Tuesday, December 18, 2007

First Ladies, Sir!

If I were truly a follower of Emily's List I would be writing poems to spur Hilary onward to the presidency. Instead I am loving Barack Obama and John Edwards. I have an irrational desire to see children in the White House: Jack, Emma, and Obama's little girls sliding and running, giggling and cavorting through the various wings. Of course Bill as First Lady tempts me but I am having a running bout of Hilary-As-President Fatigue Syndrome.

I have been reading The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan (1364-1430) . Christine rebutted 14th c. literary misogyny with wonderful stories, lively details of thousands of years of women who ruled fierce tribes, incipient nations, nation-states; women who fought wars, commanded troops, fed poison to their enemies. I seem to remember Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and more recently Victoria, Indira Ghandi, Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Merkel. That's the incomplete list. I fail to feel the novelty of Hilary's run. Alas....

In other news, a lovely woman who interviewed Hilary during the 1992 campaign, Nardi Reeder Campion, died November 29th, at the age of 90, shortly after talking with her editors about her next book. She was a 1938 graduate of Wellesley College, Hilary's alma mater. She lived in Amherst for several years starting in 1970, worked at the Emily Dickinson House, wrote the book that became the Tyrone Power movie, The Long Gray Line(1955). Kudos for a life well lived.

4 comments:

Larry Kelley said...

Since Miss Emily became awfully fond of the Irish in her later years, after early on requesting her brother return to Amherst and kill them because they had blanketed the town like snow from a Nor’ easter, I would be willing to bet a beer she would support Obama.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson said...

Miss Emily is very fond of the young Senator from Illinois. She recommends The Conciliator as worthy reading.

Pat said...

That's Hillary with two l's.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson said...

Hill, not Hil,
Bill, not Bil,
Will, not Wil,

I've got it!

Thank you dear reader