I love Gail Collins’ column in the New York Times twice a week. Very smart, a bit wicked and sneaky in her notations, sometimes downright funny – she stands well back from the fray while telling deep truth to power in a way easily heard. Perhaps the fact that she was raised in Cincinnati gave her this discerning eye.
She was the speaker in early March at the 10th Annual Woman’s City Club National Speaker’s Forum, held at the Millennium Hotel downtown (which is back in vogue for gatherings now). Her talk, titled “Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics”, was very good, excellent, in fact. But not nearly as good as her writing. Which is interesting to me, since I always think that if you can write, you can speak.
It was a great and fun evening, however, since nearly all of Cincinnati’s liberals were there, and we all got to catch up with each other. Good thing it was a big room – since there are so many more of us than there were just a few short years ago.
What a treat! And I bought Gail’s book from 2003, America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. Which turned out to be the right choice from the pile, since her new book, about how we American women have fared since 1960, will be out in the fall. I’ll report out on 400 Years soon. And her writing is exquisite!