A Dose Of Reality

I came across this piece by Molly Jong-Fast this morning, which is running in this month's issue of Scooter magazine. It's a refreshing take on competitive parenting in Manhattan, and how we all need to take it down a notch.

Jong-Fast grew up in what I consider real Manhattan, the island of the 1970s and 1980s when the city's problems actually were life-threatening: violence, crime, AIDS, etc. Now that the city has cleaned itself up, parents don't have anything real to worry about, and so they compete over schools, vacations, etc.

We all know those parents who use schools as status symbols or who act as if they are continuing some great family dynasty, but if you follow them home for the holidays you will find them in a boring, Midwesterm suburb, not a Connecticut mansion. It's refreshing to read a piece that calls parents out on their nonsense, and puts things into perspective.

This Is The Book To Read On The Beach

Every summer there is at least one truly fantastic chick lit novel that I can't get enough of. In 2009 it was Laura Lipton's The Mating Rituals of the North American WASP. (Particularly funny if one grew up in lower Fairfield County, comme moi.)

In 2010 Alexandra Lebenthal knocked it out of the park with Recessionistas.

This summer I'm up late reading under a mag light thanks to Molly Jong-Fast's The Social Climber Handbook.

There have been plenty of chick lit novels written about the pre- and post financial crisis era, and some of them have actually been good. The trick, however, is to write about the Upper East Side and not turn the characters into cartoons. It takes someone who knows the terrain to do it correctly, and -- as a card-carrying member of the New York Junior League -- I'm amazed at how accurately and nuanced the uptown crowd is portrayed. Everyone is flawed and the plot takes some great turns. This is chick lit done well.

Go Hops!

I'm off for the weekend to Pennsylvania. I will once again be reunited with Peppe and Val, my beasts who have been vacationing out in the country since Christmas.

In the meantime, some light reading:

A wonderful piece in The Hollywood Reporter about Bethenny Frankel, one of my personal Allahs, if only for the soothing effects of her Skinny Girl Margaritas.

Molly Jong-Fast's piece about competitive parenting. Which should remind us all that the Upper East Side is not the only part of Manhattan that has good schools. Don't forget the West Village or -- my personal favorite -- Murray Hill!

Everyone has been linking to this New York Times piece about toxic sugar. Enjoy those chocolate bunnies, y'all!