That is one kind of deprived childhood, but it actually sounds excellent. Anyone else have an economist for a father and, if so, did it involve anything akin to putting a half a dry fig and small piece of bread under a glass every night?
November 28, 2023
"I was quite sheltered culturally. My parents listened to almost only classical music, there was no TV, we almost never went to see movies."
"Even restaurants, I realize, we didn’t go to. My stepdad, who raised me, was an economist. He had a schedule that was all about control, and my mom, who was a homemaker, went along with it. He ate the same thing every day. Every night, he would put half a dry fig and a small piece of bread under a glass, and that was his breakfast. And he went to eat lunch at the same spot every day and had the same thing. So it was very self-denying. I wasn’t exposed to popular culture at all, so I drew and read all the time, because that was the only entertainment I had. We lived in the suburbs, so you couldn’t even go out and walk around and see people. It was pretty isolating and very boring."
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From an ordered lifestyle to a judgmental publication festooned with too many labels. Mom and dad must have been real burdens to evolve such a self-loathing child. Look at me, too.
I grew up in the suburbs and there were next door neighbors and other kids across the street and up the block that I saw on a daily basis. What about other kids/people at school? How desolate was her "suburb"? She couldn't walk up and down the street?
In some ways, excellent, but culturally deprived. Like the people who don't know their bible, I bet she misses a lot of the color and depth of her conversations.
When I read about her dad's breakfast, I immediately started picturing a sickly, emaciated man.
She probably thinks that there is diversity in color, in class, than in individuals, too. What an urbane concoction.
Mrs. DtM's father was a research professor. He kept meticulous notes in his personal life. For example, he bought a VW Beetle new in Europe. When he gave that car to my wife 20+ years later, in the glovebox was the book where he had recorded every single time he put gas in it, how much it took, and calculated the fuel mileage. He did the same every time he checked the air pressure in the tires, changed the oil, etc.
He must have lived in a wealthy suburb with large lots. Most Kids in suburbs find it easy to get on their bike and visit friends.
If I had to eat the same breakfast every day, it sure as hell woulnd't be a fig and a piece of bread. Probably would be oatmeal, milk, and coffee. With fruit on top.
I don't know why, but the part about half a dry fig makes me wonder how much of this is exaggerated. Or maybe figs are just much bigger where she comes from.
I also think only classical music and lack of TV sounds pretty good right now. I doubt my younger self would have cared for it much, and I liked classical as a child.
I'm quite addicted to films. and I've watched way too much Tv in my life when I was young. It probably would've been better if I'd been listening to classical music and doing something more productive.
When my Mom told me to turn off the TV, and go out and play, she was right.
No doubt when I'm on my deathbed, I'll probably think: If only I hadn't wasted so much time on the internet.
The bare-bones description doesn't indicate an abusive or a non-abusive background so it's hard to make a judgment. I notice that while her step-father was self-denying, it doesn't say that he made the rest of the family eat a date and piece of bread for breakfast every day---under glass or not.
Certainly, given the fact that she read and did art, her parents didn't deny her education and creative outlets. If it was otherwise a loving environment, it sounds a lot better to me than raising kids in homes where the TV is always blasting and nobody reads books.
A show about "about what it feels like to be a woman, the body as a site of complication" I wonder if the people who write meaningless drivel like this laugh when they are at work or if they actually think they are saying something.
When the college maid asked Wittgenstein what he wanted for lunch he replied it didn't matter so long as it was the same thing every day.
I struck out on my own by using job earnings to pay for flying lessons at 15.
Fish sticks and tuna casserole every Friday. Even after the Pope said it was OK to stop.
I think she made 90% of this story up.
'He had a schedule that was all about control...'
Or efficiency or frugality or being somewhat on the spectrum...
Very honest woman.
That doesn't sound like an economist. It sounds like someone sailing awful close to OCD.
(In fact, modern psychiatry sees lots of "disorders" as just one end of a spectrum, with lots of non-crazy people showing less severe symptoms.)
This isn't rare worldwide or over time...just a form of ascetism...think of monks in hair shirts as they self-flagellate...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism
A substantial percentage of millionaires are invisible too. They are savers rather than spenders. They find pleasure in order and resources rather than show and indulgence.
