Honoring Our First Ladies

DEBORAH CROMBIE: On President's Day, we thought the women behind the men deserved recognition, too. We have, after all, had some remarkable First Ladies, and I suspect our American story would have been quite different without their influence. It's hard to pick favorites but I will give you two (because I'm going first, and because I couldn't choose between them.)

First, Lady Bird Johnson. Born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas, in 1912. A family nurse called her "pretty as a lady bird" and the nickname stuck. She is best known in Texas for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center  and for her championing of the use of native plants in landscaping, but she was also a fierce advocate for women's rights, lending her support to the War on Poverty and the Equal Rights Amendment.

My second First Lady is another Texan, Barbara Bush, and that choice is very personal--I've met her more than once and admire her enormously. She's witty and warm and charming, she's a huge reader, and she's spent her life doing everything she can to promote literacy.

Reds, do you have a First Lady you admire? Tell us who and why!

INGRID THOFT: My choice would be Hillary Clinton, but Michelle Obama is also at the top of my list.  Hillary was a First Lady who wasn’t afraid to take on health care as her cause, a cause that proved divisive.  However, she didn’t let that deter her from enacting real progress in the form of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (better known as CHIP these days.)  I recently heard Hillary speak, and she pointed to this program as an example of not letting perfection be the enemy of good.  She noted that when universal healthcare was shot down that might have been the end of the push for affordable health insurance for Americans.  However, she decided to work with both Democrats and Republicans to put CHIP into place, and millions of children received insurance as a result.  I admire Hillary for her wisdom, her courage, her strength and her restraint.  When her character has been disparaged again and again, she’s taken the high road (just as Michelle suggested!)

RHYS BOWEN: When I was young I was so impressed with Jackie Kennedy. 

She always looked so perfectly turned out. I admired Barbara Bush for not being afraid to speak her mind and defend her husband. But if I had to pick just one it would be Michelle Obama. What a classy lady! She had the most awful insults hurled at her, words that no person should hear about themselves, and she never once flinched or gave any indication that those words mattered. And in four years she never put a foot wrong. No scandals. Just a clearly loving wife and mother. And her powerful speeches make me wish that she'd decide to run for the office herself!

HALLIE EPHRON: I know so little about former First Ladies. Pat Nixon and her cloth coat. Nancy Reagan and her astrologist. Lady Bird and her billboards. Seemed like being First Lady turned them cardboard cutouts whose main function was to stand by the president and make him look like a human being. I thought Hillary was heroic for trying to remake healthcare. 

In my opinion, no one's done it with as much grace as Michelle Obama. I was smitten by her relationships with Barack and her daughters. And let's not forget the clothes! And easy, given that she got to stand beside a man who made it easy to stand by.

HANK PHILIPPI RYAN:  Can you even imagine? Every single thing you do, or say, or wear. Every single sidelong glance, or closed eyes or lifted eyebrow. Your shoes, your child-rearing, your arms,  the actions of your husband, the books you read and the color of your lipstick, foibles and hobbies and passions. ALL under the microscope every single moment. Are you smart enough, pretty enough, wise enough, patient enough, impatient enough, caring enough, too caring, deferential enough, not deferential enough...Ahhh. I admire them all, absolutely for bearing up under that.

DEBS: Hank, I absolutely agree. I can't imagine how hard it would to subject yourself to that sort of scrutiny and criticism--not to mention the First Ladies who put their own careers on hold!


JENN McKINLAY: Hank, I could never. I swear like a sailor, play pranks with my sons that would be fodder for all the judgy types, and am about as far from a fashionista as a woman can be. Ingrid and Rhys, count me in on the Michelle Obama fan club. I simply adore her. But there is one first lady, who lived before my time, whose words echo in my head with great regularity. Eleanor Roosevelt. She said, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." I turn to this quote in times of self doubt and it has always guided me through it. 

LUCY BURDETTE: This was my comment too, Hank, only you said it so much more eloquently. Serving as First Lady is an impossible job. You didn't choose the job. You aren't being paid for it. Your freedom to live a normal life is gone. And if you don't adore your husband or agree with his positions, you sure better be a good actress!

