A Year in High Heels

Tragically I am falling further and further behind and also realizing, I don’t think I care about this anymore. While Ms. Morton is certainly covering a variety of topics, I just don’t have time to read each one and blog about them each day. And again, I find myself saying, “So?” Okay, so lets read about a poet, and then a musician, and then a paga holiday, and then the history of the kiss, blah blah blah. Maybe if I’d read this in my early 20’s and I felt like this information could be particularly useful in social settings or something, or I felt like it was rounding me out as a person, I’d enjoy it more. But at the cusp of 36, I’m more interested in keeping myself organized, my house clean, and not burning out at work. Which I suppose is saying something depressing…either that or it’s February. AKA the worst month known to man.

Christopher Marlowe

A contemporary of Shakespeare, whose work I am not likely to read, and who died tragically at 29 years old in a drunken brawl. I feel less badly for him, and more badly for his friend who accidentally stabbed him in the face, and then had to live with it for however long his likely short life was (people didn’t live long in the 1500’s). I do like the poem shared in the book, but that’s about all I can say about it because it’s poetry and this one was short.

Charles Dickens

At least we’re on a literary bent, which I can kind of get on with. I read an abridged version of Great Expectations when I was about 12? It was probably earlier, but I can’t remember now. Tragic story as most of Dicken’s works were. Probably because his own life pretty well sucked. Also, Ms. Morton is insistent that we’re keeping things French this month. We aren’t.

Thomas Moore

The most I know about this man is from Ever After, which references his book Utopia. The book features heavily as a treasured object, before it gets burned in a fire by a wicked step-sister. And is the reason for the main character of that film to be such a deep thinker ready to radicalize the monarchy. I don’t think any other piece of media has done as much for the popularity of Utopia as Ever After has.

Don’t Lose Your Head

Apparently Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded on February 8th. She was 44 years old at the time and there was worry that she was going to take the throne from her cousin Queen Elizabeth. Frankly, it’s ridiculous. Even if Mary had wanted that power, it wouldn’t have been likely that she would have ruled for very long. Again, people often died young in the 1500’s. So it would have been very much in her interest not to try to take the throne. If only Elizabeth hadn’t been so paranoid. Rather a bit of a gruesome paragraph here actually, not really needed.

Romance

We get a bit here about Albert and Victoria, and the love match that they had throughout her reign and his life. The series the Young Victoria was very enjoyable for this in a dramatic and probably not entirely historically accurate kind of way. But the costumes and set pieces were lovely, so I will forgive some fudging.

In this section suggestions are also made for getting out there to find your own prince charming. They include putting out a personal ad, reading the personal ads, hopping online (but be careful and discerning), and including some fun X’s and O’s in your correspondence. I’m sure things have changed a ton in the dating scene since this book was published (tindr, bumble, etc), but I wouldn’t know. I’ve been happily married for nearly 10 years now, so this part really doesn’t apply to me. Thank god.