between college and marriage

 

Jacqueline Bouvier at George Washington University

I got to thinking about my blog - and thought, recently I was discussing the book Camera Girl here, and maybe I didn't really start at the beginning with that, I just jumped right in.

        It occurred to me some readers might wonder, "Why is this blog calling the First Lady of the United States (1961 - 1963) a "Camera Girl"?

Jacqueline Bouvier worked at the Washington Times-Herald newspaper, 1951 - 1953.  She was assigned to do a column titled Inquiring Camera Girl -- she did random "man-on-the-street" interviews, asking a human-interest style question for the person to give their opinion on, and taking their photograph for the paper.

        That's where the "camera girl" label came from.

-30-

four billion dollars

 

Kim Novak and James Stewart in Vertigo 

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 movie Vertigo is difficult for me.

Confusing, and -- 'Wait -- what happened?'

I was planning to watch it again -- try again.

And then got the idea to look on You Tube and see if there are videos analyzing the movie, to tell me what I should notice and how to understand it.

There is a good, long video with commentary on the film by William Friedkin -- I didn't know he was still living -- he directed The Exorcist -- (I guess I thought maybe he scared himself to death with his own movie....)

_______________________________

Also on You Tube -- here is your chance to see a great film for free! - The Third Man is on there--amazing!

        The original in black-and-white, plus someone has colorized it and that version is there, too!

----------------------------------------------------------

more Reader Comments under the NYT guest essay,

In Israel, the Worst May Be Yet to Come

by Adam Shinar

Terence

Canada

The contrast between the active Israeli populace over a Supreme Court issue, and the total passivity of the US populace in their own situation, is remarkable.  And the main reason why one is so pessimistic about the eventual collapse of the United States into anarchy.

Geoff

Brooklyn, NY

Terence - Well, voters in the US handed Trump and Trumpism political defeats in 2018, 2020, 2022 and various special elections in which voters were highly activated and engaged.

Our work isn't done.  The photos of demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are beautiful and they make for great social media sharing.  But they're powerless.

        The US remains a democracy (for now).  Israel is sliding into full-on theocracy.  We aren't remaining a democracy through passivity.

Matthew Rose

Paris, France

Would Biden withhold the $4 billion the U.S. annually supplies to the Israeli military?  It seems unlikely.  The larger question of why some countries are turning towards right wing authoritarianism, and in many cases religious theocracies, is troubling.

        Perhaps as humanity embraces science in all aspects of life it also seems to want a band aid of religion to answer its anxiety.  Problem is:  Religion is the cause of anxiety.

kizilbash

Allentown, Pennsylvania

We have a constitution in the US yet we are facing similar problems.  A constitution is only as good as the character of the people using it.

just Robert

North Carolina

The power grabs by Netanyahu in Israel are a foretaste of what our country will become if Trump is allowed back in the White House.  

Netanyahu has been indicted for corruption just as Trump has been.  

And it seems that the weakening of the Judiciary in Israel is ultimately meant to shield Netanyahu from further prosecution, something that our own former president longs to do as he tries to keep himself out of jail.

Drspock

New York

The worst is yet to come?  If you're Palestinian and live in Jenin the worst happens every day.

Make no mstake, the right wing coalition that controls the Knesset does not bode well for democracy in Israel.  But democracy in Israel, present or past, has not boded well for the Palestinians.

To be fair there are elements in the West Bank that believe that it's still 1948 and their intent is to eliminate Israel.

But the current government of Israel believes that it's 1967, and they are prepared to complete their military victory with full annexation of the West Bank.

And it's not as if the Israeli Supreme Court has ever been a defender of the rights of Palestinians.  Now they may not even be able to defend the rights of Israeli Jews.

But the US concern for the future of democracy in Israel is only for its Jewish citizens.  That's not democracy.  Nor is it an adherence to principles of human rights.

It's hard to even describe the US position because it's a non-position.  But it is an opportunity.

The US could say, we have supported Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East.  But if that changes, so will our level of support.

And if the policies of ethnic cleansing continue, our level of support will also significantly diminish.

It's time for Israel to seriously consider a one state, democratic solution to its conflict with the Palestinians.

