The "On It" Edition
Dear Readers,
After a brief trans-Atlantic trip, am currently pondering:
Should there be optional gender-separated seating on airplanes? My line of inquiry is spurred by the 6 1/2 hour West-to-East overnight flight to Europe. And almost even more-so by the ~8-hour day-time return. The snoring! The phlegmy, snort-themselves-awake (for a split second) cacophony was unbearable. Kadoos to the gent who brought his full-face CPAP machine onboard!
The related question is, is it ever—ever?!—okay to touch (or in this case poke, jostle, elbow, push, shove) a cabin-mate? Or is akin to the “never touch my kid in the playground no matter what s/he is doing or I’ll kill you” rule?
Sidebar—is it ever okay to reach across a person to turn off their silent but brightly blaring, strobing, seizure-inducing TV screen which is harassing my eyeballs while the hawking-loogies-in-their-sleep-person is not, indeed, watching?
Well aside from that, it was successful trip. No other poking invasion of personal space necessary anywhere along the way. Come to think of it, not true. I did have to stage an intervention with my own suitcase.
There was a very, very long line to clear immigration on the way out of Amsterdam. To me, common sense line etiquette (and maybe physics and the time-space continuum) says that being 6-12 inches closer to the person in front of you might get you Covid faster but it is not going to get you to the front of the line. Well the man behind me did not share that view. And neither did his stomach! Which is the thing that was so far out in front of him that it hit me in the back even though his feet were a good two feet away. Gross! After 4 or 5 times, my harrumphs and generally displeased looks seemed to have no effect. So I positioned my roller-bag further and further away behind me. Amazingly, his stomach bumped the handle of the bag and it rolled and bumped the back of my knees a couple of more times. Finally, the now ludicrous several feet that separated my Tumi and his Tummy agreed to their restraining order and I got to my surly Immigration officer without further bumper-car effect.
Maybe it’s the quick-turnaround jet lag that has me so gendered-ly grumpy. So read this gendered news of the week in review, spanning Politics, Business, Health, Pop Culture, The Arts and more. Maybe, something to laugh at, or with. Possibly, something to annoy you, but hopefully not as much as the snorers or stomach-jostler.
Despite all the complaining, if you aren’t already a subscriber, you should be.
If you have a story you think I may have missed or something to share with me, please still do, at LZSundayPaper@gmail.com. BIG THANKS to those who submitted many recent articles.
And if you’d like to tell a friend about the Paper, please do!:
Oh, I just realized. It’s SANTA-CON. Annoyance: cause or effect? You be the judge.
LZ
The Pic(k) of the Week:
Revering The Earth, Colombian Artist Delcy Morelos Brings It to Chelsea via The New York Times
POLITICS:
Texas Supreme Court Blocks Woman From Having Ememrgency Aborion Despie Fatal Fetal Diagnosis via Vanity Fair
BUSINESS & TECH:
’What A Strange Tale:’ Tech Conference Canceled After Execs Flee Report Of Fake Women Speakers via Fortune
JURISPRUDENCE:
Hundreds Of Rapists Could Be Roaming Free After Cops Fail To Collect Rape Kits via The New York Post
CAMPUS CLIMATE:
Why The White House Targeted Those Three Presidents via Inside Higher Ed
What Would Sandra Day O’Connor Have Though About Affirmative Action For Men? via The New Yorker
He Moved Into His Daughter’s Dorm and Acted Like A Cult Leader. Abused Students Now Suing College via The AP
PREGNANCY & PARENTING:
Nobody Told Me About ‘Mom Feet’ via The Atlantic
THE ARTS & POP CULTURE:
In Hollywood, It’s The Golden Age Of The Creepy Woman via The Wall Street Journal
The Only Girl In The Orchestra via The New York Times
Dolly Parton Salutes Rock & Roll via The New Yorker
Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’ Soars To #1— After 65 Years via NPR
Books: The Late, Great Theodora Keogh via The Paris Review
OBITUARIES:
Colette Maze, Who Started Recording In Her 80s Dies At 109 via The New York Times
Isabella de la Houssaye, Athlete Who Endured Against The Odds, Dies at 59 via The New York Times
…AND WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT…?:
The Long Blue Line: 50 Years Of Women’s Service In The Regular Coast Guard via The United States Coastguard Department Of Homeland Security