Saturday morning random

* For anyone else wondering about the shoes, they are Klogs brand, model Madrid.

* More project photos to come Monday. I did finish both shawlettes I had on the needles but I need to block the Aestlight shawl. (One thing about the Aestlight pattern - it has the best and clearest explanation/justification of how you "turn a corner" while doing a knitted-on border. V. easy pattern to follow.)

* I don't really do New Year's Resolutions because, as one of the columnists in the paper my parents get said, "They seem mostly about giving stuff up" but I do want to strive to do two things this year: first, to work on quilts more (I have so many ideas and so much fabric...) and also to laugh more/lighten up more. I don't know why or how I got so serious in the past few years but I need to get back to a way of being able to see humor in situations rather than seeing that which frustrates me.

* I finished two books over break: Brian Fagan's "The First North Americans" (about Paleo-Indian groups) and Monica Dickens' "One Pair of Hands."

"One Pair of Hands" is about a young (Middle-class, I presume, from her brief discussion of her background) British woman (And yes, she is related to THAT Dickens), who, in a fit of early-20s boredom (a proto "quarter life crisis"?) decides to go "into service," as they say. She didn't HAVE to, but it does seem to have been a bit of youthful rebellion against her privileged background (and the fact that her acting career died a-borning).

The book is told in episodic fashion; more or less each chapter deals with a different person or family she worked for. They range widely, from a holy-terror of a fashion designer who shows that "overblown sense of entitlement" is not just a late-20th-century thing, to the sad situation of a family with a dying mother (her illness is never mentioned but it seems to have been TB), to a pair of contentious newlyweds, to an old traditional Manor House, where she winds up embroiled in the servant intrigues, to a family that is almost TOO nice to her....and after them, she decides to quit the business.

A couple of thoughts: I rather hope the people she worked were were either fictionalized into unrecognizably or never read her book (Well, maybe Mr Fashion Designer might have benefited from reading about how he treated the help, but then again, it's my experience that a certain type of person never comes to realize when they are in the wrong). But at times her descriptions and the information she conveys is a bit uncharitable (Note To Self: Remember this in the future when commenting semi-anonymously here about students or colleagues).

I will also note that this (and also Other People's Dirt, a book written by a house-cleaner that I read years ago) is part of the reason why I would choose not to have "help" in - and clean my own house. I'd hate to think of my personal foibles (my tendency to stuff t-shirts and turtlenecks into dresser drawers without folding, the way some unused cabinets have been out-of-sight, out-of-mind for cleaning for a couple years, etc.) becoming fodder for someone to laugh about with their family.

Another thought: in the end, part of the reason she gives it up is that she finds herself becoming increasingly uncharitable in her thoughts about others. I admit, I can see that. My work isn't as demanding or as personal as hers was, but still: I can find myself getting that kind of attitude when I have a particularly challenging class or when I have to deal repeatedly with someone who seems bound and determined to be difficult. (The best solution for this is time away, which is perhaps why I shouldn't feel so guilty about taking time off from time to time)

I also have to admit that it seems interesting to me she'd choose to be a "cook-general." Granted, there were fewer opportunities for women in those days (and she seems to have had a less-directed education than you might need for, say, nursing or teaching). But at times I DID get the sense of "she's slumming, and reveling in the fact that she is" and that was a little uncomfortable.

Also, her tendency to "play roles" - in one instance, she gets herself up as "Plover," an excruciatingly-correct type of maid, because she imagines it is what her prospective employer expects. I'm always amazed when I read stories about people who invent new backstories and such for themselves - aren't they afraid of getting caught? For example, if you say you are from some particular small town in Nebraska, but you aren't....and you run into someone who is FROM that town. Or you claim to someone at a party that you are in a career different from your actual one....and they turn out to be in that very field. (Better, I think, to be honest, but risk people thinking you are boring or something)