That said, I loved Michelle's grace and dignity and sense of humor, and admire many other of these women, as well. It's been interesting to go on several tours of the Little White House here in Key West as research for DEATH ON THE MENU. Harry Truman spent a lot of time here--and did important work here too, often with other government figures and the press in attendance. But Bess Truman did not love it, so she often didn't come. And that didn't seem to bother anyone! Can you imagine that happening these days?

DEBS: Lucy, I was so sorry I didn't get to see the Truman White House when I visited Key West. I can't wait to read DEATH ON THE MENU so I'll be up to snuff the next time!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm going to go back in time a bit - a hundred years, to be exact. I've always been fascinated by Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the second wife of Woodrow Wilson. Edith was the widow of a socially prominent but somewhat inept businessman when she was introduced to the also-widowed Wilson. She was forty-three and he was fifty-nine and they fell deeply in love, despite a swirl of rumors that they must have been having an affair before Ellen Wilson's death (some even speculated that the two had done away with the first Mrs. Wilson - clearly the Alex Jones conspiracy-monger types aren't a new phenomenon.)

Edith was prepared for the sort of social hostessing First Ladies were called upon to perform; what she got instead was WWI. She flung herself into supporting the effort (and setting an example) with "gasless Sundays, meatless Mondays, and wheatless Wednesdays" at the White House. In a move that may remind you of Michelle Obama, she set a flock of sheep to graze on the White House grounds, to free up the manpower mowing took, and then had the sheared fleeces auctioned off to benefit the Red Cross.

But she's best known for what she tried to most keep under wraps - stepping in for her husband after he suffered a devastating stroke in 1919. From then until the end of his term in 1921, she read every legislative paper and piece of correspondence sent to the president, dealt with the ones she didn't think her husband needed to bother with, and condensed the rest into easy-to-digest summaries to suit Wilson's weakened condition. She always described herself as a mere steward for her husband's work, but members of the Executive branch tacitly acknowledged she was, in reality, running the show.

She was politically active in the Democratic Party for the rest of her life. Born in the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, she was an honored guest at JFK's inauguration, and died at the ripe old age of 89 in 1961. Hurrah for Edith Wilson!

DEBS: Julia, I love this story about Edith Wilson! I had no idea! I was  hoping we'd learn some things we didn't know about First Ladies, and I had great fun hunting up the photos.

READERS, do you have any great stories about First Ladies to share?

Pantsuits and pussy bows

HALLIE EPHRON: Confession, I wore my first pantsuit with a blouse that had a pussy bow. I was in college and, like everything else, we thought we invented them.

My pantsuit was pale blue, made of a stretchy material (polyester?) that retained body odor. Now that I think of it, it was actually more akin to a leisure suit than a power suit Ironically that same year I was wearing mini-dresses that barely covered my butt.
Women weren't allowed to wear pantsuits on the Senate floor until 1993. We owe it to Senator Barbara Mikulski (Senator (D) from Maryland since 1987) and Senator Carol Moseley Braun (Senator (D) from Illinois, 1993-1999) for defying that rule.

Did you wear pantsuits, and were you making a "statement" when you did?

RHYS BOWEN: First confession: I've never worn a pussy bow in my life. And now I never will. Never. Ever.

But I have always loved pantsuits. I remember my first, clearly. It was pale beige (and those of you who know me will comment that I have not become more adventurous with color over the years). I bought it at our local department store in England in 1968. After years of cold legs while standing at bus stops in skirts during the English winter I thought it was heaven. Unfortunately I don't think I have a picture of it. But I do have one of a more recent beige pant outfit.

LUCY BURDETTE: I have at least four nice pantsuits in my closet in Connecticut. The oldest vintage is black wool with thin white pin stripes--it's a three-piece, including matching vest. I can't for the life of me remember why I bought it or where I was going to wear it. But I've kept it in the event I'm invited to a gangster party...it would be perfect!