Either incorporate them as full citizens, or return to the green line and let them go.

Annexation and democracy cannot coexist.

_____________________________

-30-

opening the door to corruption

 

"Jerusalem Evening"

In yesterday's New York Times Opinion section, a guest essay by Adam Shinar:

In Israel, the Worst May Be Yet to Come

--------------------- [excerpt] ------------------ TEL AVIV -- Many Israelis are bracing for what comes next.  Anger over a bill that eliminates the courts' power to overturn government and ministerial decisions on grounds of reasonableness, and the constitutional overhaul of which it is part, had set off huge protests for seven months.

Just before the bill's passage on Monday, more than 1,100 air force reservists, including more than 400 pilots, declared that they would refuse to turn up for duty if the legislation was approved.

In the aftermath of the vote, tens of thousands of protesters, in a collective cry of rage, blocked highways, shut down major intersections, and confronted a police force intent on dispersing them with horses, water cannons and brute force.  Dozens were arrested.

As the bill cleared Parliament 64-0 -- all 56 opposition members walked out to boycott the vote -- petitions challenging the legislation were quickly submitted to the Supreme Court in the hope that it would strike down the new law.  That hope, however, may be dashed.

All the proposed components of the overhaul -- a concerted effort to entrench the government's hold on power -- are amendments to the Basic Laws, the body of legislation that serves as Israel's de facto constitution.

...The new law certainly does damage to Israel's democracy -- for example, it opens the door to corruption -- but whether the court will determine it denies the democratic nature of the state is very much an open question. --------------------------------------- [end / New York Times excerpt]

("Opening the door to corruption" is what our U.S. Supreme Court did with its Citizens United decision, allowing corporations to give unlimited money to politicians.)

------------------------------ reader comment:

Bruce Rozenblit

Kansas City, MO

There was a time in both America and Israel where conservatism meant individual liberty, freedom from government interference, and religious liberty.  Now conservatism means authoritarian centralized power, government mandates on people's personal lives, imposition of religious edicts and ethnonationalism.

The old conservatism was based in principles of democracy.  The new conservatism is based in totalitarianism which is a fancy term for a dictatorship, underpinned by a specific religiosity.  In America that religiosity is evangelical Christianity.  In Israel it is ultra orthodox Judaism.

Israel was forged from the fires of murderous ethnonationalism.  It is painful to see how that which birthed it is taking over its society.

As in America, minority rule is the gateway.  In Israel, coalitions were formed to gain a majority which gives outsized power to the minority.  In America, gerrymandering, the Senate, the filibuster, the electoral college give outsized power to the minority.

In Israel, the shift to authoritarian power is the result.  In America, this same process is unfolding with the rise of Trump and the assault on individual liberty.  We should really stop calling these people conservatives or even ultra conservatives.  They are undemocratic totalitarians.  They seek dictatorial power.

____________________________

-30-

tonic to the chronic

 

books written by Carl Sferrazza Anthony:

First Ladies:  The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power, 1789-1990 (two volumes)

As We Remember Her:  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends

Florence Harding:  The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President

America's First Families:  An Inside View of 200 Years of Private Life in the White House

The Kennedy White House:  Family Life and Pictures, 1961-1963

This Elevated Position:  A Catalog and Guide to the National First Ladies' Library and the Importance of First Lady History

Nellie Taft:  The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era

Ida McKinley:  The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady Through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability

Camera Girl:  The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy

--------------------------------------------

Maureen Dowd wrote a short essay about Camera Girl in the New York Times - one reader commented:

        "Thinking about the class and sophistication of Jacqueline Bouvier is most certainly a tonic to the chronic coarseness which has come to epitomize almost every aspect of our society these days."

-30-

camera girl

 

        That little excerpt quoted here yesterday -- when I looked back at the part Miss Bouvier wrote -- "I just can't tell you what it is like to come down from the mountains of Grenoble..." -- I noticed how she used the word "blazing" twice.

        The experience of being there was powerful and energizing, to her:

        ...this flat, blazing plain...

        ...palm trees with blazing red flowers...

