October 29, 2020: Things That Made Me Smile Today

Beloved Portland bookstore Powell's has decided to release its own perfume, Powell's by Powell's, for those who a) miss the smell of a bookstore or b) want to smell like a bookstore. Or both. It will come in a box fashioned to look like a book. 

I'm extremely dubious, especially now that's I understand it will have notes of violet and wood. That sounds nice, violet and wood, but it doesn't evoke bookstore, for me. 

(I'm offering you a distraction, during this ongoing election week, when you don't even want to open your social media feeds any more. Maybe it's more of an election season, or an election month. I don't know. But it may be a time when we need aromatherapy - Powell's by Powell's!)

Here's another one! 

It's an article by a food writer in Atlanta whose pandemic blues led her to open a restaurant for a chipmunk on the steps of her porch. It is worth it for the pictures alone (though if you click through, you will discover that the article is bedecked with ads for the new Borat movie, with pictures equally entertaining but less cute than the pictures of Thelonius (Munk, naturally) at his tiny sushi bar).

I was also cheered by two pieces about women, older and younger, who have simply had it up to there with Trump. The older women are in western Pennsylvania, and they've been protesting and dressing up like Uncle Sam, and handing out yard signs, and engaging in "suburban activism" since 2016. (Go, Pennsylvania!) 

I am particularly taken with the sign one of them carries, stating Trump Hates Pierogies. It may or may not be true, but I don't care at this point, because it's compelling.  Bookstores don't smell like violets. Chipmunks don't eat actual sushi. We're just riffing. 

The younger women, from Ohio, are suburban moms of school-age kids, featured in an episode of The Daily, called The Field: Why Suburban Women Changed Their Minds.  It's so good, I listened to it twice. You may want to start about twenty minutes in, if you don't have time to listen to the whole thing. If you don't have time to listen at all, a few treasures follow. 

The moms became more activist as a result of trying to raise their kids to be decent human beings when the leader of our country is modeling every selfish and antisocial impulse.

One says, "We learn how to share, we learn how to listen, we take turns, we care about others. And these are the things that are drilled into our heads... because we are drilling them into the heads of our small children every single day." She goes on to say that Trump "would really benefit from a couple of days in our homes," an arresting mental image. If he doesn't end up in prison, maybe he can be under house arrest in Ohio. (Riffing!!! But not a bad idea!!!)

One reporter spoke about moms who are saying, "I want to be able to have the President on TV and it be okay to have my kids in the room." It's not asking a lot, is it? You're making dinner, you've got the evening news playing, the President appears and you don't have to quickly hit the mute.

(I was suddenly swept back to when my kid was little and I'd listen to NPR while I was driving her to day care. She was so young, she did not believe in auxiliary verbs. One morning, I heard her little voice ask from the back seat, "Why that man shoot those kids, Mommy?" And I thought Damn,  she's listening to the news. So okay, you can argue, if you must, that the news has long been a minefield, and I will grant you that. But still, it shouldn't be that the President is reliably a terrible infuence.)

Personally, I would like to be able to have the President on TV and it be okay to have ME in the room. 

Ohio is pink on the 538 forecast map right now, but these moms all said they couldn't imagine ever voting Republican. So maybe Ohio will be lavender next time. Fingers crossed.