Aside from that one, my first events as a mystery author were all conducted in pantsuits. Here are two photos. 

The first was in 2005 at the fabulous, now defunct Quail Ridge Books in North Carolina. The second took place in the Scranton Library in Madison CT.

You are in that photo Hallie, along with Kristan Higgins and Maddie Dawson. I think you must have been thinking: "What is up with that outfit?"

As for pussy bows, no. Just no.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  My last pantsuit was in 1968. No, 1967. I got it on Carnaby Street.  I LOVED IT.  It was purple wool, with a sleek double breasted longish jacket and purple wool slim bellbottoms. It was AWESOME.  I wish I still had it, just to look at it, but I think I wore it so much I wore it out.

I also, ahem, had a pantsuit of lavender linen. The pants were hot pants.  It was 1970. I wore it to a wedding (very successfully!) and then somehow it disappeared. I wasn't living at home, then, or I would have accused my mother of swiping it.  For my own good. But I loved it.

But now--I haven't worn a pantsuit since then....well, I had a gorgeous one, actually maybe in the 90s? Navy blue, Ralph Lauren, very elegant. That too, is gone, I think consigned.

However. Pussycat bows. Yes, as a young reporter, they were de rigueur.  Here's a TV publicity photo of me in ...1975.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: I don't remember ever having a pantsuit when I was younger. I didn't have jobs that required a suit-y look, which probably tells you something about my income level...

I did buy a pantsuit in 2007, however, when I was invited to speak at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. I'd just had knee surgery and was still bandaged up, so a skirt suit was not an option. Included in the book festival (which was wonderful!) was a tour of the White House. Here I am in one of the rooms in the East Wing. 

If I ever had a blouse with a pussycat bow, I have conveniently forgotten it.
 
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Finally, Hank, a place where our styles intersect. My mother bought me a hot pants pantsuit from Carnaby Street in '69. I loved that thing - I was definitely the coolest girl in 4th grade. Mom, who was much more of a sixties fashionista than you would think of an Army officer's wife, had her own cool pantsuits, at least one with a groovy maxi-vest.

Carnaby Street was my first and last venture into the field, however. When I was working at a nonprofit in DC in the early eighties, it was all about the skirt suits, and even then, due to the "more casual" nature of a museum, most of mine were mix and match rather than the same coat and skirt.

I did have several pussy bow blouses, though, with YUGE shoulder pads. I liked to tie them in an ascot, and I had a whole collection of stickpins I'd put in to hold the stock in place.

I have to say, I really liked Hillary Clinton's tunic-top-and-pants pantsuits. They were somehow both more feminine than the old style pantsuits AND more authoritative. Super pulled-together, but also comfortable. I hope we start seeing more of that style offered in stores.

HALLIE: Share your pantsuit and hot pants pantsuit memories. Did you see wearing it as making a statement, and is there a pantsuit in your future?

Rhys has a little Rant!

RHYS BOWEN: Okay sorry but this is going to be a minor rant.

I’ve just returned from a few book events around the country and something annoying happened to me on a regular basis: an agent at the airport or rental car center or hotel would look at me, then the man standing ahead or behind me and ask, “Are you together?”  When I go into an upscale restaurant I’ve been asked, “Are you waiting for someone?”  As if shocked that a woman of a certain age should dare to eat alone.

I bet.a man standing in line has NEVER been asked “are you together” indicating a lady standing behind him. I was once standing in line for a rental car. Although an agent appeared to be free I was not called forward. Eventually I asked if the agent wasn't free. "Oh, I thought you'd be with that gentleman," he replied. It never crossed his mind that I was alone, and was going to have the audacity to take a car out, by myself.

(And in case you think I look like a little old lady when I travel, here are some recent pix. With me in the fur coat is Robin Burcell)

As I’ve been watching the election and the Olympics and being bombarded with sexual stereotyping (Hilary raises her voice and she’s screeching. A male raises his voice and he’s being assertive). Female athletes have their appearance commented on all the time.. Do you ever hear the commentator say of a male volleyball player,  “He’s looking hunky today?” And what about the one athlete whose headline read “Wife of Chicago Bulls Player wins gold.” Never mentioning her name or her sport.