        "I just can't tell you what it is like to come down from the mountains of Grenoble to this flat,

blazing

plain where seven-eighths of all you see is hot blue sky--and there are rows of poplars at the edge of every field to protect the crops from the mistral and spiky short palm trees with 

blazing

red flowers growing...."

        And then the final two sentences:

"They are always happy as they live in the sun and love to laugh.  It was heartbreaking to only get such a short glimpse of it all--I want to go back and soak it all up."

She imagines, gazing upon the scenic beauty, that those people living there are "always happy."  It's a fantasy -- an idyll.  Someplace where people are "always happy."

        She writes that the people are always happy because they "live in the sun"...(surely they have houses)...but to her, they seem to be always happy, and always "in the sun."

And right after writing that the people there are always happy, she says "it was heartbreaking" to only see it for a short time.

And then the desire to "go back and soak it all up."

The wonderful, happy, beautiful time was too short.  It was so great, for her, but yet she is already heartbroken, because she didn't have more of it.

Such a riot of feeling -- of emotion.

("Blazing" emotions, perhaps?)

_____________________________

The book is Camera Girl, just published this year.  The author is Carl Sferrazza Anthony--he has written a bunch of books about American First Ladies, and also was a speechwriter for Nancy Reagan.

What an historian!

What a career!

Camera Girl is about Jacqueline Bouvier's young-adult years and experiences, going from college and early jobs to her wedding to John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1953.

For me, it's really interesting, because in recent years after reading relaxedly and pretty much uncritically through several books about "Jackie" I kind of started to realize that mostly these were somewhat hack-ish, they basically just repeated and re-worked about a dozen different anecdotes that were in every Jackie took, and in many of the JFK books too.

Some of the books would emphasize Jackie's clothes, some would try to make "drama".  And after a while, you just wonder what it is you're really reading.

I longed for a better book.

This one answers that desire.  A whole, full-length book that's about what she did and wrote and learned, in the space of four years.

87 pages at the end are

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Less B.S., more scholarship.

-30-

always happy

 

----------------- [excerpt from Camera Girl, by Carl Sferrazza Anthony] ------------------------------ In a new world, on her own, Jacqueline Bouvier finally had the distance to think.  

Even when she'd sat silently or looked away, Mummy had demanded to know "what are you thinking."  

If she got no satisfactory answer, she snapped about her daughter "escaping into that wild imagination."  

During her time in France, both parents still sought to dictate her life, even remotely by airmail letters. 

In none of her responses did she express a longing for home--or them.

        With peace to think, she began composing vivid travelogues in her letters home, like one she wrote after exploring a nearby mountain range:

        "I just can't tell you what it is like to come down from the mountains of Grenoble to this flat, blazing plain where seven-eighths of all you see is hot blue sky--and there are rows of poplars at the edge of every field to protect the crops from the mistral and spiky short palm trees with blazing red flowers growing at their feet.  

The people here speak with the lovely twang of the 'accent du Midi.'  

They are always happy as they live in the sun and love to laugh.  It was heartbreaking to only get such a short glimpse of it all--I want to go back and soak it all up."

-30-

we are all complicit

 

Under a news story about the Long Island serial killer suspect arrested last week, a reader in Bee Cave, Texas wrote:

Left unsaid in all of this is the role that Suffolk County voters played in this tragedy - they elected Mr. Spota to four terms as the DA, and it was Mr. Spota who covered up for an abusive and incompetent Police Chief, Mr. Burke.

Does anyone think that this was an isolated incident with Mr. Spota, that he wasn't a corrupting influence on policing in Suffolk County for years?  And why didn't anyone notice?

It isn't just Suffolk County voters (and residents) - when local voters don't pay close attention to local government, this is the kind of thing that happens.  Local government gets away with "murder" and real murderers get away.

We are all complicit when we don't pay close attention to what our elected officials are doing.