"Don't knock it until you try it."
Even in my rural area, I could see the neighbors' houses through the trees, and could hop on my bike for a spin with little to no traffic to contend with. What suburban neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks?
This sounds more like her stepfather being a bit of sperg, and like Sheldon Cooper, unable to deal with any sort of stimuli outside of his tight control. The author's mother likely went along with it as I'll bet the meltdowns over anything new would have been atomic.
I'm a lawyer, not an economist, and I too generally have the same breakfast, lunch, and snacks every day (although sometimes with some variation on lunch). It has nothing to do with self-denial. Rather, it is about not wasting time and effort figuring out what to eat.
Good grief- what kind of suburb did she grow up in with no people and no place to go out for a walk?
Anyone else have an economist for a father and, if so, did it involve anything akin to putting a half a dry fig and small piece of bread under a glass every night?
The description suggests Asperger’s syndrome more than anything else.
Meh, sour grapes! Bet she wouldn't be nearly as successful as an artist if she'd spent her youth watching TV and listening to ABBA records!
My dad was an economist. He also grew up during the depression. He was frugal and quirky. Tough to say what caused what.
Was she home-schooled?
So, I went and read the article, A nd looked at some of her work. Turns out, the suburbs ahe mentions are in Geneva. I have no concept of how life would be like on the outskirts of a Swiss city. She mentions the magazine "Charlie Hebdo" as being a really dirty French magazine. Interesting.
The there is her art. Definitely not my cup of tea. Weird, industrialized human figures with gigantic sexual features.
She seems nice.
A Swiss miss, people. A Swiss economist. Easy for me to imagine the scene.
Not that great an artist IMHO, but she and her works are photogenic.
I thank my lucky stars that I was exposed to classical music early and live. I can no more imagine life without it than I can imagine life with no music at all.
Her artwork looks like a cross between Gahan Wilson's comics and Terry Gilliam's animation on Monty Python.
My (now adult) children have an economist for a father. All they got some boring phrases and no trips to disney world.
She apparently grew up in Geneva. I have no idea what suburbs in Geneva are like, but they may not be like the suburbs most Americans know.
Even if there were neighbors with children nearby who Ms. Bonnet could have engaged with, we do not know how much her personality or that of her parents (or father) may have inhibited or prohibited her from seeking normal social contact and friendships with those children.
Why is it an issue?
I’m thinking it’s not her folks.
It’s her.
Color me surprised. Not.
What kind of suburb does not have people you can watch? We rode our bikes all over and saw plenty of people. People building roads and houses and buildings. People shopping at the Five and Dime as we’d race through using the sloped asphalt as a jump into the Thrifty Drug parking lot. Other kids hanging out around the bowling alley and the pinball arcade. Lots of people at Shakeys Pizza and the strip of 40th Street where Del Taco and Tasty Freeze were. What kind of suburb do they have on the east coast?
"We lived in the suburbs, so you couldn’t even go out and walk around and see people."
This sounds like BS. I grew up in the suburbs, there were plenty of people around. The only way you could avoid seeing them is if you never left your house.
My daughters have an economist (and engineer) for a Father. They claimed it was child abuse when I made them fill out their own tax returns starting at 13. The teachable moment was when we figured out how much my eldest's tax was and she asked me, "Why does the government want part of my college fund?"
tim maguire:
When I read about her dad's breakfast, I immediately started picturing a sickly, emaciated man.
Exactly what I saw. Sitting by a dirty window in a strapped T in a tenement building. In striped boxers and black socks.
That first paragraph reads like it was written with a bad clutch.
Then at the link the mandatory "Lookee, I'm an artist!" pose.
Maybe he went to a cafeteria on his way to work and just never mentioned it. I knew several guys whose wives couldn't cook very well and who were eating well in work cafeterias and calmly accepting tiny portions at home. They never mentioned the cafeteria. It was the wives - who were sort of hungry - for whom I felt sorry but, then, why not learn to cook? But they absolutely did not want to think about cooking.
This reminds me of the story of The Shaggs. Which happened in New Hampshire in the Sixties, unsurprisingly. There's something strange about that state.
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