Book Review

All Things At Once by Mika Brezinski

Recommended and a supposedly a best seller, “All Things At Once” is Mika Breziniski’s memoir of her life up until she began hosting “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. In full disclosure, I don’t have cable, so I have never seen her show and didn’t really know anything about her prior to reading this memoir.

Those of you reading this blog know the utter contempt that I have for “investigative journalism,” and this book did nothing to improve my opinion of that field. If this book was not primarily about her working mom struggles, I probably would not have bothered with it. Americans hold their journalists in higher regard than most of the world, but I’ve always subscribed to the British view of journalists, namely that of tolerance tinged with contempt. An example of how easily they can be played is when Kate Middleton made her first speech and wore her mother’s dress, which sent the press into a tailspin about how the Middletons swap clothes. The move was semi-genius on Kate’s part, because it sent so-called journalists scouring the photo archives looking for more evidence of clothes swapping rather than focusing on criticizing her speech. I say semi-genius, because leading journalists is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel, and Kate may just be the proverbial one-eyed giant in a land of blind giants. So while I can grant journalism may be a physically exhausting job with terrible hours, that’s about all I am willing to concede.

So, I didn’t really have a lot of sympathy for Mika going into the book, which may be my own beef. A lot of Mika’s complaining about how exhausted and tired she was just fell on deaf ears to me. Now, Simone de Beauvoir once wrote something about a woman’s class and socioeconomic status over ruling gender in terms of solidarity. Her point was that a man and a woman with these things in common would band together more easily than two women from disparate classes or cultures. This came to mind reading about Mika because she is privileged – no doubt about that. She grew up in the shadow of the White House and her last name opened doors. She is a working woman of the 1%, but I did try to forgive her that for Beauvoir’s sake, even if I couldn’t quite get over her career choice.

The upshot is, for all her privilege, you would think she would have more time with her kids. Mika’s book needs to have a chat with Maria Shriver’s book. Maria had a once-in-a-lifetime interview with Fidel Castro moved so she could go to her kid’s first day of school. Mika writes extensively of how her work has interfered with her child raising, and even writes about how she is missing her daughter’s recital to write the book. This struck me as sad and kind of made me feel guilty about reading the book. In general, the more successful and privileged you are, the more you should be able to bend things to suit you. Gwyneth Paltrow caused a stir about a year ago releasing a newsletter about “tips” for working mom’s – and had a typical day in the life of a private equity investor, Stella McCartney and herself. What struck me the most about her newsletter is how much time these women spend with their kids. I added it up -hour for hour, they are home more than I am – since they have more control over their schedules and can make people come to them. Even my group’s VP at Penn has flexibility on this. Everyday last summer, her two daughters came with her the office in the morning, left around 8:30 to go to their summer programs, than came back to the office in the afternoon and hung around to do their reading and assignments before they all took the train home. (The VP of the group is basically the only person who can get away with this.) Mika on the other hand spends no time with her children, is completely candid about it and even had a replacement mom pose for her in her family Christmas card!

Now, to be fair to Mika, there might be more under the surface at play. Mika repeatedly alludes to what she thinks was her mother’s biggest mistake, giving up her art to be a supportive housewife, so her husband could be the National Security Advisor to the Carter White House. Mika’s mother did not go quietly into that good night of being a housewife; she complained repeatedly about her sacrifice and, in one anecdote in the book, her mother feeds roadkill to a visiting dignitary. Mika defends her mother by saying that she was being true to her personality by doing so. If that personality is passive-aggressive then yes, I would agree she was being true to her personality. But in trying to avoid her mother’s mistake Mika may have swung the pendulum too much the other way. (Not only should she read Maria Shriver’s books, but maybe “The Weird Sisters” to learn about the dangers in defining yourself in relation to other people – even family members).

All in all it is always interesting to read about other people’s choices but I can’t quite recommend this book, mostly because it is too much complaining and she is outclassed by Maria Shriver, who has had many of the exact same experiences but just handled everything “all at once” better.

