WASP Suppremacy

 

My mother was not a white supremacist. She was a WASP supremacist and believed that she was superior to anyone who was not a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. At the same time she believed all those lower beings be they black, Jews, Orientals and even Italians were entitled to be treated equally when it came to education, employment and the law, just not socially.

She was a devoted Republican who believed McCarthy was making America safe from Communism.

How she married my father, an immigrant French Canadian, I will never understand. 

Her family had arrived in 1636 but if you asked her nationality, she'd say she was English. My father's ancestor had arrived from LaRochelle, France in 1640.

My parents disliked each other before and after their divorce.

Despite the P in WASP, we weren't a church going family with the exception of the church Christmas Fair and the occasional supper.

My father did take me to a Congregational service when I was six. I was bored and thought the "snacks" served were not very interesting.

When I was nine, my father sought permission to take me to the Catholic Service on Palm Sunday. That Palm Sunday is coming up this week triggered these memories.

The day arrived. I was thrilled to be spending one-on-one time with my father. 

As we were going out the door, my mother said, "Don't be afraid to the bloody statues, Dear."

Inside the church I looked at the statues and was as disappointment in their lack of bloodiness as I had been in the "snacks" three years before.

How I grew up liberal and open-minded I have no idea. I'm just happy I did. My mother's views have helped my understand the Magas and rights of the world.

 

The Bench

 

Today the bench is empty showing its peeling paint and missing wood. No surprize. It has been up against the wall for decades beaten by sun, by wind, by rain and occasional (very).snow.

A generation of women have grown up meeting on the bench. From the days they met after school, planned their weddings, watched their babies play on the tiles before them. None of them left the village. They became mamies, old women, widows. Now they too are gone.

Young women of the village mostly have jobs either in the village or in the industrial center or outside. They are too busy to sit and talk. Many have moved away to bigger cities like Montpellier, Toulouse, Paris even.

Across the plaza is Bronzette, the latest restaurant and café. On the top of the building are faded blue letters spelling out La Fountaine, so weak it is hard to tell them from the beige stucco. Four different café owners had used the name La Fountaine, but the fountain had been taken away when the plaza was created from the main street through town. Traffic is now diverted around the center leaving the air pure.

A truck pulls up marked with the village logo.

Two men jump out and unscrew the feet of the bench and heft it into the back of the truck.

“I’m glad my grandmother didn’t live to see this,” one said.

The other nodded. “Life changes.”

Make Every Word Count

I'm about to do my first edit on my new book 300 Unsung Women. I thought back to when as a writer, journalist and marketing person, I learned to make every word count. That led me to remember the "Kill Dear Society"

I joined the unofficial society when my Boston University prof, the late Pat Jackson, also Public Relations Society of America President, said every word should count. Writing dear on a letter when the person wasn't was a lost opportuniity. Better a letter should start with a phrase and the person's name.

I will attend the meeting, Fred...

I used it to write Mike Welch, head of the Credit Union Executives Society (CUES) to complain that the marketing conference CUES would hold in Missouri had not passed the Equal Rights Amendment. I did not know then he too was a Kill Dear member.

Note: I went to the conference, met my now husband and began a life long relationship with Mike who became my mentor, friend, and even boss when I was the international correspondent for his trade journal.

At one point, I spoke in front of his CUES conference. The large audience didn't scare me. Mike, my professional god, standing at the back of the room did. 

I asked him to leave. 

He did and went to the room where my speech was being recorded and later congratulated me on a job well done.

Fast forward to a time when letters are rare.

I started my own newsletter for Canadian credit union executives and I was innundated with press releases. 95% started with either, "XYZ Co. is pleased to announce" or "XYZ Co., a leading producer of..."

What a waste of space and my time. Maybe IF I had time, I'd search for an interesting lead. Mostly they went into the trash.

So this afternoon, I will begin my edit. I suspect I will drop or tighten 10-20% of the words. 

Thanks Pat. Thanks Mike for making my writing stronger.

Socialism = Happiness?????

 

Socialism is used as a threat and a dirty word in American politics. 

Yet interestingly enough on the latest happiness of countries report https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2024/03/20/2024-world-happiness-report-rankings/73039460007/ the four happiest countries are:

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden

 All are heavily socialistic.

The US, which claims to be the best country in the world, didn't make the top 20. 

