The Black Dress
About a year ago, while browsing in my favorite card store, I discovered a postcard of Alex Katz’s “The Black Dress,” and thumbtacked it to the cork bulletin board beside my desk. Mr. Katz employed his beloved wife Ada as a model for the painting, which he created in 1960, almost a half century ago. I suppose some might consider this image, painted in loving tribute to the artist’s spouse, an odd inaugural emblem for “Notes from an Unmarried Life.” I find it a timeless representation of the ways we single women can be similar and different (while chic and fabulous) all at the same time.
(Check out a recent interview with Alex Katz, from Women’s Wear Daily.)
Inaugural poem
“What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light.”
Fannie Merritt Farmer
Fannie Merritt Farmer is on my mind this week. 112 years ago, she published her first book, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, and it catapulted her to fame. It also made her rich. When a publisher wasn’t willing to take a risk on an unknown, she ponied up the initial printing costs and retained the copyright. With over 4 million copies sold, it is one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time. Continue reading »
A Saturday Night, Out
I used to need courage to go to a movie alone on a weekend. If there was a film I wanted to see and friends weren’t available, I refused to succumb to the shame of sitting alone when everyone else was paired off. I made myself go. But it wasn’t easy. Each time, I had to psych myself up. Continue reading »
Archive for January, 2009
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