World according to Mary

Colm Toibin's novel, The Testament of Mary, that re-imagines Mary in light of a humane mother and a "real" woman, instead of a mythical mom who was simply a function of God's grand scheme, has been "trending," along with the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict's resignation.

The novel has been adapted into a play that is currently playing on Broadway. It's a "bold, brazen piece" according to Maureen Dowd of the NYT. 

The Mary of Toibin's creation is illiterate yet intelligent (a pointer for T that literacy has little obvious connection with intelligence per se), has echoes of Antigone and Electra, and is no "idealized, asexual and docile Madonna, tenderly cradling her son's bleeding body, Pieta-style."

This Mary cannot bear to witness the horror of crucifixion, disapproves of the outcasts that surround Jesus and (most scandalously) misses sleeping with Joseph.

Mary disdains the men who flock around Jesus' drive for power, for she can tell that they are in it, not for love of god, but for the creation of powerful institution by mythologizing the story of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection. She hates the notion of hiding the truth to protect the institution they are building.

Toibin is an (lapsed) Irish Catholic and gay. 

Mapping the schmoozing gene

The secret to the success of Russ & Daughters, New York City's iconic store that sells the most delicious smoked fish and other accessories (T and I have availed of it), is "schmoozing."

That's according to Mark Russ Federman, who has written an eponymously titled book on the store and its history.

Joel Russ, a Polish-Jewish immigrant of the early 20th century, opened the store in 1914, after he saved enough money from selling herring on an open pushcart.

When Joel's three pretty daughters came to work at the store in 1935, the store was named "Russ & Daughters."

The book has funny tidbits about Joel Russ:

He had to arrange his daughters' marriages because it was hard for them to date, as they smelled too fishy and were too tired to socialize at the end of an extremely hard day's work. But Joel retained the "right of first refusal" and dismissed potential suitors who were not strong enough to schlep barrels of herring, or smart enough to add up a column of numbers on a brown paper bag. Having ascertained that a certain future son-in-law would look good behind the counter, he would tell his daughter, "fine, you can marry him."

Joel was a non-romantic (as most successful business people reportedly are), and called his wife "Zug" which loosely translates from Yiddish into "Hey you!"

Apart from schmoozing, the business culture of Russ & Daughters has also shown remarkable adaptability and has evolved with the local food culture of the Lower East Side, a locality that is now rife with the culture of hipsterism. 

Now they sell sandwiches with names like Super Heeb, Boychick, Shtetl, The Meshugge. The Super Heeb has Sesame bagel, horseradish cream cheese, whitefish salad, and wasabi-flavored flying fish roe.

Goldman (Same)Sex

A few years ago Llyod Blankenfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, made a commercial in support of same-sex marriage.

At that time, Blankenfein said, he had the feeling that he was taking a timely stand on what many consider to be the era's most important civil rights issue in America. Blankenfein was surprised to find that he was a bit lonely out there at that time, but the "virus," as it were, of marriage equality spread and this week, Goldman Sachs was one of more than a 100 corporations that lodged their support for same-sex marriage in two briefs filed with the Supreme Court. 

Historically, corporate America has been a laggard in participation in civil rights movements. It doesn't want to get involved in politics for obvious reasons.

According to Gavin Wright, Professor of American economic history at Stanford University,

[Corporate America] supported a public accommodations law only after sit-ins and boycotts inflicted heavy losses and it became clear that these pressures were not going to fade away as the latest student fad. On employment, even leading textile firms resisted and dragged their feet, certainly not testifying in support of civil rights legislation. But that changed [...] when they found that desegregation actually worked.

Corporations avoided Equal Rights movement and decades ago showed little interest in the Women's Movement. While many companies have joined in Supreme Court briefs in recent years in support of Affirmative Action and diversity in workplaces, the participation came after a long time.

Corporate America no longer wants to lag behind as a socially and politically conscientious entity. 

The world has changed since the time of the preceding civil rights and image counts as does the intricate interconnection between being "good" and being "profitable," at least on the outside. 

"I think people wanted to attach themselves to what may be the last great civil rights issue of our time," remarked Blankenfein (after pocketing a record CEO package this year).