What do the socialistic countries offer.

• Health care that won't leave one bankrupt.
• Higher education where tuition debts will not follow one much of their life.
• Freedom on many personal choices.
• Regulated and safe working conditions.
• Vacations and holidays that are up to six weeks. Congress is just beginning to look to make a vacation the right of every worker which does not exist today. Part of the new Republican plans in Congress are to cut Social Security and Medicare the lifeline of many Americans.
• A sense of equality.
  

In other words, freedom from the very real worries that affect people.

This does not mean socialism solves the ordinary problems of life. People still lose loved ones, spouses cheat, bosses can make life miserable, the internet can go down, etc., etc. etc. These things happen in socialistic countries, but they are not in addition to the basics which add to the quality of life.

I've lived in six countries that are more socialistic than the U.S. Although none were perfect and had their own idiosyncrasies and problems ALL gave me a higher quality of daily life than when I lived in the U.S.

Maybe the word socialism shouldn't be so scary after all.

D-L Nelson is a writer of 17 books. She lives in Switzerland and France. Visit her website https://dlnelsonwriter.com/

 

Free Write from Two Countries

 

Today's Free Write is a little different in how it was accomplished. Rick and I are in France and Julia is in Siwtzerland. 

Rick took the picture of the prompt and sent it to Julia. We wrote our 10 minutes in the cafe Mille et Une over tea and hot chocolate. I posted ours and Julia sent us hers.

D-L's Free Write

The fifth couple said "no" to the apartment.

"Merde," Rolf thought.

"We've clients," Maria called. "I need help."

He could lock up later. Downstairs people lined up to buy their gambas, trout and salmon. 

Sales of his fish were always good. Two other poissoneries had come and gone, but their owners had never gone to Port Vendre to greet the fishing ships when they returned to port. 

Rolf had cultivated fishermen Juan, Jacques, Erik, Martin and the others and had first dibs on the fresh catch.

Now if he could only rent that damned flat. AND keep the tenants.

The last tenant, a woman, had had a cold. When she was better, she complained, as everyone did, about the fish smell.

The rental price was under market value. He wondered if he threw in a piece of fish evry other day would that help?

Marie handed him the phone. "Someone about the apartment."

He put the phone to his ear hopefully.  The young woman, a single mom of two, would be around to look after dinner.

Maybe a piece of fish a day, even a lobster would do it.

Rick's Free Write

“I told you this place was a bad idea!” barked Henri. “Who in their right mind would rent an apartment over a fish store?”

“But it was all we could afford,” plaintively responded Emmanuelle.

“And it is in the heart of the village,” she quickly added.

“That smell is going to give me a heart attack. We can’t get away from it. It’s on our clothes, the furniture… even the baby’s nappies smell like fish.”

Their lease would not be up for another seven months, and if they broke the lease they would have to pay the entire amount regardless. It was hopeless.

“Well, at least the cat seems to like it here.”

“He should. He’s gotten twice as fat as when he wandered in the door.”

Claude began to cry in his crib. The cat-without-a-name joined the chorus.

“You feed him. I’m going to the beach, where the fish smell is not so bad.”

Emmanuelle used to like to eat fish, but she hadn’t touched any since about a month after they moved in.

The landlord, the fishmonger, was always nice to them. But he was obviously perplexed as to why they never bought anything from his store.

“We’re vegetarian,” Emmanuelle lied.

She sat on the couch and cried along with Claude and the cat.

 Julia's Free Write

Apartment for rent

Oh how lovely I thought – the perfect holiday flat in one of my favorite villages.

For years, if not my whole life, I have been aware of real estate. As a family we always lived in our own property and as a young couple, my husband and I only lived a couple of years in an apartment before buying our first home.

But we had never had a secondary residence. I rented for several years in the mountains, but when the owner moved, I stopped.

And here it was, small enough to probably not cost too much; like I said in one of my favorite villages. Maybe now was the time to do like many of my friends and spend the winters in the sun.

However, there is one vital element that will keep me from leaping on the occasion: it’s right over the local fishmongers and I can just imagine the battles with flies and other creepy crawlers, never mind the potential smells.

Not this time.

Julia has written and taken photos all her life and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/ 

Rick is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices. com

 

D-L has had 17 fiction and non fiction books published. Check out her website at:. www.dlnelsonwriter.com