Ozzie and Harriet in 2006

One thing I find disturbing in our culture today is the reverence for traditional conservative life: the kids, the family, the house, money. When I was a kid in the sixties and seventies things were in turmoil, culturally and socially. Feminism was a rising movement. Women were not content to pop out babies and make flower arrangements. This schism was underscored by Ann Richard's death; her life story is an illustration of how our culture was changing in positive ways. But now, when I walk around Brooklyn, I see the latter-day Ozzies and Harriets, only now they have lots of tattoos and drive Range Rovers and hang out at self-consciously un-Starbucks cafés. It makes me want to escape to the past.