Althouse: "Nancy Casey, 41, a nurse practitioner in Portland, Ore., isn’t fazed by garbage. ('Eh, I’m up in vaginas all day.')"

December 31, 2017

"Nancy Casey, 41, a nurse practitioner in Portland, Ore., isn’t fazed by garbage. ('Eh, I’m up in vaginas all day.')"

"Still, it’s her husband’s job. 'I do everything else,' Ms. Casey said. Trash night in Portland is especially taxing, she said, because it occurs only once every other week. Moreover, the standard bin is half the size of the compost and recycling, which are picked up weekly. 'It’s the liberal hippie thing. There must have been some kind of movement,' said Ms. Casey, who grew up in Chicago."

From "Taking Out the Trash? That’s Still a Man’s Job, Even for the Liberal Coastal Elite" in — can you believe it? — The New York Times.

I said "can you believe it?" because I'm surprised to see the NYT expressing disgust about vaginas. #NotMyFeminism.

I'm surprised in a more positive way to see the "liberal coastal elite" called "liberal coastal elite" and mocked for hypocrisy.

61 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Don't get Titus started on the superiority of coastal eliteness.; 12/31/17, 6:50 AM
Gahrie said...: A bigger point might be made about how many women work on the trucks picking up the trash, and why. Even today when many of the trucks are fully automated and the drivers never leave their cabs, there are very few women picking up our trash each week.; 12/31/17, 6:53 AM
rhhardin said...: Vaginas are beautiful is a feminist line.

Even guys see vaginas as mostly a hygiene problem, in an objective mood.; 12/31/17, 6:57 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: So she is saying vaginas are worse than garbage?; 12/31/17, 6:59 AM
Humperdink said...: This is getting a lot of national exposure. It was just highlighted on Fox News.

A knee jerk response would be for men to start a MeToo movement, but we won't. We will just shut up, smile and take out the trash. We will not make a federal case out it.; 12/31/17, 7:00 AM
David Begley said...: Not a pretty picture. I, for one, would never equate a vagina with garbage.; 12/31/17, 7:01 AM
FIDO said...: So blatant, even the NYT will cover it.

That might be a new tag line.; 12/31/17, 7:02 AM
Gahrie said...: There is a reason why "bumping uglies" is a euphemism for sex.; 12/31/17, 7:04 AM
FIDO said...: By the way, has the NYT started covering those Iranian protests yet?

Has Krugman reported on the improving economy yet?

Has the NYTs noted the cause of the Venezuelan meltdown yet?

Cause these are other stories which seem...under covered by the Times.; 12/31/17, 7:05 AM
Ambrose said...: Only once every two weeks?; 12/31/17, 7:09 AM
rhhardin said...: Here, you can pay extra and get recyclables picked up but most people drop everything in the can.

It's really easy.

The rest of the nation should take a look at it.; 12/31/17, 7:13 AM
David Begley said...: News flash. 2018 approaches. Hillary still not president. #notmyFeminism; 12/31/17, 7:14 AM
Gahrie said...: I said "can you believe it?" because I'm surprised to see the NYT expressing disgust about vaginas

To be pedantic, (which is usually your job) it was Casey who made the comment about vaginas, not the NYT. They just reported it. (still surprising, I know); 12/31/17, 7:16 AM
rhhardin said...: I have a photo tag "trash" for out-of-place items to be picked up with the trash that I go by on bicycle commutes

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rhhardin/tags/trash

They do get picked up.; 12/31/17, 7:17 AM
Gahrie said...: We have three cans (trash, recyclable and compostable) that get picked up once a week.; 12/31/17, 7:18 AM
iowan2 said...: "A knee jerk response would be for men to start a MeToo movement, but we won't. We will just shut up, smile and take out the trash. We will not make a federal case out it."

Yea, well, we keep your mouth shut unless you're willing to forego vagina access entirely; 12/31/17, 7:48 AM
Expat(ish) said...: Have kids, make the garbage their problem.

It doesn't solve the problem, but it pushes it out 10-15 years, which is a long time.

-XC

PS - When we had three small ones at home we'd fill our super large garbage bin easily every week. No idea how people do without rational garbage pickup policies.; 12/31/17, 7:50 AM
Kevin said...: Liberal coastal elites see hippies as the deplorables of the left. Yes they share the same stated values, but little else.

This article is a shot over the bow of bringing that level of hippiness to the Upper East Side. Those people certainly aren't going to live with their trash for two weeks.

"Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."; 12/31/17, 8:03 AM
jwl said...: Awkwafina - my vag like operatic ballad .... Your vag like grandpa's cabbage
-----------

It sounds like Ms Casey sees women awkwafina having a beef with.; 12/31/17, 8:04 AM
rehajm said...: Nurses are unfazed by biohazard. So this one liked the play on up and vagina. Eh, as she says...

