"The more years of education a married couple has between them, the more likely they are to settle a plane ride away from Grandma and pay childcare workers for the help she, historically, would have provided."
I think about this stuff all the time. Americans are always going on about declining 'quality of life' in ways that point to merely returning to a global norm -- shared multi-generational housing in localized, walkable communities. To be sure, we also don't want the widespread and historic global norm of itinerant workers packed six-to-a-bedroom and bussed to work (and in many cases unable to leave because their passports have been stolen from them), so there's real anxiety about reducing expectations for real estate.
But the concept that every family should live in a mansion "a plane ride away" from their closest kin is worth soberly questioning. I don't necessarily want to say it's bad altogether, but at the very least it's likely unsustainable as a mere blip in the Industrial Revolution.
This was wonderful, and enjoyed the transition at the moment of "Where have all the matriarchs gone?" into a greater overview, almost wistful at times, of women who give their all and know so much. I think of this line from a film about a young Abraham Lincoln, "women who say little but do much", "the grandmothers no one wants to let down".
Great read. I admire those women who perform and at times even stare unflinchingly at these (substantially thankless) "thousand little sacrifices." It seems like it would require considerable contemplation and/or having been raised with certain values.
"The more years of education a married couple has between them, the more likely they are to settle a plane ride away from Grandma and pay childcare workers for the help she, historically, would have provided."
I think about this stuff all the time. Americans are always going on about declining 'quality of life' in ways that point to merely returning to a global norm -- shared multi-generational housing in localized, walkable communities. To be sure, we also don't want the widespread and historic global norm of itinerant workers packed six-to-a-bedroom and bussed to work (and in many cases unable to leave because their passports have been stolen from them), so there's real anxiety about reducing expectations for real estate.
But the concept that every family should live in a mansion "a plane ride away" from their closest kin is worth soberly questioning. I don't necessarily want to say it's bad altogether, but at the very least it's likely unsustainable as a mere blip in the Industrial Revolution.
This was wonderful, and enjoyed the transition at the moment of "Where have all the matriarchs gone?" into a greater overview, almost wistful at times, of women who give their all and know so much. I think of this line from a film about a young Abraham Lincoln, "women who say little but do much", "the grandmothers no one wants to let down".
Great read. I admire those women who perform and at times even stare unflinchingly at these (substantially thankless) "thousand little sacrifices." It seems like it would require considerable contemplation and/or having been raised with certain values.