Smile like you mean it
August 1, 2013 11:26 PM   Subscribe

"She is a beautiful kid, but she is also sure and determined in a way that is not exactly pretty. Which is fine, because God help me if that girl ends up smiling through her entire life as if she is waitressing or pole-dancing or apologizing for some vague but enormous infraction, like the very fact of her own existence." Catherine Newman on not wanting her daughter to be "nice".
posted by Athanassiel (5 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a pretty short op/ed that doesn't really seem to bring much new to a topic ("smile!") we've covered an awful lot here; maybe this could be part of a more in-depth post if there's more to say on this? -- taz



 
good for men, too, 'cause you'll end up with less guys who fall for the barista who smiles at them too much. smiling's a bit of a waste of time and energy anyway
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 11:37 PM on August 1, 2013


She is deeply kind, profoundly compassionate and, probably, the most ethical person I know

Yes, oh yes. This is SO much bigger, better...just plain more, than being 'nice'. (100% serious, zero snark.)
posted by Salamander at 11:42 PM on August 1, 2013


I want my daughter to be tough, to say no, to waste exactly zero of her God-given energy on the sexual, emotional and psychological demands of lame men — of lame anybodies.

You mean like the lame people who are unjustifiably unfriendly to everyone?
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:44 PM on August 1, 2013


This sure is another provocative guest column in the NYT.
posted by Nomyte at 11:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


I hate to break it to them, but nobody fucking cares. I don't know what it is like in New Hampshire but who the fuck says hello to people or smiles on the street. I got people I haven't said hello to in over 30 years and I see them every day. You think I smile at them? Fuck no. And they don't smile at me either. At best we circle each other like fighting dogs.

New York exile? If mummy is always smiling and talking to people we know why she couldnt hack it.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]


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