DaVici breaks auction records. Barbie wears a hijab. Good guys gone wrong. Violence at the Western Wall.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #59 NOV. 21, 2017
Short week, short Newsletter. I don't usually include so many photos of men but given the headlines, it can't be helped.
HISTORY MAKERS
* Art as high drama. Times journalist, Robin Pogrebin (my daughter), is interviewed on CNN discussing her story about the record-shattering price paid for DaVinci painting at Christie's auction last week.
Welcome Muslim Barbie. New addition to Mattel's "Shero" line, the first ever Barbie doll in a hijab. was inspired by the Olympic fencer, Ibtihaj Muhammad, who competes while wearing a head covering.
EVER-EXPANDING DEPT. OF SEX HARASSMENT
* Turns out Congress maintains a secret slush fund to pay hush money to settle sex harassment charges against its members. "According to the Washington Post, 235 complainants received compensation totaling $15.2 million between 1997 and 2014. That’s more than one settlement per month for 17 years and nearly $1 million per year. We, the taxpayers, have no idea on whose behalf we’ve been paying to settle these sexual harassment claims. "
* The House Ethics Committee does have an idea. They plan to investigate John Conyers who in 2014 allegedly paid $27,000 in public funds to a female employee who had filed a claim against him with the secretive Office of Compliance.
No laughing matter. Sen. Al Franken's apology expressed his regret, remorse and reconsideration of what's funny and what's not. One could argue that his legislative initiatives on behalf of millions of women outweigh his harassment of a few women (and I'd hate to lose his voice in public life). Yet unless powerful, prominent men, regardless of party, are forced to pay a price for their gross behavior how will regular guys ever get the message? Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, reflects many feminists' ambivalence, including mine. In the last four days, she revised her opinion from "Franken Should Go" to a more nuanced analysis of the issue.
Another star journalist falls.. NY Times puts White House reporter Glenn Thrush, on leave. An investigative reporter, he should have known he can run but he can't hide forever. Once again, it's painful to lose a quality journalist, especially one who was so dogged in his coverage of POTUS.
Charlie Rose bites the dust: Rose seems to have borrowed many pages from Harvey Weinstein's playbook. What's with the open bathrobes anyway? Allegedly, Rose's female staff was expected to put up with his disgusting sexual advances as well as his cruelly demeaning treatment. CBS fires Rose for "extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior. Gayle King and Nora O'Donnell react appropriately.
Bismarck anticipates Roy Moore
* Why the Christian right doesn't care if Roy Moore abused teenaged girls and POTUS forced himself on women. Read Michelangelo Signorile's analysis. "It’s becoming clear that, for many evangelicals and many in the alt-right and white nationalist movements, sexual assault against women and girls is not only not a deal-breaker for a candidate but is also perfectly acceptable, whether they want to admit this or not. The uniting of white nationalists and the religious right, and the rise of Christian nationalism, is premised not only on the false idea that people of color, LGBTQ people and other minorities are exerting too much control, but also very much so on the belief that women ― coming forward now and speaking out about sexual assault and demanding equality ― must be put in their place."
THANKS & GIVING
* My friend Marlo Thomas is on NBC'sTODAY show all week long talking about the 14th Annual Thanks and Giving campaign for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by her dad, comedian Danny Thomas. I've been to the hospital in Memphis and it's awesome. Children get medical treatment at no cost whatsoever and their families are housed free, too. A few years ago, an interviewer gushed that the hospital's cure of a child's brain cancer was "a miracle." “It’s not a miracle," repllied Marlo, "it’s science. This is what we do at St. Jude” Help the kids & fund the science here.
* Click here to see my end-of-the-year fundraising letter for Americans for Peace Now. I'd be grateful if you would make a donation, no matter how small or large, to keep the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict high on the U.S. political agenda and to help support the work of Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) in Israel.
NYC EVENTS
* Public hearing on sexual harassment in the workplace. Carmelyn P. Malalis Chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights will be chairing a panel of six commissioners from various City departments who will be listening to testimony and asking questions. Opening remarks by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), (above) who chaired the NYC-CHR from 1970-1977, and held the nation's first public hearings on gender discrimination. Representatives from diverse industries, both advocates and workers, will share experiences, provide input on policy change and government response, and help shape the public discourse on this issue. Wed, 12/6, 5:30pm, at CUNY School of Law in Long Island City, Sign up here.
CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING JOLT OF THE WEEK
* if you're tired of reading about sexism, here's a change of pace. Tad Friend's excellent piece on "Why Ageism Never Gets Old" in the New Yorker. Men age out of tech jobs. Women age out of Hollywood.
Jimmy Stewart was twice the age of his co-star, Kim Novak, in "Vertigo"
At 37, Maggie Lyllenhaal was told she was "too old" to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man.
It might be interesting to talk about ageism at your Thanksgiving table, especially if multiple generations are present: Why are so many of us prejudiced toward the sort of people we will become someday if we're lucky to live long enough? Happy turkey.