Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Regarding Berkely Breathed

Some interesting tidbits of info from my readers:

Little known fact about Breathed: many years ago, about the time he graduated from UT, he pled No Contest to a charge of releasing baby alligators into Town Lake (the Colorado River that runs through Austin).

A wildlife biologist snarked that all Breathed did was to feed the turtles.



Yes, Breathed was a lot more fun when he was writing The Academia Waltz for UT Austin. I used to read it every day; I even bought one of his books. I know he moved from there to California - wasn't it San Francisco? Anyway, it's really too bad - he has actual talent. Austin, Texas was a veritable island of ultra-liberal/radical politics when the rest of Texas was solidly conservative back in the late '70s (and, of course, in the '60s). I guess one can't develop as a young adult in such an environment, then move to ?San Francisco? and be rational. Tsk.
(It took me quite a few years to figure it out myself - I stayed in Austin.)

Maybe he doesn't include himself in the man-hatred he evinces. Maybe he thinks that only certain types of men are so terribly despicable - and, of course, HE isn't like that. Who knows? I'm really very disappointed in him.

I'll sign up for anti-Male-Bashing. My husband is country, conservative, worked in a factory most of his adult life, retired, loves football, hunting, and fishing, has great kids, and is a wonderful grandpa and husband. His brothers are the same.

I'm a physician. Most of the docs I know are men, fine men, who just want to help people through their work, who have families whom they love and try very hard to spend time with. It's often difficult for them, because the ethical commitment that their work requires interferes with their family life. Um, exactly where do they fit in with Breathed's (and most man-haters') concepts?

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