One of the good things about getting away from home for a few days is the opportunity it presents to dive into the long books that you're put off starting. Right now I'm about halfway through Personal History, the autobiography of the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham.
It's interesting reading; her life, because of the Post and because of her family wealth, was wrapped up in the doings of the country's most influential people. Fortunately, the book is not an endless series of incidents - "here's when I met Thomas Mann, here's when we hung around with the Jack Kennedy, etc." - but includes fairly thoughtful introspection about how her life both limited her and made it possible for her to move beyond those limits.
One topic that keeps bubbling up, but about which Graham said little, is the District of Columbia. There's lots about Washington, the capital city, but not so much about DC, the actual city. Early on, there's mention of how the city's newspapers ignored anything that happen in black Washington. There's a passing reference to "improvements of Southwest Washington" (that would be the total destruction of the neighborhoods there) and the Home Rule act. There are some references to Graham's work on charity for poor Washingtonians.
But mostly, DC sits in the background, never really mentioned. It's emblematic of the city's ongoing problem; nobody really cares, and the wealthy and the intelligentsia of the city are so caught up in Washington the Capital that Washington the District languishes. I don't think I've ever seen a place where the major industry and the things that draw people in from all over the world are so separate from the city's daily life.
Obviously, most of the readers of Graham's book are far more interested in how she and her husband influenced Cabinet appointments than the location of the Kennedy Center, but I hoped that a woman whose life so revolved around Washington would seem to have bee a little more aware of the city that was her home.
As a side note, this is the same kind of benign neglect one sees from the Washington Post even today, with its awful coverage of city affairs and condescending cheerleading for the current mayor.
Popular Posts
-
If you have a good body, don't be afraid to flaunt it! Here are some tips to use jewelry such as belly button rings to highlight your be...
-
The smarmy little troll with the bow tie is gone, with his particularly unenlightening show soon to follow. It can't be good to be fired...
-
Geography is an often misunderstood subject, it focuses on developing skills beyond just knowing where individual countries and regions are,...
-
The agenda is the key to a successful meeting – it is the roadmap, the guide, the plan. Studies have shown that up to 70% of meetings either...
-
The idea of purchasing a personal computer may be appealing to a lot of people, however they may feel undecided as weather to go for a tradi...
-
I was born a city boy moved more to a rural setting almost 2 decades ago. The idea of fishing to me was for those who drove pick-up trucks, ...
-
When you splash out on a new mobile phone you need to ensure that you are buying the real thing as copies and fakes simply will not last! Ph...
-
Singapore Scotts Tower is one of the scariest and at the same time good looking buildings in the world that will be built in Singapore in th... -
If we think in terms of eating healthy, not filling- up with junk food, then perhaps grocery costs are out of control. A couple with kids co...
-
The feature set included with your home VOIP phone varies greatly from carrier to carrier, so as you are comparing different offerings, mak...
No comments:
Post a Comment