bampton, debuted at the
Metropolitan Opera on her 23rd birthday
as a contralto because her doctor had diagnosed a voice problem as a contralto
trying to sing soprano. She quickly tired of being a villain and took extensive
voice exercise lessons and finally debuted with a 2.5 octave range as Leonora
in Il Trovatore in 1937.
B. 11-28-1923, Helen Delich Bentley,
U.S. Representative (R. 2nd Dist. Maryland).
B. 11-28-1932, Margaret Costanza, special assistant
to President Jimmy Carter.
B. 11-28-1944, Rita Mae Brown, novelist and
poet. Gained fame with her rollicking
Rubyfruit Jungle about growing up a lesbian in South Florida when
she became friends with actor Alexis Smith. Later she had an affair with
tennis player Martina Navritalova and wrote a controversial "revenge"
book about women's tennis.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
BROWN, RITA MAE:
"If
the world were a logical place, men would ride side-saddle."
-- Rita Mae Brown, in Sudden Death.
"If
Michelangelo were heterosexual, the Sistine Chapel would have been painted
white and with a roller."
-- Rita Mae Brown, in Venus Envy.
"Next
time anybody calls me a lesbian writer I'm going to knock their teeth in.
I'm a writer, I'm a woman, and I'm from the South, and I'm alive, and that
is that."
-- Rita Mae Brown.
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