Book Review

Book Review: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

“The Weird Sisters” is one of those serendipitous reads that happens when you are in between books, are about to get on the train home and stop into a newsstand to see the new magazine covers. You see a book that looks interesting, read a few pages and are instantly hooked. Before you know it, you are deep into a book that really had no right jumping to the top of the reading queue. (My reading queue is years long. If you’ve recommended a book to me, it’s on a list, I just might die before I get to it. But I do have every intention of getting to it. )

Eleanor Brown’s debut novel is a lot like the Joy of Cooking’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. If you follow the recipe exactly and are careful and diligent you will be rewarded with very tasty, perfectly chewy, always reliable chocolate chip cookies. There are no surprises, you know exactly what you are getting and it’s a pretty fool-proof operation. The Weird Sisters pretty much follows a set formula- I could have predicted the ending for you just from reading the back cover. All of the elements of a fabulous light read are in place. The author makes you care about the characters, even though there are strong archetypes at play. There is a clear voice in the narrator. She draws a tight circle to explore – sisterly relationships – and doesn’t stray outside it.

In this novel, three sisters, named after Shakespearean characters by their professor father, return to their childhood home in a college town in Ohio after being burned by the harshness of the modern world. The main cautionary tale here is the danger in defining yourself in relation to other people. The sisters are on the innocent’s journey, showing that the power to change was really inside themselves all along. It is a story that rings true. There was a research article, read not too long ago, that the influence of siblings is perhaps the most underrated aspect of an individual’s development. The journeys that the Andreas sisters go through are so universally understood it’s no wonder the book is a success. The message underneath rings true enough despite the somewhat formulaic treatment. All in all, it was an extremely enjoyable book, even if it does have the stamp of “light read”. Light, airy, just sweet enough –but was not controversial, extremely educational or groundbreaking. It was a book I enjoyed, no more and no less.

Cleaning out the Iphone

Reamde got me thinking about my computer science days, especially as an undergrad. There were very many days when I would pack all the food I would need for the day, head to the library or computer lab and NOT MOVE till whatever I was doing was done. Usually this involved packing enough food for the whole day. Parking at the Newark campus on the street would open up at 8 a.m., so I would be sure to drive up at 7:55 a.m., so I wouldn’t have to pay for parking. As I was paying for tuition on my own, I sure wasn’t going to eat at the cafeteria or have a meal plan, so everything had to come from home. I didn’t have access to a microwave so everything was cold. Somewhere along the line I got an Eddie Bauer thermos and started packing hot foods. One day I came back to my seat to find it was stolen. I guess there are some merits to having a bucket to pee in so you don’t really have to move after all.

Ger thinks I pack “fancy and elaborate” lunches.  I don’t think so, they are actually no where near as involved as the ones I used to back as an undergrad or when I was working at Bear Stearns. For starters, they don’t have dinner, dessert or a 2nd snack. I also have free tea, coffee and hot water at work, so I don’t pack liquids. I let the reader be the judge.

 

 

Matt’s been exploring and expanding more, I have a few pictures….

 

Puzzles and Strawberries

“Paper Time” with crayons and scissors, we rock out to music and draw and cut for 20 minutes.

Matt trying on gloves. He HATES gloves so I had to snap a picture.

 

I’m kinda recovering from a GI bug, so I didn’t feel like snapping too many cooking pictures. Ger asked for corn muffins though…

 

Which really means corn muffin *tops*. They don’t look so pretty actually, but with a little bit of butter even I thought they were tasty….

Book Review

Book Review: Clare Booth Luce by Stephen Shadegg

The cover of this book reads: “The biography of one of America’s most famous and controversial women- playwright, actress, Congresswoman, Ambassador, friend or enemy of almost everyone worth knowing in our times.”

Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) totally makes it into the hall of fame of great women who accomplished a great deal while keeping it together. I always thought it wasn’t fair that the woman who thought up the concept for Life Magazine, predicted Pearl Harbor, was responsible for making NATO possible and planted the seeds for the Marshall plan should be relegated to a foot note of history. I suppose that’s why it is history not herstory.

Even though CBL was a woman born in 1903 and her story takes place in the first half of the 20^th century, she has a lot to teach us. One thread that repeatedly impressed me was how CBL took risks. From showing up at the Vogue offices for work every morning without an official job to crashing the Italian President’s office when her chauffer took a wrong turn, CBL repeatedly took calculated risks. The exchange between her and President Eisenhower was worth reading the book alone. I put an emphasis on the “calculated” in calculated risks, because she certainly turned things down that she knew wouldn’t work. For example, she turned down the Ambassordship to Brazil, knowing that whoever took the job would fail ultimately fail in the mission.

