BESIDE MYSELF: March 2006

Mencken was right

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken,
writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

JohnEdwards.com

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I'm Roberta Morris. Maybe you've met me, but don't recognize me. No one does these days, because I keep making rather dramatic changes to my hair. I've recently given up blonde and reverted to my natural brunette in what I'm calling my "Christianne Amanpour Lookalike" phase.

In the course of a very odd career, I've been a freelance journalist and copywriter, an English teacher, the owner of a small ad agency, a social activist, the manager of a huge corporate Web site, and a fundraiser. I've lived in Rhode Island, Manhattan, rural Massachusetts, lower Westchester, and suburban New Jersey.

In this incarnation, I'm a resident of Chapel Hill, NC, where I've installed myself and my cat in a sweet little condo with a fenced garden and gates that open onto what they call a lake. In reality, it's a large pond inhabited mostly by carnivorous turtles, raucous geese, and a few haphazardly hybridized ducks. One horrible day, I actually watched the first of these attack and consume one of the last. It wasn't pretty.

These days I pretend to be semi-retired, but I'm actually freelancing as a writer, Web author/designer, and editor. If I can help you with this sort of thing,

IsThatLegal When he was a freshman at Brown, I told Eric Muller he'd be a law professor when he grew up. I was right.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Photoshop addicts

Some people have an awful lot of time on their hands. Take a look at these politicians in drag.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

A new world indeed

I'm watching CNN, where Wolf Blitzer (clearly Jewish) is interviewing the economic minister of the United Arab Emirates. She is a Sheikha, well spoken, beautifully made up and groomed, her head covered in a way that can only be described as chic.

In the middle of the N&D sports section you'll find three entire pages of coverage of the ACC women's basketball championships.

Back in the 60's, having been brought to consciousness by Betty Friedan (the mother of us all, perhaps), we dreamt of women flying planes, running corporations, wearing clothes that didn't constrict our bodies. I don't think we could have envisioned today.

But the struggle isn't over, not by a long shot. In two states, there are now statutes that strip women of the reproductive freedoms for which we fought so hard. I've felt, for a while, that preserving our progress was up to a new generation of women - but today I'm not so sure of that. All of us may have to join the battle again.

It reminds me of my neighbor's T-shirt:

"I am woman. I am strong. I am invincible. I am tired."