Gift of Magi
She was mulling a few names for the book she was writing. “Becoming a Person,” “Trappings of Housewifery,” and others.
“The Ungluing: Why Does a Woman Take Second Place in Her Own Life?” was the one she settled on.
Nobody ever told my mom, Magi, what a great writer she was. I wish she had had that kind of validation from others (besides me, her eldest daughter). She carried on with her work anyway, enlisting the help of a woman who could help her publish the book, Phyllis Lublin.
And what was this work?
Magi wanted to save the world.
Today, I pulled out her sheafs of yellow sheets, sporadically stapled and in the kind of order that seems like it was dumped out of a small plane during a windstorm, gathered up in armfuls, then stacked together as I now find them.
So I take a deep breath and begin removing staples and scanning every page. As I glance through some of her writings, I see how brilliant she was, how ahead of her time, how much of a humanist and philosopher, and like Van Gogh, not fully appreciated while she was still on the earth. In fact, her ideas met with rejection by many who simply didn’t have the chops to understand her.
I think to myself, maybe these writings actually CAN save the world. We find ourselves in quite a pickle today (2023) as the balance of power seems heavily tilted to men who are not doing a very good job of it. Time to equally include women, natural nurturers, at the helm.
Then I think, these notes she left behind are are a true gift to humanity. Thus, my new segment, Gift of Magi.
Why is Y Crooked? - by Magi
I read everything I could get my hands on so I could learn. I was always questioning, so I was always looking for answers. In fact, I poured myself into every situation I’ve ever been in. And now I must pour myself out! Why is a Y crooked?
Why is a Y crooked?
I don’t know.
You see, women were the power in this country in the beginning. They shared equally in the pioneering of the land. They were, in fact, more than equal. They helped clear the land and build the house and they had the baby, too. But today, the appearance of women has become one of weakness. Was refinement a causative factor?
My grannie. . . she was German and hardly five feet tall-- was disgruntled at women and that was thirty-five years ago (1939). I remember it like it was yesterday. She couldn't understand why women pampered themselves so much after childbirth. “I can't understand why women paint themselves so much,” she would tell me. She had her baby in the field, wrapped it in her big white apron, and continued down the field. She would hoe and rake, because they had to finish before sundown, and then she took care of the newborn.
Can you imagine that!
- What happened to women between then and now?
We progressed! We got super refined. . . like sugar. Some of us got so cultured. We forgot the organic. In fact, we've got commercial shit because it didn't stink so much, and we call it fertilizer. And now, when I go back to my organics, when I fertilize everybody. . . they call it foul language, everybody's scandalized. Do you know I don't get invited to too many parties anymore? In fact, they make rules to keep me out! But that's okay.
The few friends I have are the salt of the earth--- and if that salt gets insipid, we're all in a heap of trouble!
Well, people don't have to think because it's all done for them by the idiot box (television). It tells them what to eat and what to think. And it makes mama look like an idiot because she comes through as a nice thoughtful lady who smiles and serves proper food at the proper time from the beautiful kitchen and the smiles on the faces of the children tell you she’s loved! And—when a woman yells at her kids because they're not smiling and telling her she's the best thing that ever happened to them, she comes out smelling like a…….… she comes out smelling!
But people do think they are thinking for themselves. It’s the new concept in advertising. I see it in commercials everywhere. "At the Burger King, you can have it your way."
Well, sure, they program you to believe that if somebody gives you the chance to leave the pickles off your sandwich, that's individuality! But try to get the pickles put back on at a posher restaurant, and they tell you it's $500 extra!
###