Thomas Spota

---------------------------------------------

-30-

moonbeams in my hand

 

♫ ♫ ♪

Buckets of rain

Buckets of tears

Got all them buckets comin' out of my ears

Buckets of moonbeams -- in my hand

I got all the love, honey baby

You can stand

I been meek

And hard like an oak

I seen pretty people disappear like smoke

Friends will arrive, friends will disappear

If you want me, honey baby

I'll be here

Like your smile 

And your fingertips

Like the way that you move your lips

I like the cool way -- you look at me

Everything about yoou is bringing me

Misery

Little red wagon

Little red bike

I ain't no monkey but I know what I like

I like the way you love me strong and slow

I'm takin' you with me, honey baby

When I go

Life is sad

Life is a bust

All ya can do -- is do what you must

You do what you must do, and ya do it well

I'll do it for you, honey baby

Can't you tell?

♫

----------------------------------

"Buckets of Rain"

song by Bob Dylan,

from the Blood On The Tracks album

___________________________

-30-

5 tracks recorded in New York; 5 in Minneapolis

 

♪ ♪♫

Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha

Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha

Honey, we could be in Kansas

By time the snow begins to thaw

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn

They say the darkest hour -- is right before the dawn

But you wouldn't know it by me

Every day's been darkness since you been gone

Little rooster crowin', there must be something on his mind

Little rooster crowin', there must be something on his mind

Well, I feel just like that rooster

Honey, ya treat me to unkind

The birds are flyin' low babe, honey I feel so exposed

Well, the birds are flyin' low babe, honey I feel so exposed 

Well now, I ain't got any matches

And the station doors are closed

Well, I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above

Well I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above

Well, you know I even outran the hound dogs

Honey, you know I've earned your love

Look at the sun -- sinkin' like a ship

Look at the sun -- sinkin' like a ship

Ain't that just like my heart, babe

When you kissed my lips?

♫

------------------------------------

Bob Dylan

"Meet Me In The Morning"

from the Blood On The Tracks album

_______________________

-30-

Long Island serial killer

 

[NBC News] ------------- More than a decade after 11 bodies were found on Long Island, and a year after he came onto officials' radar as a potential suspect, a New York architect was charged in the Gilgo Beach murders....

Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested last Thursday evening at his Manhattan office and arraigned Friday in the deaths of three women.  He is also suspected in the disappearance and death of a fourth woman, officials said.

The grisly discoveries were made after a sex worker went missing in 2010.  As officials searched for that woman, they discovered the remains of 11 other people.... ---------------------- [end / NBC clip]

________________________________

-----------------------------------------

At the suspect's home in Massapequa Park, police found that while Heuermann has permits for 92 guns, more than 200 guns were stored in the basement.

Investigation into the suspect and his activities is expanding to Las Vegas, and South Carolina.

The South Carolina connection is Rex Heuermann's younger brother, 57-year-old Craig Heuermann who lives in Chester, S.C.

Rex had bought property in the area and is said to have planned to retire there.

        The properties owned by the two brothers are barely visible from the unpaved road on which they sit, and are surrounded by no-trespassing signs.  Craig Heuermann's front gate has two signs:  one that reads, "Keep out / No trespassing," and another that reads, "No Warrant / No Entry."

__________________________

reader comments under the Washington Post article on this:

~  The reason it took so long was the ineptitude and corruption prevalent for years in the Suffolk County police.  They were more interested in pulling over black drivers than solving these murders.  Thankfully that is changing with the new commish.

~  As someone who grew up in Suffolk County, I can tell you this comment is spot on about the cops being inept and corrupt.  They're really just "good 'ol boy" cops with different accents.

~  Read up on the corrupt Suffolk County Police Commissioner James Burke.

SCPD was indeed corrupt, and it took an ex-FBI agent three years to clean up the mess.

_______________________

-30-

        

Peter Morgan getting it right

 

King Edward and Wallis Simpson

the King and Mrs. Simpson as portrayed by actors in The Crown (Seasons 1 and 2)

Good choices, and excellent hair and makeup and costuming, I'd say...

        Dog people.

-30-

"secondhand emotion"

 

When I read autobiographical books written by my favorite rock-and-roll singers--Tina Turner, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan--I am kind of subconsciously fascinated / comforted into a feeling, or belief, that if I like someone's music, I am going to like the person who makes it, and whatever else they write.

