Yesterday morning, I had a 10 pound ham and not much clue of what to do with it, so I googled "ham glaze" and ended up at Martha Stewart's website. She had pages of tips of how to score the ham, what to do with the skin, and how to mix up a lovely brown sugar/cognac glaze. After printing out those pages, I got distracted clicking on other things on her website.
She had a warts-and-all scrapbook of her life, which included mention of her divorce and pictures of her entering court for the insider trading scandal. There's a picture of her leaving prison wearing a poncho that a fellow inmate made for her. Martha is oddly comfortable documenting the bad things in her life.
I've always been fascinated by Martha Stewart. I had a subscription to her magazine years ago. I've got a bunch of vintage dishes in my cupboard that Martha told me to buy. I liked the scrubbed, organized lifestyle that she painted, even as I was wearing black and hanging out in dark bars in the East Village.
Several years ago, Steve and I were at the Pier Show visiting a friend who sells antique glass. Jonah was a toddler sitting on Steve's shoulders as we browsed the mid-century furniture and artwork. We saw Martha in running clothes roaming around, too, so we stalked her for a while.
Martha is a fascinating political subject. Is she a feminist? On the one hand, she preaches a lifestyle that involves women doing painstaking cooking and sewing. She added several steps to the baking of the Easter ham. When my sister in law saw me removing the skin of the ham and scoring the fat in a crosshatch design, she said that there's no way that she would do all that work. If one really wants to live the Martha lifestyle, one must make it a full time job.
On the other hand, Martha has become a very wealthy, powerful woman from knowing how to correctly score the fat of the Easter ham. She may have backed the wrong horse in the Clinton-Obama fight, but she's a mainstay in New York Democratic politics.
There are a few other pop culture women that have a foot in the area of politics.
Angelina Jolie has the philanthropy and foreign-policy angle. I also think she's interesting for putting a dent in the traditional image of motherhood.
Oprah Winfrey certainly gave a boost to Obama's campaign, demonstrating more political strength than Ted Kennedy.
There are several other pop culture women, who have gone beyond the glossy magazine covers to make a real political impact. Their large followings and money have a huge impact on gender politics, the women's vote, and in politics in general. Judge Judy might be one of them. Who else should I add to that list?
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