Can we drop the pretense that it’s only Republican or conservative men who treat women like shit?
Harvey Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s biggest and most powerful figures, has been a huge donor to the Democratic Party over the years. He’s been cozy with our last two Democratic presidents. He espouses all the issues near and dear to progressives. Even women’s issues.
And he has, acc’d’g to too many women who’ve worked under him, been a workplace sexual predator.
Preying upon women trying to make a living in what is still a man’s world and even hoping to advance therein is a crime that knows no party.
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Mad For Madison
The Loved One and I yesterday took one of the best Sunday drives we’ve had in along time. This despite a downpour that, in reality, made the afternoon all the more memorable.
The trip we took was perfect for a gray, drenching, October Sunday. We started out heading east on Indiana State Road 50. Driving toward Cincinnati, SR 50 isn’t a half bad route for the scenery, especially with our region’s trees beginning to turn red and gold, yellow and ocher.
We were so busy gabbing with each other that, before we knew it, we found ourselves on the outskirts of the Queen City, in a exurb called Lawrenceburg, just this side of the Ohio state line. TLO expressed an aversion to penetrating further into greater Cincy so we simply took a sharp right onto SR 56. That road is spectacular as it follows the broad Ohio River from the quaint, arty town of Aurora through to Madison. In fact, 56 passes through a number of such fetching little burgs like Rising Sun and Vevay and, yes, Madison itself. It cuts through the southern end of Switzerland County which is as aptly named as any in the state. Switzerland features dramatic river palisades along its path, with tobacco farms, riverbank campgrounds, and steeply inclined steer pastures interspersed.
Madison is a tiny wonder with its wide boulevard called Main Street, of course, and its quiet, neat, new riverwalk on either side of the recently built Milton-Madison Bridge. The old span, which was demolished in 2014, was spectacularly narrow so that if two semi-trailer trucks going in opposite directions were forced to pass each other, their drivers’d have to pull in their side mirrors. The new bridge has wider traffic lanes and even pedestrian sidewalks.
Anyway, as long as we were in Madison, we took the opportunity to drop in on Nathan Montoya and Anne Vestuto’s Village Lights Bookstore, right in the middle of Madison’s delightful downtown. Nathan and Ann occasionally drop in to the Book Corner here in Bloomington. He and she did their undergrad work at Indiana University many moons ago, before they had the bright idea of turning a 150-year-old building into their shop, their home, and a real local cultural center.
Village Lights is a treasure. Nathan and Anne have put gazillions of hours of sweat equity into the place, it being fairly run down when they bought it. Now it’s gorgeous with rich, dark wood appointments and a fabulous tin ceiling. There are comfortable couches and sofas placed strategically throughout the two-floor shop as well as a stunning ebony grand piano with actual ivory keys on the first floor.
TLO and I copped a few titles including de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Bellow’s Herzog, and a lovely first edition of Capote’s In Cold Blood.
Do yourself a favor and take the ride out east to Madison one of these weekend days while the fall colors are still hot. And by all means do the Switzerland County stretch of SR 56. You’ll thank me for the tip.
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