Dylan's Chronicles; I, Tina; and Keith Richards' Life are books I go back to and reread and appreciate passages and chapters.  And I "like" these people--as much as I know from the books, their music, and interviews and documentaries, never met them of course....

But I realize now that it's extra lucky to be able to enjoy the person and what they have to say outside of their art, because with some artists it's harder to do that.

I was looking up a book of writings by another rock singer of the '60s, and reading what was available of it on Amazon, I found out--yeah, no, I don't like this.  And I was surprised because I love his songs with the band.  Realized, then, well of course not all people who make music that I love are going to be people I would relate to outside of that.

        The music was one thing--this guy made that with the band.  It was a group effort.  Then a book of his other writing is published, and I look into it and say, "oooh, this guy's just trying to be disgusting and get us all sad and grossed out!" - lol

Some writing, you read it for a little bit and you realize ok the way this writer is trying to make the audience feel an emotion is by telling them something really sad, or pathetic, or describing cruelty, and you feel like they just over-do it, and you don't want to get depressed or be horrified, thanks anyway.

Some commenters were saying the songwriter was meant to be a poet, and the poems in the book are proof that was his true path.

The songs are what I like.

-30-

good luck to you, kid

 

Jack Dempsey

G.O.P.'s Far Right Seeks to Use Defense Bill to Defund Ukraine War Effort

NYT - July 12

reader comments:

~  So the Republican extremists who are most supportive of Donald Trump are pursuing a policy that would enormously benefit Vladimir Putin.  Interesting.

~  These far right extremists wrap themselves in the flag, but they could not be more unAmerican.  They have no policies that would actually solve real problems.  All they do is foment hate.  They should leave the military alone; they aren't fit to oversee anything.

~  The GOP's far right wants to stop helping defend Ukraine because they are aligned with Putin.  Like Trump.  The far right is the greatest threat to democracy in the world today.

~  Every day, and in every way, the GOP gets more and more evil.  We MUST vote them out of every office.

~  Russia is a mafia state with nearly 4,500 nuclear warheads and America as their primary target.

Supporting the sovereignty of Ukraine and the integrity of NATO are vital to American interests.

~  I'm old enough to remember when the GOP supported our military and supported democracy, here and abroad.

As Mitt Romney (Republican) says, these are not serious people.

I would add that they are not decent or patriotic people.

~  Let's be honest.  Trump kisses up to Putin because he wants a sweet deal to build a hotel in Moscow.

His sycophants move to cut off aid to Ukraine, a critical US security interest, just because Trump wants it.

So, our entire national security program, and world peace, are placed at risk so that one aging developer can get a little richer.  This is what the Republican party has descended to.

~  We must stand with Ukraine.  Let's face it, the only reason Russia started this war was because Trump and his cronies showed weakness.

__________________________

-------------------- [excerpt from Chronicles:  Volume One, by Bob Dylan.  Copyright 2004.  Simon & Schuster] ---------------------

Lou Levy, top man of Leeds Music Publishing company, took me up in a taxi to the Pythian Temple on West 70th Street to show me the pocket sized recording studio where Bill Haley and His Comets had recorded "Rock Around the Clock"--then down to Jack Dempsey's restaurant on 58th and Broadway, where we sat down in a red leather upholstered booth facing the front window.

        Lou introduced me to Jack Dempsey, the great boxer.  Jack shook his fist at me.

"You look too light for a heavyweight kid, you'll have to put on a few pounds.  You're gonna have to dress a little finer, look a little sharper--not that you'll need much in the way of clothes when you're in the ring--don't be afraid of hitting somebody too hard."

        "He's not a boxer, Jack, he's a songwriter and we'll be publishing his songs."

        "Oh, yeah, well I hope to hear 'em some of these days.  Good luck to you, kid."

        Outside the wind was blowing, straggling cloud wisps, snow whirling in the red lanterned streets, city types scuffling around, bundled up--salesmen hawking gimmicks, chestnut vendors, steam rising out of manholes.