Dismantling the Amazon boxes is a bit of a workout but all the cardboard probably negates any environmental benefit from composting and the other crap they feel righteous about on garbage night.; 12/31/17, 8:05 AM
Henry said...: Trash is not the husband's job. It's a 10-year-old kid's job.

If you don't have kids, don't complain about your trash.; 12/31/17, 8:06 AM
rehajm said...: In the article they're pretty fast and loose on the trash vs. garbage distinction but NYT fired all of their editors didn't they?; 12/31/17, 8:08 AM
Paco Wové said...: "It’s the liberal hippie thing. There must have been some kind of movement"

They don't fluoridate the water either.; 12/31/17, 8:09 AM
MayBee said...: I steadfastly believe the sorting of the garbage is to make people feel like they are doing something good for the environment.
There is simply no way these big trash companies *need* us to do all this sorting, nor are we reliable enough that we can be solely responsible for what gets dumped and what gets recycled.; 12/31/17, 8:11 AM
Meade said...: exhelodrvr1 said...
"So she is saying vaginas are worse than garbage?"

It's time that we let the world know
Bitch ya v@g look like Janet Reno
Meadafina's a genius
His garbagina is 50 times better than a telekinesis; 12/31/17, 8:20 AM
Michael K said...: Here, you can pay extra and get recyclables picked up but most people drop everything in the can.

It's really easy.

The rest of the nation should take a look at it.

Sam Yorty was elected Mayor of Los Angeles on a platform of not having to separate trash and recyclables.

That was back when California was not insane.; 12/31/17, 8:20 AM
Henry said...: There is simply no way these big trash companies *need* us to do all this sorting, nor are we reliable enough that we can be solely responsible for what gets dumped and what gets recycled.

At least the multiple bin regime is a recognized failure. The single-source recycle bin acknowledges this truth.; 12/31/17, 8:21 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @rh

I love your trash photos.

We were laughing at the one Meade titled "Unimpressed by His Master's Voice."; 12/31/17, 8:25 AM
Wilbur said...: At work we are each given two wastebaskets. One, dark blue with a recycling symbol impressed into the plastic, the other an ancient metal old fashioned one with a plastic liner. When the blue one was assigned 15 years ago, we were instructed how important it was that we only place recyclable paper in the blue basket. Because we're helping save the world, dontcha' know.

I love it when the Nicaraguan woman from the cleaning service comes in every morning and empties them into the same collection barrel. I give her a big smile and a buenas dias.; 12/31/17, 8:25 AM
Humperdink said...: @rhhardin. I looked at your photos. Very nice collection. My brother-in-law must have been by as I saw no lawnmowers in your pics. He picks up discarded mowers, repairs them, and re-sells them. He tells me they typically only need the spark plug replaced.; 12/31/17, 8:37 AM
Charlie Currie said...: When I was a kid, we didn't have plastic trash cans on wheels with flip top lids. They were galvanized metal with lids that occasionally stayed on. After I built my first skateboard - 1961 - I figured out I could wrestle the can on to it and roll it down the driveway to the curb... I should be getting royalties. We also had a garbage can - no disposal to get clogged up on Thanksgiving - that we lined with newspaper and dumped our kitchen waste - excuse me, compostables - in, then once a week wrestled the maggots to the curb without gagging.; 12/31/17, 8:38 AM
Wilbur said...: If you have maggots in your garbage on Thanksgiving you must live in the Southern Hemisphere. Or on the equator.

I picked up garbage for the city in which I lived for 3 summers when I was in college. We hefted, toted and dumped those old fashioned metal cans all day. You became inured to the smells and filth, casually brushing off maggots from your overalls.

You also learned quickly how to pick up a can. Firstly, use one hand. You don't have time for two. Don't use the side handles - the can will swing down and dump a third of the contents on the ground. Pick them up one-handed on the top rim and flip/dump them in the truck.

By summer's end I had forearms of steel.; 12/31/17, 8:52 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I live in Portland. Trash every two weeks works because we have two full size bins for recycling and compost that are emptied every week. The compost bin is nice because it includes yard waste. We don't have to wait for spring cleaning to keep the yard clear. Sorting recycling is a pain, but the extra space for disposing of tree branches makes up for it.

Difference between men and women: men get help. I feel zero guilt about delegating tasks kids can do. Adults have bigger responsibilities, like paying the mortgage.

My son takes out the trash. And the compost. And the recycling. It's a boy's job. And when he moves out it will be a girl's job, because sister is next in line.

