A Fantastic Phrasing
21/11/09 16:30
I came across this phrasing while reading an article that I expected to have nothing in common with our recent conversations in class. It comes from Jane Kramer’s reflection on cooking Thanksgiving dinner over many years, in the current issue of the New Yorker. The full article is here, but the phrasing that I think might be helpful for us in the class is here. She’s talking about looking at pictures of herself making Thanksgiving dinner many years ago. I’ve bolded the phrase that I think we can use:
“One of those pictures is on my desk now; I am basting what looks like a twenty-pounders, balanced precariously on the open door of the oven that preceded my new stove. There are children and dogs underfoot, and grownups hovering with pot holders and coffee cups in their hands. We are all laughing. Thanksgiving looks easy, and it probably was, back in those early feminist days before the idea of the perfect meal invaded the heads of otherwise accomplished women, convincing them that voluntary servitude in the kitchen was the secret of their liberation.”
Pretty killer phrasing, no? And certainly applicable to many people, not just women.
“One of those pictures is on my desk now; I am basting what looks like a twenty-pounders, balanced precariously on the open door of the oven that preceded my new stove. There are children and dogs underfoot, and grownups hovering with pot holders and coffee cups in their hands. We are all laughing. Thanksgiving looks easy, and it probably was, back in those early feminist days before the idea of the perfect meal invaded the heads of otherwise accomplished women, convincing them that voluntary servitude in the kitchen was the secret of their liberation.”
Pretty killer phrasing, no? And certainly applicable to many people, not just women.