
Game of Crones - danso
https://longreads.com/2019/05/06/game-of-crones/
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danso
> _But the man who would become my second husband desired a child, so I made a
> child happen. That’s our dynamic. He writes checks; I make things happen. As
> noted, I have money of my own, but he out-earns me by a factor of 10-to-1
> and he talks a good socialist game on Twitter, so our arrangement seems only
> fair._

It’s not specifically relevant to her experience as a mother or her
established career as a professional writer, but the author’s husband is David
Simon, best known for creating of “The Wire” (among other HBO shows). Her
reference to his Twitter persona made me laugh :)

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snarf21
Really enjoyed her writing style. This was the most telling part of the story
and our search for meaning in life as reflected in the eyes of a child.

"... This summer, because of my job, she will return to Tuscany, her fourth
visit. She has stayed in luxury hotels, flown in business class, eaten at
five-star restaurants, sat in premium seats at Broadway musicals.

But she says the most fun she ever had was the result of three off-brand dart
guns that retailed for $9.99 each. I believe her."

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kalleboo
The only thing I gleaned from this piece is "be rich; don't be poor"

~~~
el_cujo
Seriously, I get the sense that the take-away is intended to be "you can be an
older woman and still have a career AND a child if you just work hard!" when
really material wealth seems to be a bigger factor. She even mentions having a
fulltime nanny for the first four years of the kid's life. It's not that
surprising that your rate of book writing only slightly slows when you have
hired help for the hardest years of child-rearing. This sentiment is
lampshaded several times but is still way understated.

I'm not trying to say that her experience was easy, I'm sure it was really
hard. I just think the empowering "you can do it too" message is severely
undercut by the privilege.

~~~
leetcrew
to be fair, she does explicitly say "Money made motherhood possible for me" in
the first paragraph of the third section.

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yellowapple
Tangent from the article: apparently there's an American Girl Doll space pack,
and now that's on the radar for my American-Girl-Doll-obsessed nieces (perhaps
for Christmas?). Maybe not the full-blown spaceship, though (that'd blow out
my Christmas budget); the spacesuit looks pretty neat, though.

~~~
bertil
Thank you: that was definitely the part that I expected HN to react to.

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Zanni
Wow. I didn't expect to enjoy an article about an "old mom," but this was
fantastic. Her voice is so direct and engaging. This reads more like a blog
post that just happens to be brilliant. Now I want to read one of her novels.

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wazoox
I know someone who's naturally born of a 50 years old mother, completely
accidentally and unplanned. So this could happen, too.

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rnernento
It's interesting that if you google her this comes up:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/style/modern-love-my-
biol...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/style/modern-love-my-biological-
clock-cant-tick-fast-enough.html)

~~~
caprese
> I was just moving along the path I thought we were supposed to be on.

Consistent

Also many people go through the motions of trying to make a baby eventually -
or any of the rites of passage - she did it for a year with a husband and
moved on. Checked the societal box one year out of the 30 adult years before
she did it. It would be interesting to figure out if the universe came
through, and/or he got his sperm count fixed and/or she got her uterus lining
fixed to help with the discomfort.

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caprese
> he out-earns me by a factor of 10-to-1 and he talks a good socialist game on
> Twitter

I appreciate this author and her recognition of privilege