My wife does most of the yard work and I do most of the indoor cleaning. Strange, I know, but she likes being outside and I worked so many years in restaurants that cleaning a kitchen or bathroom is fast and easy.; 12/31/17, 9:01 AM
cronus titan said...: Our son worked as a lifeguard last summer, and all other lifeguards were young women who would fit in well in Brooklyn. One day, one of them saw a mouse in the shed in the equipment they needed that day. THey reverted to gender norms, as it is sometimes said. Our son was assumed to get the mouse WITHOUT HURTING IT. He trapped it and put it in an aerated box. After 10 minutes of intense analysis about what to do (they found his suggestion of feeding it to the poor hungry snakes unamusing), they promptly resumed their small talk about lazy men.; 12/31/17, 9:06 AM
mockturtle said...: We were laughing at the one Meade titled "Unimpressed by His Master's Voice."

Nice, Meade! ;-D; 12/31/17, 9:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Taking out the trash? That's what Trump is doing in DC. It is a man's job.; 12/31/17, 9:20 AM
FleetUSA said...: @rh. Yes, an interesting collection. Could be titled "the backside of America". Many less developed countries could find use for all of that.

@FIDO. Maybe the NYT doesn't cover those stories because their readership would end up in the ER for the harm they would do themselves.; 12/31/17, 9:21 AM
mockturtle said...: In this area of southern Arizona it's customary to set 'giveaways' by the street to be picked up by interested parties. As many of us here are snowbirds, not all are familiar with this practice. Someone recently left some yard tools on the street side of their perimeter wall and the tools disappeared. The owners reported it as a theft but it was just a misunderstanding.; 12/31/17, 9:25 AM
tcrosse said...: Two garbage pickups a week here in Vegas. Not a bad idea in a hot climate.; 12/31/17, 9:28 AM
MacMacConnell said...: rhhardin
Enjoyed your TRASH images, clever.

Also enjoyed Meade's Nipper reference.; 12/31/17, 9:29 AM
MacMacConnell said...: FleetUSA said...
@rh. Yes, an interesting collection. Could be titled "the backside of America". Many less developed countries could find use for all of that.

Here in Kansas City the practice is to take useful items like furniture to the city's lower income neighborhoods and drop it at the curb. It's retrieved within 30 minutes.; 12/31/17, 9:39 AM
Leslie Graves said...: The NYT article made me curious about:

* How is this chore handled in same-sex marriages?
* Why didn't it occur to the writer to think about that
* Why didn't it occur to the writer's editor to ask the writer to think about that; 12/31/17, 9:48 AM
Henry said...: @mockturtle -- that has happened in my New England town as well.

There are a few town-based Facebook groups, including one for free stuff and another for general news and crosstalk. The woman that lost the something-or-other posted about it on the facebook page and within a day the woman who accidentally took it profusely apologized and returned the item. Sometimes the small-town thing really works.; 12/31/17, 9:57 AM
MadisonMan said...: I could handle trash pick-up every other week. Think of the cost savings!

When it's hot, and there is something that will stink, you put it in the freezer 'til trash day.

I'm not sure what people with kids in diapers would do, but I can't solve all the problems.; 12/31/17, 10:14 AM
Big Mike said...: I’m pretty sure I would not like to live in Portland.; 12/31/17, 10:20 AM
mockturtle said...: Big Mike guesses: I’m pretty sure I would not like to live in Portland.

I'm pretty sure you wouldn't, either, but garbage collection has little to do with it.; 12/31/17, 10:26 AM
n.n said...: Husband? Ms? Mistress?

Vagina. Black hole. Diversity. That's an invitation for a visit from the NAACP.

Trash pickup every other week. They're just begging for a bag (or diaper) full of...

She can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan, but she outsources waste management. Sounds a bit greenish.; 12/31/17, 10:33 AM
n.n said...: Trash night... How is this chore handled in same-sex marriages?

The more feminine of the couplet, male or female, would fry up the bacon, while the more masculine, male or female, would take out the trash. "=" and complementary.; 12/31/17, 10:36 AM
chickelit said...: Dust Bunny Queen posted an amusing take on this over here.

Trash night... How is this chore handled in same-sex marriages?

The more feminine of the couplet, male or female, would fry up the bacon, while the more masculine, male or female, would take out the trash. "=" and complementary.

I can confirm this from recent experience.; 12/31/17, 10:41 AM
reader said...: When I was first married I called my mom one day with my nose out of joint. I was irate that my husband, JG, wasn't making the bed. My mother was raised by my grandmother and great-grandmother. My grandfather died when my mom was two and my great-grandfather died when my grandmother was nine (shot by a man protecting his still!). My mom divorced my dad when I was in high school because he was an alcoholic.