Well, I’ve decided not to take it any more. Each time I was asked if I was with someone I’ve replied, “ Is it now against the law for a woman over fifty to travel alone?”

And when they ask in that restaurant if I’m waiting for someone I reply, “Only if I get lucky” 

And I’ve found a way to make sure I get good service after that. I never take the first table I am offered, especially if it’s near the rear or the kitchen. I say “I prefer to sit over here, thank you” and walk over to the nicest table. And as soon as I sit I say “I’m on business and I don’t have long. Please send over the somelier with your wine list” and I order something unpronounceable (or at least something that I can pronounce and most people can’t). Then the word goes out that I might be difficult and the service is excellent!

So let’s take a stand, dear Reds of a certain age. Let them know that just because we are older women we do not sit at home crocheting, or go out playing bingo. And we don’t need a man to travel with!

Do share your stories! Have you experienced the same kind of put downs?

At least we writers have one secret weapon. When someone particularly annoys me I take a good look at them and think, "Careful or you'll wind up dead in my next book!"

Small Plates and Big Names

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It’s college reunion time, and so many of my pals are talking about theirs. My college, Western College for Women in Oxford Ohio, doesn’t exist any more, so reunions don’t, either.  (As far as I know. Yikes, maybe they’re not inviting me? )

Anyway. Reunions are not just a way to see how everyone turned out, they’re a poignant and fascinating time to remember, um, the way we were. And think about what we wish we had known and what we wish we had done—or, hadn’t done, ahem—and connect with the women ahead of us and behind us.

The amazing Katherine Hall Page went to her reunion last weekend. And so did some incredibly interesting and high-profile pals of hers, as you will read below. (Whoa.)

Katherine has a book of short stories out, what, today? Which is serendipitous, because according to Katherine, “What are you reading?” was a hot topic among the women at the reunion.  (And KHP was not the only reunion-attendee with a new book….)

You’ll be fascinated to hear who Katherine was hanging out with last weekend. And at the end, KHP she poses a very provocative question. (And we’re giving a copy of her wonderful  SMALL PLATES to one lucky commenter!)

KATHERINE HALL PAGE:  I could talk about my new book, Small Plates (Wm Morrow), which is a collection of short stories and a novella, but instead I’m going rogue. Do please get the book in whatever way you favor: library, online store, bricks-and-mortar store, eBook, audio etc. Small Plates is a book I have wanted to do for a long time and, although I find writing short fiction much more difficult than writing a full-length novel, it was a wonderful experience. Some of the stories do not mention Faith Fairchild, my series sleuth, or even much food at all.

Katherine now

So—I spent the weekend at my Wellesley reunion and the experience is filling my thoughts this morning (plus I am wearing my favorite Wellesley tee shirt: “It’s Not A Girls’ School Without Men/It’s A Women’s College Without Boys.”).

 Women make up 70% of the book buyers in this country, which adds up to a helluva lot of books. Of course we give some of them to the men and boys we know; but mostly we are buying them for ourselves to read. That’s what we do. We read. It may be Nora Roberts or Nora Ephron (one classmate had grabbed an audio book for the drive thinking it was the latter and has now, to her delight, discovered someone new).

Katherine at Wellesley

Books came up often over the weekend. Madeleine Albright  ’59 gave a very funny, very wise talk about her wonderful new book, Read My Pins. My long time friend and classmate, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Hard Choices went on sale Tuesday (it’s a page turner-fantastic book, get it!) and she was on campus reuning with our class. It was great to see her. And yes, she loved Small Plates, mentioning me as one of her favorite contemporary authors in this Sunday’s “By The Book” in the NYTBR.

The question “What are you reading?” was asked over and over as friends reconnected. The Goldfinch was the clear winner, but many people spoke of their comfort reads. A class of a certain age, as we are, is definitely in need of those. Jane Austen came in first, followed by Dame Agatha—and many childhood favorites: A Secret Garden, and yes—Little Women.

