Worth Reading
Posted on September 22nd, 2014 in Uncategorized | No Comments »
In the New York Times, Elizabeth Wurtzel says that the reason she didn’t get married till 47 was because she was too emotionally topsy-turvy and was also drawn to bad boys.
I wanted to love and be loved, but I behaved badly, and I had terrible taste. All the people who say they want to be married, but are not, are doing the same thing. All the statistics about how hard it is to find someone to love in this world — in this world of seven billion — do not account for the choices we make. We are the sum of our decisions: It’s not that luck has nothing to do with it, but rather, there is no such thing.
It is difficult to write a published book. It is difficult to get tenure in the astrophysics department at Berkeley. It is difficult to win the Heisman Trophy. But it is easy to get married: about 90 percent of Americans still do at some time in their lives. No self-help industry is required. People who want to get married stop behaving like fools for love and start acting intelligently. It is as simple as wanting to be happy.
Cue Internet outrage.
Also in the Times, the Rockefeller family—descendants of an oil magnate—have announced that the family foundation will divest from fossil fuels to invest in alternative energy. What do you say to that, Drew Faust?
And two of the Times’ columnists have some terrific writing. (You won’t hear me say that a lot.)
Charles Blow recounts the story of how he came to terms with being raped and being bisexual. It’s a pretty gutsy piece of writing.
And Paul Krugman writes about how the GOP continues to blame the unemployed for their lack of employment.
I didn’t set out to mention only articles from the New York Times, but I am reminded that this is why, frustrating though the paper can sometimes be, it is a remarkable institution.