         None of it seemed important.  I had just signed a contract with Leeds Music giving it the right to publish my songs, not that there was any great deal to hammer out.  I hadn't written much yet.  Lou had advanced me a hundred dollars against future royalties to sign the paper and that was fine with me.

        John Hammond, who had brought me to Columbia Records, had taken me over to see Lou, asked him to look after me.  Hammond had only heard two of my original compositions, but he had a premonition that there would be more.

_________________________

-30-

Tuesday

 

(a poem)

shadow gems at dusk

questions in our minds

billowing uncertainty in our skies

darkness in our world

light in our spirits

music in our hearts

fear in our consciousness

simple priorities in our day planners and phones

        break on through to the other side, and

        don't think twice, it's all right

-------------------------------------

____________________________

A person can watch that Sopranos scene with the funeral joke -- "his brother was worse" -- on You Tube.

title of the video:  The Sopranos - Hesh's Joke at funeral

uploader / channel:  adreon

-30-

the American century

 

----------------------------------

Last week when I had read some Comments on the Lipstick Alley site, it was a little while before I figured out "yt people" stood for white people.

        At first I wondered, "Y-T...You Tube people...?  Like -- You Tubers?"

__________________________

Jerry Adler.  An American actor with such an interesting, expressive face.  Born in 1929, he is 94, and lives with his wife of 29 years on New York City's Upper West Side.

[from his Wikipedia page] ----------- Adler was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Pauline and Philip Adler, who was a general manager of the Group Theatre....

Adler began his theatre career as a stage manager in 1950, working on such productions as Of Thee I Sing and My Fair Lady before becoming a production supervisor for The Apple Tree, Annie, and I Remember Mama, among others.

He made his directing debut with the 1974 Sammy Cahn revue Words and Music and also directed the 1976 revival of My Fair Lady, which garnered him a Drama Desk Award nomination....

Other credits include Drat! The Cat! and a 1976 revival of Hellzapoppin' starring Jerry Lewis ("Awful, terrible man")....

------------------ [end / online encyclopedia excerpt]

        In my viewing experience, I encountered Mr. Adler in the '90s sitcom Mad About You, in the 1993 Woody Allen movie Manhattan Murder Mystery, and -- surprise! -- in The Sopranos.

        He's been in quite a few other modern shows, too -- Northern Exposure, The West Wing, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and more....  A long, busy career.  I think that's very cool.

-----------------------------------

In one episode of The Sopranos, they're all at a funeral gathering.  Several of the men are standing together with snacks and drinks, quiet, with subdued attitudes.  Jerry Adler's character "Hesh" cuts into the gloom, telling a story:

"...Comes to the point in the service -- where the rabbi's supposed to extol the virtues of the deceased.

        The rabbi says, 'Alas, I did not know this man.  I'm new here.  You all knew him.  You say something good about him.'

Dead silence.

Goes on for about a minute.

Two minutes.

Finally, a voice from the back -- 'His brother was worse!'"

___________________

Jerry Stiller had been looked at for the part of Hesh, first, but a scheduling jam-up made him unavailable when casting was happening, and the part was offered to Jerry Adler, whom Sopranos writer and producer David Chase had worked with on Northern Exposure.

        Mr. Adler was glad to accept the offer, but he told Chase, "I've got to warn you, I can't sing."

----------------------- Jerry Adler.  Jerry Stiller.  Jerry Lewis.  Was every man from the early-to-mid 20th Century named Jerry??  Well, not all of them....

-30-

you will not be rewarded

 

Martha's Vineyard painting

The New York Times is having a series of essays called Modern Love.  (The "human interest" side of the news....)

The June 30 installment is titled, "Was I Married to a Stranger?"

------------------ [excerpts] ------------- When the lockdown started in March 2020, my husband and I decided to quarantine with our two  youngest children, then 15 and 12, at our house on Martha's Vineyard.  We arrived on March 15 and settled in for a long stay, unpacking sweaters and boots, textbooks and cellos.

        My husband set up his home office on a card table in the living room, rising at 4 a.m. to pace and worry over the markets.  He chopped three different kinds of wood and built gorgeous fires....

A week later, on March 22, at 6 a.m., my husband told me he wanted a divorce.  He packed a bag, got in his Jeep and boarded a ferry.  We had been married for nearly 21 years.