When I got home I looked at the stack on the table next to my bed—I have always read a few books at once, dipping into what my mood, or need, demands. I’m almost finished with Jo Nesbø’s Cockroaches, and well into: The Road to San Giovanni, Italo Calvino; Offshore, Penelope Fitzgerald; another favorite Penelope-Penelope Lively, How It All Began; and a frequent reread: Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking, and More Home Cooking. I read a ton of chick lit, mostly British chick lit, and I suppose these are truly my comfort reads. Katie Fforde, Sophie Kinsella (aka Madeleine Wickham), Elizabeth Buchan, India Knight, Jill Mansell, Helen Fielding, Jane Green, Marian Keyes—I could go on and on. Just take me to Harvey Nichols to pick out a posh frock or a cottage in the Cotswolds with a handsome stranger down the lane whom you hate at first, but then…and I’m there.

We read. We read to escape. To learn. To imagine. To forget. To remember.

We read for the sheer love of it.

HANK: So—let’s say you were at a college reunion—what would you tell a newbie about what to read? What you wish you had read? Or what didn’t matter? (I came late, and happily, to Edith Wharton. They MADE me read Ethan Frome, which I hated back then. Now, I am Edith’s biggest devotee.)

What didn’t matter in college? Ah. Well, I wasn’t much for actually going to class, but I wouldn’t recommend that.   

What I’m glad I read? Easy. Shakespeare. (And Our Bodies, Our Selves.)

How about you?  And don’t forget…SMALL PLATES to one lucky commenter.

  

AND THE WINNER:  of  TERMINAL CITY  is PlumGaga!  Email me via my  website Http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com with your mailing address!

  

TOMORROW ON JUNGLE RED: Are you a cat person? Or a dog person? Would anything change your mind? Edgar nominee Steve Ulfelder confesses. 

Katherine Hall Page is the author of twenty-one adult mysteries in the Faith Fairchild series and five for younger readers. She received the Agatha for Best First (The Body in the Belfry), Best Novel (The Body in the Snowdrift), and Best Short Story (The Would-Be Widower). She has been nominated for the Edgar, the Mary Higgins Clark Award, the Macavity, and the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She has also published a series cookbook, Have Faith in Your Kitchen, which was nominated for an Agatha. A native of New Jersey, she lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.

www.katherine-hall-page.org

On Wearing Our Miles Well...

AND THE WINNERS ARE:
Congratulations! Copies of the gorgeous new trade paperback edition of Julia Spencer-Fleming's "In the Bleak Midwinter" are going to (drum roll, please!) Pat Marinelli, Lora in Florida, Deb Romano! Send your address to julia "at" juliaspencerfleming dot com.

And BE SURE TO CHECK IN TOMORROW when we'll be giving away an EARLY copy of Lucy Burdette's "Death in Four Courses" (pub date 9/4/2012).
HALLIE EPHRON: She's always been an overachiever. This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially set a record traveling to 102 countries, 843,839 miles. 

Over these last years seems like she's earned admiration, or at least grudging respect, for sheer stamina and dogged determination. An endless stream of photos show her looking serious, vexed, exhausted, intense...  rarely coiffed and smoothed and always looking her age, showing every one of those frequent flyer miles.

She's 64. She could paraphrase Gloria Steinem's famous line (in response to when a reporter told Steinem that she didn't look 40): “This is what 64 looks like. We’ve been lying for so long, who would know?” Recounting the moment later, Steinem added, "Age really was a great penalty for women."

I cheer a woman who is aging in the public spotlight and wonder if finally age can be out in the open. Maybe. Hillary reminds me of Hank's Charlie McNally ("Prime Time" etc.) who, Hank likes to say, is trying to figure out what she's going to do when the camera doesn't love her any more. 

It strikes me that Hillary has figured it out.

Here's a "now and then" of a few prominent women, still in the public eye (it was hard to find that many), who don't seem to be hiding their age.

Who would you add?

NOW...

THEN...