Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

EDITH WHARTON

In her short story "The Fullness of Life," Edith Wharton wrote that a woman's life is like "a great house full of rooms," most of which remain unseen: "and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes." In spite of the many books written about Wharton and her work — including R. W. B. Lewis's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1975 biography — it is Hermione Lee's determination to provide an unprecedented tour of all the rooms in Edith Wharton's mansion. The text is unquestionably authoritative, impressively — indeed, almost alarmingly — exhaustive (it includes lists of Wharton's neighbors, of fellow hotel guests, of the ads surrounding her published stories, of the wines in her cellars); and it seeks, with meticulous care, to approach the soul in her innermost sanctum.

-- CLAIRE MESSUD

For all its faults, the blogosphere is still a relatively safe way for many women to participate in the public sphere. Pseudonymity and social support are aspects of blogging that can give a voice to women who might not be comfortable airing their views at a public meeting or in an op/ed. Some of these women may be willing to speak their minds on a personal blog that's enmeshed in a supportive community.

I believe that we can maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks even further by continuing to foster a culture of mutual respect online.

-- LINDSAY BEYERSTEIN

I tried to avoid reading Peggy Noonan all day, but I finally broke down and looked at her incomprehensible column. She's worried about the kids this week. We're creating a culture of fear she says and casts about for who to blame. She has no trouble pinpointing the problem.

It's the artists who depict history too literally. It's the media. It's the rappers. It's Rosie, and Imus and anti-smoking campaigns. It's the focus on global warming. She pines for the good old days of the 60s when all we had to worry about was communists. Duck and cover drills weren't as scary as this. According to Peg, we don't care enough about our children to stop warning them of the dangers they face in life. We need to shut up about politics to save them from their fears.

Oddly she doesn't mention the war on terror. Somehow she forgets that the administration she loyally supported for the last six years created the culture of fear for their own political gain and continue to play the politics of fear daily. The president she so loved until recently, speaks of nothing but 9/11 and the evil boogeymen that are out to get us. The same president whose lies and self-serving political machinations are only now being exposed.

-- LIBBY SPENCER

Why is it that the media and the government never calls the “pro-life” groups who plant bombs at women’s clinics what they are: terrorists?

-- ZUZU

"Exposed! I'm not an ethical bag" reads the front cover of today's London Evening Standard, above a story about this week's hottest fashion item. The paper says the bag created by accessories designer Anya Hindmarch to raise awareness of green issues is neither fair trade nor organic and has been shipped to the UK from China.

The sight of huge queues outside the Sainsbury's stores selling the bags earlier this week and news that the £5 bags were changing hands for up to £175 on eBay had already caused queasiness among some ethical consumers, but today's headline is likely to bring more disquiet.

So does it matter where the bag is from - or does its message outweigh the problems of its creation? The average UK consumer uses 167 plastic bags a year and only one in 200 is recycled so raising awareness of greener alternatives is important. So too are issues surrounding the provenance of the items we in the UK love to buy - so perhaps the Standard should be congratulated for doing just that.

But does the media backlash just point up the fact that this was a fashion fad that will be forgotten as quickly as it came to our attention? Is it just a case of the eco cynics seeing an opportunity to shoot down the latest green message? Certainly, it doesn't look like it will do the cause much good at all.

-- HILARY OSBORNE

Exactly what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors in this country? Even if we blow off the incompetence of preventing 9/11; the lack of pursuit of Osama bin Forgotten (by the crew without clue that is); Abu Ghraib; Guantanamo; Pat Tillman and the cover-up; the varied and false premises for war with Iraq; the debacle of said war; the lack of a connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda; the abuse and lack of support for our troops (both during and after service); still no WMDs; deliberately outing a member of the CIA; the destruction of the Bill of Rights and the flagrant disregard of the Constitution; doesn't deliberately refusing while actively preventing to help the citizens of the country you supposedly are in charge of, deserve some type of formal charges? There are dictatorships that have been held to more accountability than these guys.

-- DEB

Portrait of Wharton at age 19 by Edward Harrison May (1881)