The most brilliant woman in the world
Writing by treason on Thursday, 28 of July , 2005 at 8:37 pm
Hillary? No, Florence King. I’ve subscribed to National Review for years and I’ve sent gift subscriptions to sisters and friends. One reason I’ve never parted with an issue is that for a very long time Florence King’s essays appeared in the magazine. I adore her writing. Whenever I think that I’d like to do this for a living, I stop myself and remind myself that I shouldn’t write because there is a Florence King. Florence King should write and I should read what she writes. Everyone should.
My sister, another misanthrope, loved her. I collected all her books and purchased extra copies for my sister. I read them on airplanes. People would stare at me when I’d gasp or try to suppress a guffaw. She’s just fun, what can I say?
She was born on January 5, 1936, in Washington D.C., and raised in Tidewater, Virginia, by her grandmother. She describes herself as a “conservative lesbian feminist.” Her writing is masterful. She’s intellectual, sarcastic, and just plain wonderful. “Why do you hate people?” asked an interviewer of Ms. King. “Who else is there to hate?” she asked in return. She must have read every book in the Tidewater library because she can pull obscure quotes out of some of the heaviest reads in the world, including the bible. Greek and Latin don’t intimidate her. She drinks. She smokes. She dislikes children. She likes witch hazel.
In the days when I was earning a very decent wage, I blew my money on silly things like twenty dollar toner. Yes, toner. The stuff made up mostly of alcohol, which, ironically, is not great for your skin, but put a twenty-dollar price tag on it and give it a fragrance and suddenly it is. Well, Florence had mentioned she uses witch hazel on her skin, and one day I picked up some at the store. I am so into witch hazel, I cannot tell you. I owe that to Ms. King.
I’m not sure what Hillary Clinton uses on her face, other than a plastic surgeon, but the whole
Hillary-as-feminist–icon has always baffled me. I’ve tried to like Hillary. And quite honestly, I think I could enjoy having a few brewskis with the woman, but what I don’t like is her politics. I respect Liberals who are honest about their Liberalism. Don’t play the moderate. I hate that. Got her husband elected to office, so obviously it works. But to me it says “cheating.”
Speaking of which, how can she be married to Bill Clinton? If she didn’t mind the public humiliation, fine, but how about the humiliation for her daughter? And unlike someone like Condi Rice or even Liddy Dole, Hillary hadn’t really established herself in a career before she hopped on the Clinton coattails.
She simply met Bill at school and had some loony idea that he could be her ticket to the White House. Okay, maybe not so loony. People didn’t care. They were us. But, as I pointed out earlier, some evidence came out during the 1992 campaign that revealed the Clintons were renters. Never owned their own home (on an Arkansas governor’s salary, that’s not surprising, and why own when the taxpayers can provide a house for you?) so how could they be expected to relate to Americans striving for the American dream without knowing what it’s like to pay a mortgage while being taxed to death?
So many people try to compare Hillary to Laura Bush. Hillary cannot control her husband. Some say that he loves and respects her; others say if he loved and respected her, he wouldn’t have humiliated her and he’d keep his dick in his pants. Now, Laura Bush, who some feminists feel is too Stepford Wife-y, has managed to turn George around. Like Bill, George was brimming with boyish charm and was usually up to no good. She nipped that in the bud. She tamed the tiger. And then quietly sat back and let him get the attention.
Who’s more powerful? Hillary or Laura? All I know is that Hillary’s running for president and the Republicans had better start paying attention. She’s already on the campaign trail. Recently she spoke to La Raza, promising that voting for Democrats would result in higher grades for Hispanic students. Huh? See, this is precisely the kind of stuff that drives conservatives nuts. We smell condescension and pandering. “You people aren’t smart enough to get good grades, so vote for us and we’ll give them to you.” Why is this tolerated by the so-called underclass? It’s insulting.
And it became a topic of conversation on local talk radio. Hispanics were calling up to say that Hillary doesn’t have the Latino vote wrapped up just yet. One caller pointed out that she shouldn’t count on the Cuban vote - especially after Janet Reno sent little Elian Gonzalez back to Fidel. (Cuban-Americans traditionally lean right; remember, they lived with that bearded goofball. Oh, the stories my Cuban neighbor has about fleeing Cuba in 1961. A paradise? Liberals never explain why people would rather die in an inner tube than live in Castro’s paradise. Always a bugaboo.) Another segment of the population chimed in: homophobic Hispanics. Macho Mexican-American males aren’t comfortable around gay men and don’t want homosexuals running the country. Homies, yes. Homos, no.
But what does Hillary’s message really say? Our party will get your kids good grades so they don’t have to study, work hard, compete. Great. Tell the fastest growing minority in the country that they don’t have to try and see what happens. Another minority who is willing to compete will show up on the scene and clean your clocks.
I don’t get it. When I did my student teaching (the longest year of my life), I’d stay up to four or five in the morning, reading and grading essays. I still had classes of my own to complete to get my degree so my schedule was killing me. Instead of slapping a grade on the top of the page, I’d take the time to rewrite whole paragraphs to show the kid how to do it better next time and I’d always point out what worked and what he or she should be proud of. To watch these kids grab the paper, look at the grade, then crumble it into a ball and toss it into the trash broke my heart. If one kid had shown an interest or come to me to ask for extra help I would have been ecstatic. A lot of teachers would be. They’re dying to teach - just ask them. Kids need to be taught to take advantage of good teachers and libraries. We didn’t have money and we didn’t go to private schools. What we had was Chicago public libraries. When we moved to a small town in Arizona we had that library. They were free.
Kids who learn that and take advantage of it will be, too.
Category: Uncategorized
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg -
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
