Some Middle Aged Pastimes 🏘️
And a very special Dames birthday!
Happy Friday, Dames Nation! First and foremost, let’s all wish Dame Sophie a very happy birthday! Sophie and I have been friends for TWENTY FIVE ENTIRE YEARS! Our friendship can rent a car for a relatively reasonable price! I very clearly remember dicking around on the Bust magazine [did you know Duke holds their archives? I did not until now!] message boards on this very day or perhaps June 22, who can say, in 1999 and Sophie wrote that she’d finished off the last of a bottle of birthday champagne before heading off to work. I hope she’s having an even more celebratory day today. I can’t even believe the amount of incredible TV writing she’s doing these days — to say I am proud is a massive understatement. Such style! Such elan! Such humor! Such an insightful and engaging interviewer! Writing with Sophie is one of the joys of my life. Here are some of my fav “duets” of ours:
Living In The Margins And Loving It
Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here’s The Dames
Who Influences The Influencers? [for Avidly way back in pre-pandemic 2020! Before I was a Dame! We worked so hard on this!]
Last Friday, Holly and I went to see Roz Chast speak at The Mount! I had never been to The Mount despite being a bit of a Whartonhead and shame on me because it is STUNNING! Such glamour, such luxury, but in the most calming and centering way. A few weeks ago, we visited two of the Newport mansions, The Breakers and The Elms, (leaning all the way into this new middle-aged hobby of visiting ridiculous old houses, yes, thank you), and they were also stunning but in a literal, punch you in the head with their, well, gilt, excess, and, frankly, vulgarity way! And I love vulgarity, do not misunderstand, but the difference between those places and The Mount, particularly the moods and feelings they evoke, was wild. [Edith and her no-goodnik husband Teddy had their own, naturally very tasteful Newport mansion, Land’s End; someone bought it for $8.6 million in 2020.] I’ve been leafing through (ok clicking through) The Decoration of Houses here and there throughout the week and it is a TONIC. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I live alone in an overpriced, ramshackle two-bedroom apartment. The second bedroom is technically my “office” but it is really “my garbage dump” and the bedroom, while very large, is cluttered and is always full of laundry (no washer/dryer) and things I keep meaning to throw out but what if I suddenly need an enormous, painfully heavy 1970s stereo receiver and/or two suitcases with zippers that don’t work? Meanwhile, Wharton advises:
The boudoir is the room in which small objects of art—prints, mezzotints and gouaches—show to the best advantage … One or two well-chosen prints hung on a background of plain color will give more pleasure than a medley of photographs, colored photogravures, and other decorations of the cotillon-favor type. Not only do mediocre ornaments become tiresome when seen day after day, but the mere crowding of furniture and gimcracks into a small room intended for work and repose will soon be found fatiguing.
Ok, but what if one’s life is approximately 90% gimcracks, Edith?! Oh well.
Roz Chast was a delight and remained gracious and composed when two different audience members made their questions “more of a comment, really” when they simply described individual strips of hers that they particularly loved, one of which was a permanent fixture on someone’s “cheapskate” brother in laws’ refrigerator. What am I saying, maybe she enjoyed hearing that?! If I was giving a talk somewhere and two different audience members just decided to quote two pieces of mine back to me, I’d feel sorry for the rest of the audience having to sit through it, but I’d be happy to hear it.
The audience, which for perhaps the last time in my life was comprised mostly of people much older than me, was absolutely in the palm of her hand and collectively bellowed with laughter as she read aloud selected comics as they appeared on a screen. One woman sitting near us was literally slapping her be-linen-ed knee in mirth! Particularly popular bangers included Injured? I Told You So, When Moms Dance [inspired by a real-life incident with her daughter!], and Self-Help Books For The Newly Dead. Then she did a slideshow of her very impressive embroideries [you can see more here plus her pysanky eggs?! Damn, Roz!] as well as some of her favorite examples of Japanese matchbook art, which are sometimes found on her Instagram as well as in this 2016 article from, yes, The New Yorker.
Did I mention that her newest book, I Must Be Dreaming, brought me more actual lols than any book has in quite some time? I kept laughing while reading it in bed and Dave finally started reading over my shoulder and then he started laughing out loud too! Then I followed it up with Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? which is also very funny but at the same time sad, heartbreaking, and brutally frank about the difficulties that came with taking care of her very old parents. It came out ten years ago and yet, per Roz, someone just recently wrote to her to tell her what a terrible person and daughter she’d been!!!! LEAVE ROZ ALONE! Anyway, now I’m more of a Roz Chast superfan than I’ve ever been. The last audience question she took was from someone who for some reason asked her what she would say if she were having lunch with fellow New Yorker stalwart Charles Addams (?!?!?) and she replied “Wow! I don’t know….yeah….I don’t know!” and took a drink of water and that was the end. Relatable and a true role model for us all.
Happy Birthday, Sophie!🎉🎉🎉
Happy Friendversary!!! Also, LOVE Roz and have now bought her book for me and my husband to read, because of YOU. I have been influenced!