…my duty to myself.”
Nora in “A Doll’s House
I am a day late, and a dollar short for International Women’s Day, 2013.
And there are so many talented women out there, who wrote and said such inspirational things yesterday, that I honestly do not know what to write about.
My bedroom.
My bedroom is no place for a man.
It is a shrine to both
women’s beauty and the female struggle.
I wake up to some of the best fashion photography of the 20th century.
Above the fashion photography, there are Life magazine covers, two are about fashion, and the other is about Wanda Adams.
Excuse me, for a moment, I am going into my bedroom to take the framed magazine cover down from the wall.
I am back.
I am back.
Wanda Adams is laying beside me, the date on the cover is March 17th 1972, the headline reads:
DROPOUT WIFE
A Striking Current Phenomenon
Wanda’s story Sonny And Cher Come Back, and the third headline is a story by Theodore H. White titled; An Old China Hand in the New China.
Wanda is in formidable company.
Beside the picture of Wanda are the words;
Wanda Adams left home
and family
a new life
In March 1972, Mrs. Wanda Adams had been the subject of a 3 part series that , Susan Paynter
authored for the esteemed weekly magazine.
Mrs. Adams left her husband Don and their 3 children.
She became a national star.
Mike Wallace, Merv Griffin, and Phil Donahue all came knocking at this controversial woman’s door.
Susan Paynter asked; What has she done to ignite such anger? Join the Viet Cong or the Symbionese Liberation Army?
Someone to work for – a home
to bring comfort into.
That I will do, indeed.
A Doll’s House
Paynter compares Adam’s story to the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play, “A Doll’s House”, which deals with the traditional marital roles in Victorian times.
It was a move that wouldn’t even register on today’s radar screen except to those personally involved.
Adams’ divorce was amicable and since she was a social worker, she didn’t ask Susan Paynter in 2002, thirty years after the Life magazine article.
for any support or alimony. However, she did ask for her maiden name back.Anyway, the article that I am quoting was written by
Adams; Back then, banks asked married women to bring notes from their doctor proving they were on birth control before their incomes could be considered for home loan.
We’ve come a long way, baby!!!
I think l will put Wanda back on my bedroom wall, now.
Nora: That our life together would be a real wedlock.
Goodbye. (She goes out through the hall.)
Helmer: (sinks down on a chair at the door
and buries his face in his hands.)
Nora! Nora! (Looks round, and rises.)
Empty.
The judge said no.
I bet the judge was a man.
Anyway, the article that I am quoting was written by Susan Paynter in 2002, thirty years after the Life magazine article.
She Is Gone.
( A hope flashes across his mind.)
The most wonderful thing of all.
(THE SOUND OF A DOOR SHUTTING IS HEARD FROM BELOW.)
I am now SHUTTING my bedroom door.
HAPPY BELATED INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!!!
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