A Way To Warm Up

February 28, 2019

I’ve rattled on long enough about snow and won’t go into details about my Jeep stuck in a berm from a county snow plow at the end of my driveway, nor my subsequent rescue by neighbors as snow fell heavily. I won’t wax about another day spent behind snowblowers renewing paths so walkers can move safely. I won’t describe my aching back, shoulders, and sheer weariness. None of that this morning.

The outside temperature is 9 degrees, so another cold one. Soon after feeding the animals, I’ll refocus, by picking up a book I’ve wanted to read. It’s been on standby, a nonfiction work by one of my favorite authors, Jane Lepore, The Secret History of Wonder Woman.

Lepore is an historian on Harvard’s faculty who also writes for “The New Yorker”. She’s a diligent researcher, a fine writer who gets inside her topics. Now, Lepore traces the impetus of William Marston to create Wonder Woman and his character’s genesis, her impact on social development alongside an evolving self-awareness among women of their expanding social roles. (BTW, Marston also invented the lie detector.)

This is a tantalizing read as there’s the possibility of a renewal of an ERA amendment. An ERA is more possible after last week when a federal district judge in Houston declared that the male-only draft registration system violates a constitutional requirement for the government to treat men and women equally. (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/opinion/rbg-supreme-court.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Opinion) Eliminating the longtime ban on drafting women would remove a last significant argument against equal rights.

In the early 1940’s, the Wonder Woman character emerged as a collection of sexual fantasies, perhaps why the character stayed alive. She grew, however, alongside changes in women’s social roles, maybe especially, the real-life experience, growth, and influence of America’s venerated Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Politics today often leave me cold, and when so I’d rather be out in the actual cold running a snowblower. My greater interests are in the social development people have experienced or at least witnessed since the Great Depression. I like the idea of starting with Lepore’s book about a cartoon character from the 1940s that gradually drifts into a significant social symbol. And today, America’s recent national election that drew more women and people of color into national politics. Diversity will continue to influence social change.

Dear Readers, Have a great day, read a good book. Diana