Divorces Peak After Holidays
Fewer people get married in January than any other month. Given that, is it any mystery that it’s also the busiest month for divorce lawyers? Those barristers attribute the spike in divorce proceedings to couples who, for the sake of the children or for financial reasons, wait until after the holidays to file. (From: January The Atlantic)
Memorize these: Five rules men learn at a workshop in seducing women taught by psychologist James Murdock:
1. Forget bars and clubs (too many alpha males).
2. Mirror the woman’s movements; speak at the same speed.
3. Stand at least 6 feet apart (8 feet is ideal).
4. Increase your rate of blinking (i.e. don’t stare).
5. Don’t look at her erogenous zones.
Thanks for the warning. (From: February Marie Claire)
A cultural commentary: Writer Toni Morrison of “Paradise” fame who seldom watches TV, says of that medium: “I think of it as one of those fake fireplaces, always moving and always looking just the same.”
This may explain Morrison’s astonishment at sales of her book “Song of Solomon,” which topped a million after Oprah Winfrey chose it as an Oprah Book Club selection. (From Jan. 19 Time)
Order up a spanking: S&M has become oh, so hot in the culture center of the universe. Yes, we’re talking New York, where seemingly nothing surprises anyone.
Manhattan’s newest themed restaurant goes heavily for a Marquis de Sade ambience in a dinner-theater style. Will the kink creep beyond Gotham City? Not according to Vogue editor Kate Betts: It’s “last year’s trend. You can buy leather pants at the Gap.” (From: Jan. 5 Newsweek)
Time is on your side: Hang in there, women. Elderly women with bachelor’s degrees who worked full time in 1996 earned 37 percent more than their male counterparts - the only group of women whose earnings surpassed those of men. (From: January American Demographics)
Quote of the week: Our nod to the passing, at 83, of famed New Yorker writer and quintessential gentleman Brendan Gill is a passage he penned for “Here at The New Yorker:” “I’ve never known what it is to be tired. I’ve never known what it was not to run everywhere. If I see a hedge, I feel convinced I’d better jump it, though some day on the far side I may find myself in a thousand pieces. I leap out of bed in the morning with the disposition that something perfectly wonderful is going to happen that day.” (From: Jan. 12 The New Yorker)
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
MEMO: Susan English is the Weekend Editor at The Spokesman-Review, contact her by mail at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201; by e-mail at susane@spokesman.com or by phone at 459-5488.