Snippets

Hi!  So... lately I'm in the mood to write about good writing.  Or really, maybe, I just want to, in some way, archive things that I like.  The latter.  Both.  I don't know.  There are probably other reasons, too.  I'm just going to go with it.

In the New York Times this past Sunday, there was an article entitled "Let's Hear It for Aunthood" by Kate Bolick.  First of all, the first sentence is fantastic:  For simplicity's sake, let's call me a childless spinster.  So there's that.  But overall, it's a pretty good article.  She doesn't have a lot of precedent to draw from, regarding her subject, which is kind of the point of the article, so it's slim, but still interesting and well written.  (That may seem a given for the NYT, but...dude.  Have you read all of the Styles section before?  Or every single Modern Love column?  No?  Good for you.  Don't.  It's depressing how lame some of the stuff is.)

Wait.  Where was I?  Oh yea.  There was a paragraph that I thought was great.  This is not so much to do with writing styles or anything other than the fact that I feel the exact same way and yet would not have been able to put it so well.  So here it is (but first the paragraph immediately before my fave paragraph, for context):

In April, Melanie Notkin, a social-media entrepreneur, seized on this underrepresented underclass with "Savvy Auntie:  The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers, and All Women Who Love Kids" (William Morrow).  Her book is a spinoff of her Web site, savvyauntie.com, which aims to be an "all-inclusive guide" for what she calls PANKS:  Professional Aunts No Kids.  It's a rallying girl-call in high chick-lit style:  lots of hot pink and cheerful advice filed under rubrics like "Auntre-Nous:  Straight Talk for the Childless Auntie" and "The Importance of QualAuntie Time."


I do appreciate Ms. Notkin's auntrepreneurism.  But as a chronic non-joiner, I'm not interested in becoming part of a "unifying lifestyle platform"; for me, much of the allure of being an aunt is being liberated from expectations, free to make it up as I go along, constantly surprised by the delights of the relationship, which includes not only passionate love but blessed freedom.

See?  Good, right?  And no guilt about it.  Just a "chronic non-joiner."  That's what I am!  That's how I feel, only with respect to modern motherhood stuff.  Oh and with the exception of the "blessed freedom" part.  I do not have "blessed freedom."  S'OK, though.

So...yay!  OK then, so I have a few other posts like this, but with fiction.  A lot of this is just for me, to help me remember.

Until next time...