A friendly reminder from the reality-based community

In yesterday's NY Times:

To the Editor:

David Brooks writes: “Today’s super-wealthy no longer go off on four-month grand tours of Europe, play gin-soaked Gatsbyesque croquet tournaments or spend hours doing needlepoint while thinking in full paragraphs like the heroines of Jane Austen novels. Instead, their lives are marked by sleep deprivation and conference calls.’’

Jane Austen’s women were squarely in the middle class and often part of families on the verge of economic ruin. The reason they sat home doing needlepoint is that women of their class weren’t allowed to do much else.

The reason they thought in full paragraphs is that they were blessed to be the creations of Jane Austen.

Betsy Feist
New York, Aug. 3, 2006

At least the source material for Brooks's alternate universe is something classier than Star Trek.