Another thread was how CBL kept her options open. She always had a few irons in the fire, knowing a couple would come to fruition and others would peter out. For example, she signed on to be a consultant to some movies while running for Congress, in case she lost the election. Barred from involvement in the Time-Life enterprise, rather than wallowing in self-pity and resentment, she got to work on her play writing. As much as her biography was about her accomplishments, the list of things that DIDN’T work for her was very long. (One thing that was missing from the book jacket description was “journalist.” Her McCall’s article on converting to Catholicism is their most requested reprint. She was one of the first correspondents to the pacific front during WWII)

However, there is a cautionary portion to CBL’s story: she didn’t really pay enough attention to the money. Her brother lost most of her money and when her second husband died she had a greatly reduced income. She was forced to sell the homes she shared with her second husband. Interestingly, from this biography anyway, it doesn’t seem that Clare saw any money from her idea of Life Magazine. It wasn’t like the idea was just bantered around across pillow talk, she had mocked up the magazine before she ever met Harry Luce. When Harry was being sued, Clare and her mock-up took the stand and stated under oath Life magazine was her idea, and the evidence was strong enough the suit against Harry was promptly dismissed. With the idea so solidly hers, it’s a shame she didn’t realize any financial benefit from it directly. (I get the impression that a JBKO or a Deborah Mitford, who had a much closer eye on the checkbook, wouldn’t let this slide).

Like other women in the hall of fame of great women who accomplished a great deal while keeping it together, I felt a little bit exhausted after reading this book. While I wouldn’t have a lot of Clare’s choices in her position, I like her advice, “Explain nothing, Deny Everything, Demand Proof, Don’t Listen to it and give the opposition hell.”

March Rising

The Carroll Pack ventured into the backyard. This was so huge.

I haven’t showered in two days in this picture and was in my element – DIRT!

Matt found a worm in the soil we were prepping. An unexpected science experience in what was supposed to be about seeds and dirt.

 

Black Gold – The sticks have really compressed down impressively. I don’t know that I’ll throw sticks in compost again, but around the sticks was yummy and spong-ey. I do love my compost.

Book Review

Book Review: The Healthcare Fix by Laurence J. Kotlikoff

The work book club decided to hit a health policy book. When I discovered that Kotlikoff, the author of the impressive "The Coming Generational Storm" had decided to tackle health care, I asked the group if we could read it and they agreed (my co-workers rock).

His last book on social security was so thoughtful and well researched that I was disappointed when the book came in the mail and was a scant 100 pages. To be fair they are a packed 100 pages. However, this book almost would have worked better as an extra chapter, rather than a stand alone work.

I've always liked Einstein's saying, (paraphrased here) "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler." Kotlikoff's proposed solution is too simple. While the early chapters on how growing health care costs will have a negative effect on the US economy is well researched, his later chapters proposing a solution are naïve and extremely threadbare. It is simply too simple to work.

In fact, reading the pages about his proposed solution, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of crack was filtered through the air circulation system in the rarefied ivory towers in Massachusett. Kotlikoff's healthcare fix is that everyone will get vouchers from the government to buy health insurance. It's that simple!

Now, I'm not political at all (I don't think it's polite) but I am a realist. There is no way a federal health insurance voucher program is going to work in this country. Here I give you a few of my notes from my book as I was reading the last chapter:

Kotlikoff: "all medical information...test results, diagnoses.....would be transmitted electronically to the government for the purposes of its rating (the vouchers)."
Emily: Author on crack

Kotlikoff: "the insurer would be required to keep this information confidential"
Emily: You haven't actually met these people have you?

Kotlikoff: "insurance carriers would be just as happy to have them (high risk patients) as customers as their healthy contemporaries (because their voucher would be higher).
Emily: Not how insurance works

Kotlikoff: "I don't believe major additional revenues would be needed for (the voucher program)"
Emily: Because author is on crack.

Now, I know that the state of healthcare in this country is in dire straits. We are headed for the frog in the proverbial pot, slowly boiling to death and not noticing. I can see the writing on the wall, with my own eyes, in my position at Penn Medicine. While the early potion of the book describes the macro economic situation well, the actual policy portion of the book is very weak. I’ll keep this book because the first few chapters are succinct reference materials, but overall I think less of Kotlikoff for seriously proposing this solution.