Friday Forum: Holiday Weekemd

This week, our readers of the north celebrated Canada Day, and Fourth of July weekend is finally here, so we want to know what everyone has planned for this weekend. BBQs, fireworks, beach plans, our book club selection -- what's in your schedule for the holiday?

Travel the World from Your Seat

For those of you who have been keeping up with TWM's summer book club, we hope you enjoyed reading our last pick, The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan. The details for July's pick and this month's book club meeting are below. Get started on your reading while you're relaxing this weekend, and we hope you can make it to the meet-up!

TWM'S SIZZLING SUMMER BOOK CLUB!
Monday, July 20th 6:30pm-8pm

One down, two to go! Get away this summer with a captivating book each month and then join TWM Members and guests to discuss it over classic Italian cookies & pastries at Veniero's in the East Village!

COST: $20; $15 for TWM Members
LOCATION: Veniero's 342 East 11th Street
Includes coffee, tea or soda and an assortment of Italian pastries and cookies!

RSVP to christianna@thewomensmosaic.org

JULY'S BOOK SELECTION:

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN-13: 978-0375758454

"In many ways, I was an independent woman," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alice Steinbach. "For years I'd made my own choices, paid my own bills, shoveled my own snow." But somehow she had become dependent in quite another way. "I had fallen into the habit of defining myself in terms of who I was to other people and what they expected of me." But who was she away from the people and things that defined her? In this exquisite book, Steinbach searches for the answer to this question in some of the most beautiful and exciting places in the world: Paris, where she finds a soul mate; Oxford, where she takes a course on the English village; Milan, where she befriends a young woman about to be married. Beautifully illustrated with postcards from Steinbach's journeys, this revealing and witty book transports you into a fascinating inner and outer journey, an unforgettable voyage of discovery.

Women, Men, and Friendship

Even though we are all Homo sapiens, people have always felt the need to distinguish themselves from one another. While I understand and appreciate the differences (religion, culture, skin color, culture, etc.), I believe that what fundamentally divides us is gender. I started thinking about this when I saw the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally..., which is famous for the arguments surrounding its underlying theme about the inability of men and women to be friends. It’s a provocative topic that remains unresolved for me and many others, I suspect.

While I have been fortunate to have had great friends throughout my life, I have noticed that all of them have been women. Excluding romantic relationships, I have had a few platonic friendships with men since high school, but they were never as strong as the ones I had with my girlfriends. My family relationships with older male relatives have been strained since childhood, but I have had better experiences with my brother and male cousins. Still, I don’t get to interact with them as much as I would like.

Some women I know don’t have or want friendships with men, and they think I am strange because I talk about friendships with men rather than being covetous of those who are married or in serious relationships. While I am an odd individual (and proud of it), I tell those who question me that the basis of all good human relationships is friendship. Most of the time, they agree with me. Since friendships with men have always been elusive to me, I can’t help but wonder about women who do have them. They tell me that their male friends share perspectives about romantic relationships and other topics that they don’t receive from their female friends. In other words, they have access to the overall human experience---at least that is what it means to me.

Do you think friendships between men and women are important?

My Apartment, the Junk Yard

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm moving into Manhattan this summer. Unfortunately, my travel schedule prevented me from getting anything done, so I've had to cram it in to this last week. I've been cleaning, packing, cleaning some more, moving everything, and then doing it all over again -- I'm utterly exhausted.

As it turns out, in addition to our love of books, another thing Pauline, Kekla and I have in common is our clutter. Looking around my apartment in the last week, I realized I have quite the junk problem. As I started to take things out of their nooks and crannies, piles began to form of things I don't need, don't want, or forgot I even owned. I had clothing which has never and will never fit, shoes that looked like they would fall apart if I walked more than five blocks, and trinkets I should have thrown out years ago.

After forming several of these piles, and filling up at least a dozen garbage bags, I had to ask: how did I end up with all of this? Why is it that we collect these things when it would be easier to get rid of them? My junk consisted mostly of souvenirs, free t-shirts, pamphlets from organizations I've never heard of, and wedding-related books and magazines.

So I started piles: things of value (sell/swap), things in good condition I've outgrown (donate), and things nobody on earth wants (trash). Of course, even after throwing out a lot, there's more I need to get rid of once the unpacking begins. I have a lot of clothing to recycle -- did you know you can recycle clothing? I'm organizing a clothing swap with friends to get rid of what doesn't fit me and replenish my now non-existent wardrobe. Sadly, I'll also have to go through the ten boxes I filled with books, because I can probably sell or donate most of those. (Anybody need a chemistry textbook? Social psychology perhaps?)

When was the last time you went through your junk? Is it time for a fresh start?