I was certain my mother was going to share my indignation concerning John's refusal to equally share this chore. I am woman, hear me roar!

Me - JG won't ever make the bed, I have to do it every day! He sleeps in it too! I'm not his mother! (Not so much roaring as whiney.)

Mom - Does he get upset if the bed isn't made?

Me - No

Mom - Is he happier when the bed is made?

Me - No

Mom - Sounds like the bed is your problem. If you want the bed made, make the damn bed.

Best advice ever.

JG takes the garbage out. He doesn't really care about the garbage. But he likes my cooking and wants to make it easy for me to do.; 12/31/17, 1:11 PM
rhhardin said...: Guys are happy living in a complete mess, if it means not cleaning up.

They can understand the lady might not prefer that and will clean up for her.

The lady's motive is to invite friends over to show off what a good deal she made, I assume.; 12/31/17, 1:27 PM
mockturtle said...: Reader: Your mother is very wise. :-)

Neatness and order were always important to me but not to my husband. I never complained about picking up after him for that very reason. You'd think a research scientist would be tidy but you'd be wrong. He never put his tools away and left messes where ever he worked. Party passive-aggressive behavior, I suspect. He got notes from the corporate cleaning service giving notice that they could not clean his office due to the clutter. He didn't care. He swore he 'knew where everything was'. Right.; 12/31/17, 1:29 PM
Etienne said...: Portland trash goes to a transfer station where the garbage is sorted. All recyclables are removed, and the rest is compacted.

The compacted trash is taken by truck 150 miles to Arlington, Oregon.

That's the good news. The bad news is, the trucks have to go back 150 miles empty!

Can you imagine 50 trucks driving 150 miles empty!

Only in America...; 12/31/17, 2:14 PM
Jim at said...: Trash once a week.
Recycling every other week (larger bin).
Glass and bottles once a month.
Yard waste goes over the back hill - out of sight - to the ravine above the creek.
Circle of life.

Needs to be done. Never really thought about whose responsibility it is.
Never will.; 12/31/17, 4:41 PM
Jim at said...: That's the good news. The bad news is, the trucks have to go back 150 miles empty!

Several cities in Washington also ship their waste to Arlington, OR. And it's a lot further than 150 miles.; 12/31/17, 4:43 PM
Jim at said...: In fact, now that I think about it? Pretty sure all of Seattle's trash ends up in Arlington.

What a wonderful, green example they set for the rest of us.; 12/31/17, 4:45 PM
chuck said...: When I was a kid we were big on recycling. We recycled CO2 by burning fall leaves in piles and the trash in an incinerator. What was left over got buried. Loved that house, stove was mixed propane and kerosene and a shallow well was in the basement. Lord knows where the septic tank was. I thought the only houses that were better were the ones that still had wood burning stoves. Kid's opinion, of course. These days the homes are upscale and go for half a million, the two acre lot minimum is what did it. It is probably a felony to burn your trash ...; 12/31/17, 9:04 PM
Scott M said...: And in this case — and this case alone — women are fine with that.

Uh-huh...bullshit. There are many other cases, princess.; 12/31/17, 10:57 PM
Scott M said...: It’s about men’s desire to get out of the house, Ms. Gersick thinks; a sanctioned opportunity to step out, away from the children and the chaos, into the dark solitude of night.

Oh, FFS. I do it because it HAS to be done. My wife has only ever done it when I've been out of town on garbage day. Ditto the lawn. Ditto anything having to do with plumbing, carpentry, the roof, the gutters, clogged toilets, and more from a much longer list. There are things she does exclusively like everything having to do with our daughters' clothes (I handle mine and my son's) and anything having to do with feminine hygiene for all three of them. Other than that, it's all shared. The housework, the driving of kids, the landscaping, etc.; 12/31/17, 11:02 PM
Jim S. said...: Uh, I live in Portland and have for most of my life, in various neighborhoods all over town. I have always had once-a-week trash service.; 1/1/18, 3:06 AM
Etienne said...: Jim S. said...Uh, I live in Portland and have for most of my life, in various neighborhoods all over town. I have always had once-a-week trash service.

Our family lived in Rockwood in the 60's. We got trash service when we called them. We put a check taped to the lid. This was in the day when two men rode on the back and worked both sides of the street.

Our trash was so compacted it came out into their truck like a thud. My brother and I used to use 4x4's to compact it. We got charged by the can, so the more you got in the can, the better the deal. We burned everything we could in a burn pit.

My brother was given the house after mom croaked, but he never had the trash changed over to the new weekly system, as mom was grandfathered-in with the old system. But then they closed that system down, when the average age of those customers would have been 100.

So my brother had to start getting weekly service. No more compacting required...; 1/1/18, 5:40 PM