On the Basis of Sex, out in limited release December 25, 2018,  depicts Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her pre-Supreme Court days.  The movie catches Ginsburg back when she was a 24-year-old superhero.  In 1956, at the age of 24, Ginsburg (Felicity Jones in the film) was balancing a near impossible set of pressures:  She was one of nine women students at Harvard Law School.  She was caring for her husband, Martin Ginsburg (Armie Hammer in the movie), who was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer (and was still in law school).  Finally, she was the mother to a toddler, Jane Ginsburg.  Jane was born in 1955, right before her parents began Harvard Law School.  In an interview withThe Atlantic, Ginsburg credited Jane for helping her maintain perspective while she was a law student.  “I think I had better balance, better sense of proportions of what matters,” she said.  "I felt each part of my life gave me respite from the other.”  James, who was born in 1965, doesn't figure into the movie as much as his sister, Jane.  Unlike his sister, James didn't follow in the family tradition of a career in law (though he did go to law school).  Instead, he became a record label executive.  Though perhaps James' love of music was genetic, too—Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a huge opera fan.  In 1989, when he was a first year in law school, James Ginsburg launched Cedille Records, a classic music label.  Twenty years later, Cedille Records is going strong.  In 2009, James was named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune for his work championing Chicago's musicians.  Elena Nicolaou  https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/12/219920/jane-james-ginsburg-now-rbg-children-2018-basis-of-sex



Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn in 1933, the daughter of a furrier peddling finery in the midst of the Great Depression and a mother who prized education.  Her family would have confronted the social difficulties of being Jewish in an era when anti-Semitism could be found overtly painted on signs:  “No Jews allowed.”  In the 1970s, the second wave of feminism was going mainstream and women’s rights were taking center stage, while sexism continued to be pervasive and women continued to be told that their place was in the home.  “When feminism hits the society . . . it’s like a typhoon.  It goes rushing through,” Ellen DuBois, a professor of history and gender studies at UCLA, says of this moment in history.  Feminists, she adds, were “sort of exotic creatures” in the early 1970s, often mocked as ear-aching complainers.  Ginsburg, after becoming the first tenured female law professor at Columbia University, co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union and devoted herself to the cause.  Ginsburg was the 92nd woman to ever argue in front of the Supreme Court, according to an analysis done by author and lawyer Marlene Trestman.  In 1966, Cushman says, only 1% of advocates making oral arguments before the court were women.  By 1976, the number had reached 5%.  By 2000, it was closer to 15%.  Her position as a successful lawyer arguing historic cases was the exception to the rule.  Ginsburg has said she had to work not only against anti-Semitism and hostility toward women, but that people like her had “to be sure you were better than everyone else” to overcome that sense of being other.  Katy Steinmetz https://time.com/ruth-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court/



Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. * We have the oldest written constitution in the world still in force, and it starts with three words, 'We, the people.' * It is not women's liberation.  It is women's and men's liberation. * A gender line does not put women on a pedestal . . . but in a cage. * Ruth Bader Ginsburg



Herbert George Jenkins (1876–1923) was a British writer.  In 1912 Jenkins founded his own publishing company:  Herbert Jenkins Limited.  Its offices were in a narrow, 19th-century building with five floors in Duke of York Street, just off Jermyn Street in London.  It was a successful business from the start because of Jenkins' unique ability (at the time) to cater for the ever-changing public taste.  He also had a good eye for new talent, not being discouraged if a manuscript had been rejected by other publishers.  His publicity methods were innovative, too; with arresting advertisements and dust jackets, and a monthly publication called Wireless, which was widely circulated among his readers.  Jenkins' first publication was Willie Riley's first novel Windyridge, and the firm went on to publish most of Riley's 39 books, ending with The Man and the Mountain in 1961, the year of Riley's death.  In 1915 Jenkins published A. S. Neill's first book, A Dominie's Log, launching his career as a famous teacher and writer of books on education.  Herbert Jenkins Ltd published many of P. G. Wodehouse's novels, starting with Piccadilly Jim in 1918.  By the 1950s—long after Jenkins' death—the company was still being run as a 1930s business might have been.  In 1964 it merged with Barrie & Rockcliffe to form Barrie & Jenkins, which continued to publish Wodehouse's novels, but specialised in books about ceramics, pottery and antiques.  In 1969 the company published the first of George MacDonald Fraser's popular The Flashman Papers novels after it had been rejected by many other publishers.  Barrie & Jenkins had a short commercial history and was taken over by Hutchinson, who were themselves taken over by Century and then by Random House (now owned by Bertelsmann).  It continues to exist as a specialist imprint mainly for hardback editions within the Random House stable.  Although Jenkins is best known for his light fiction, his first book was a biography of George Borrow.  He was an admirer of the poet and visual artist William Blake and conducted research into his trial for high treason and the location of his lost grave, writing a book on him in 1925.  His most popular fictional creation was Mr. Joseph Bindle, who first appeared in a humorous novel in 1916 and in a number of sequels.  The stories are based on the comedic drama of life at work, at home and all the adventures that take place along the way.  Jenkins also wrote a number of short stories about Detective Malcolm Sage, which were collected into one book in 1921.  Three of the Sage stories were included in Eugene Thwing's 10-volume collection of vintage detective stories, The World's Best 100 Detective Stories (1929).  As was the norm at the time, many of his fictional works appeared first in pulp magazines.  Two of his novels and several of his short stories were made into short movies.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_George_Jenkins



Few of us have the necessary unselfishness to hear with gladness the talents of others extolled . . . Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson



Sander Vanocur, TV journalist and panelist in Kennedy-Nixon debate, dies at 91   Cokie Roberts, influential Washington broadcaster, dies at 75   Ric Ocasek, singer-songwriter and sparkplug for the Cars, dies at 75   James Robertson, federal judge who took stand against warrantless surveillance, dies at 81  Washington Post  September 18, 2019



September 16, 2019  Fans of the surreal, the bizarre and sardonic anthropomorphic cows are in a fervour after The Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson’s website was updated this weekend with promises of “a new online era”, 24 years after the reclusive creator retired at the age of 44.  Larson’s iconic Far Side cartoons were syndicated in more than 1,900 daily newspapers from 1980 to 1995, treating readers to daily offerings from his offbeat visions of the world.  Alison Flood  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/16/the-far-side-trails-new-online-era-for-gary-larsons-beloved-cartoons



Dining with 'Downton Abbey' by Mary Bilyeu  The six seasons of TV's Downton Abbey spanned 14 years, from the Titanic’s sinking in 1912 up to 1926.  Cooking, baking, and dining were integral to the show, with scenes of formal multi-course dinners, quiet and solitary breakfasts in bed, glorious holiday meals, simple evening suppers after a long day’s work, and a private picnic.  These played a critical role in establishing the culinary and social mores of the time, as well as documenting their evolution.  Find recipes for Cider House Hens, Savory Caraway Cabbage, Yorkshire Parkin, and Digestive Biscuits at https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/food/2019/09/17/dining-at-downton-abbey-movie-binging-with-bilyeu-recipe-cooking-pbs/stories/20190918001



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. - Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (18 Sep 1709-1784)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2156  September 18, 2019