International Thoughts from Chloe Ann

The American Family

I love old magazines, don’t you? They call out with promises of other lives not lived by me. But actually, once you give them a good flip through, you realize that life isn’t as different as you hoped it was in 1940 or 1955 or 1970. Sure, the print might be smaller and the cigarette ads larger, but in the end, just like in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, we are longing for an era that didn’t really exist in the first place.

Take this fine specimen of Look magazine I found today. The date is January 26, 1971. The price is 35 cents. The headline is The American Family. Subheading: Is the family obsolete?

And here I thought this obsession with the definition of family was a 2012 kind of thing. I don’t remember hearing these debates about gay marriage in the 90s, but then again, I was in single digits for most of the 90s. Turns out the 70s was just as concerned about the breakdown of that sacred cow known as “the family.” The main op-ed starts with:

The family-the unit upon which our entire society is based-is being totally restructured. This shake-up is the most significant aspect of the underground revolution.

Try telling that to Rick Santorum. When discussing the moral failure of 70s youth, the article has this to say:

More and more are using drugs, as their parents do liquor, to escape tension and gain group acceptance. To compare them to the Lost Generation of the Prohibition era is too easy an out. The lawless twenties resemble a musical comedy beside the spiritually bankrupt seventies.

For my money, nowadays there aren’t enough comparisons being made to the “Lost Generation of the Prohibition era.” But the series is more than just lamenting lost morals. It actually has some rather progressive moments, including a guest appearance by Shirley MacLaine in a column which asks the question, “Is the Family Obsolete?” MacLaine says:

Our problem is not whether the family’s obsolete but whether the autocratic family is obsolete and, I think, yes, that’s so…It’s got to do with monogamy, with the male being the natural superior, with the belief that security comes in the form of possessions, with hoeing your own little row of potatoes, that sort of attitude…To whom does monogamy make sense? To a muskrat, maybe.

I can tell you right now, if Angelia Jolie were writing opinions like this, I’d be watching a heck of a lot more Tomb Raider. But by far, the most interesting piece in the series is a quiet feature called “The Homosexual Couple,” which finds two men living together no more revolutionary than a straight unmarried couple doing the same. After attending law school, one of the men decides to apply for a marriage license from the state of Minnesota. They are denied, and the man, Jack Baker, has this to say:

Straight and gay people both ask us why we can’t live together quietly and not cause trouble. The answer is simple: we want equal rights-whatever heterosexuals have, we want too.

The two men also attend mass regularly at a Catholic church, where their relationship is accepted. One time, during a sermon, Baker asked the priest:

Do you feel that if two people give themselves in love to each other and want to grow together with mutual understanding, that Jesus would be open to such a union if the people were of the same sex?

Look magazine writes-

There was a shocked intake of breath around the chapel. The priest hesitated a long moment and finally answered: “Yes. In my opinion, Christ would be open.”

And if Christ is open to gay marriage, the rest of America needs to hop on board. Welcome to the American Family 2012, baby.

Where the Wild Things Aren’t

“You cannot write for children. They’re much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.”

-Maurice Sendak

“If I have something that is too difficult for adults to swallow, then I will write it in a book for children.”

-Madeleine L’Engle

Two adults whose work was not bent on pleasing adults. But of course, inevitably did, as many adults still have that child swimming somewhere below the surface. Before learning of Sendak’s death this morning, I had recently re-read Where the Wild Things Are. The wolf costume. The violence towards mom. The mental retreat. The way the book completely abandons text for three or four pages. The return home. The final page, devoid of illustration, describing Max’s dinner denied:

“And it was still hot.”

L’Engle is another good one. I went to buy a copy of A Wrinkle in Time last week and was surprised when I was led into the children section. The book touches on quantum physics, the bible, time travel and love. I first read it when I was in fourth grade. Even as a nine-year-old, I remember thinking, “I can’t believe we’re reading this.”

As a child, sometimes you fear that, almost more than anything, adults don’t understand how already adult you are. That you too have dealt with rejection, death, loss, and heartache. L’Engle and Sendak don’t write books for children. They write books for the already adult pieces that make those children up.

What I Like About Playa

The way the men kiss you on the cheek after they’ve met you once. That they keep speaking Spanish to you even after you demonstrate how feeble your Spanish is to begin with. That no one in Wal-Mart speaks English. The stars and the way you look at them from the beach. Peso. Mayans. Taxis that stop for everyone and cost less than a US dollar. The noise. The club down the street that makes the noise. The bells from the church down the other street. The constant hum of the birds. The seasickness that stays with you while trying to speak Spanish. The roll of the ‘r.’ The thrum of the waves.

Low Prices! Brought to you by Bribes

So that’s how they maintain those low prices. I thought 30 cents for a loaf of bread was too good to be true. Yes folks, Wal-Mart, that shining beacon of capitalism, has seen its flame flicker a little over these past few days due to allegations of a huge bribe scheme in Mexico.

Bloomberg reported that Wal-Mart de Mexico’s stock price fell 12 percentage points-the most it’s fallen since 1998-after news of the scandal broke on April 21 in a New York Times story. 

The Times story alleges that, in an effort to quickly expand, Wal-Mart de Mexico paid bribes in order to dominate the supermarket sphere in areas all over the country. On top of this, an investigation was ordered by Wal-Mart de America and canceled just as quickly when it was discovered that Mexican and US laws may have potentially been violated by Wal-Mart de Mexico.

Well, let me tell you, I’m here right now in Playa del Carmen, a small, touristy beach town in Mexico that takes about five blocks to walk. The Wal-Mart de Playa must take up about three of those five blocks.

All right, so I exaggerate a touch, but it is a massive store. The only thing that comes close to it is Mega, another blockbuster of a supermarket that has connections to Costco. But it is hard to compete with a name like Wal-Mart (or Wal-Mart de Mexico for that matter) and smaller, family-owned markets like DAC Vegetables and Fruit probably don’t appreciate the Wal-Mart charm.

Then again, a loaf of bread from the bakery at Wal-Mart de Playa is like a little slice of heaven. Bribery tastes of soft, fluffy yeast.

(Here’s a great graphic by Global Post that details the global Wal-Mart count. Note that Mexico blows all other countries out of the water)