        There was another woman, as there often is when men leave.  Her husband called me the night of March 21 as I mopped the kitchen floor after dinner and left a voice mail message:  "I'm sorry to tell you that your husband is having an affair with my wife."

That night, my husband was apologetic and regretful, saying he loved me and that the affair meant nothing.  But by dawn, as he announced his departure, he looked different, resolved.  His green eyes were icy.

When he reached New York City, he laid out his narrative:  He thought he wanted our life but didn't.  He thought he was happy but wasn't.  A switch had flipped.  He didn't want our house or our apartment.  He didn't want any custody of our children.

        Before this, I had no idea he was unhappy....

That year he had reached a pinnacle of professional success at work.  

He bought a sleek new Manhattan apartment, hired a well-known divorce lawyer, and treated me with a consistent lack of empathy or sentiment.  ------------------------- [end / excerpts]

__________________________

One Internet comment said,

"He doesn't look like he chops wood."

Another --

"His behavior is classic narcissist.

He love-bombs her in the beginning to get the socialite, accomplished wife.

He has a history of ignoring rules when it suits him, including sexual harassment policies.

He probably cheated all along.

The second he was found out, he fled because his charade crumbled.

He not only couldn't continue to cheat because of COVID, but he would have had to live with the reduced reputation of being found out within the family.

His fragile self-esteem and total lack of feeling made him decide to drop the family altogether.

Big law and finance are crawling with these guys."

        The Daily Mail picked up this story.  Someone in their Comments section said at least the wife doesn't have to worry about money and she can live in a comfortable Vineyard bolt hole.

The three comments that followed:

~  Is this story news because they are rich?  And what is a bolt hole?

~  Can someone please tell me what a vineyard bolt hole is, seriously.

~  A bolt hole is a vacation or weekend place.  The vineyard is Martha's Vineyard in Cape Cod.

--------------------------- [Martha's Vineyard is an island south of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts.

        The indigenous Wampanoag Indians called it Noepe, which meant "land amid the streams."]

________________________

An Internet site called Lipstick Alley ran the article too.

some of their members' Comments:

~  This is why I support women leaving marriages when they are unhappy.  Imagine if this woman left when she realized that SHE wasn't happy?  

Stop being a martyr.  

You will not be rewarded.  

        Also, I know this woman is in pain but she'll realize that she dodged a bullet.  Any man that can just wake up and abandon all of his responsibilities is capable of doing much worse.

~  after reading the bios, dude pulled a fast one on her ass.  she has generational wealth and prestige.  look at her bio vs. his bio.  of course he married her so quickly!  she was going to be his meal ticket into a life he may have observed, but was never a "member" of.  

he stayed long enough to get that promotion which ensures he will make enough money to never need his ex-wife again.

~  Dragging your triflin' husband in a NYT op-ed???  IT IS GIVING OPULENCE!!!  LOL I love a messy high society drama

~  Women are out here trying to live as the epitome of loyalty and for what?  For this?

~  He has the asshole face of a corporate villain in an 80s flick.

~  She definitely provided him access to a world he wouldn't have access to otherwise, which is why she published this article in the NYT.

        This is her payback and her way to banish him from these circles; now he is trying to delete every picture of himself online.

~  I just love yt people mess!

Airing this out in the New York Times which all of their affluent friends get delivered to their homes??  The embarrassment, I can't LOL.  She got shmoney shmoney!!

~  The thing is she wasn't unhappy, but it doesn't seem like she was happy.  She was satisfied with an unexciting marriage to a milquetoast man.

~ Probably resented her and that world all those years.  He probably heard comments, those sorts like to point out you ain't in the club, marriage or not.

~  The kind of influence it takes to get NYT to run an op-ed about your divorce simply to air out your husband is crazy.  That's not even a paid placement, that's "I know the EIC or a major shareholder" lol.  This is wild.  Her bio says she's a Vanderbilt so I don't doubt the kind of relationships they have.

~  Her grandfather (by marriage, her grandmother's second husband) started CBS.  Case closed.

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