A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. La Follette A LARGE box arrived in the mail yesterday, and inside done up in tissue paper and ribbon was a mammoth squash from a friend in California. The reason we...
...It looks like a cross between a watermelon and a cucumber, being the color and skin-consistency of a watermelon but the shape of a cucumber...
...I marvelled at it in Nazi Germany, in Fascist Italy, in Soviet Russia, where the ruthless force of dictatorship made any individual's life precarious every minute of the day and night...
...So the mystery is solved at last, and my mouth waters at the thought of it...
...The uncertainty and strain was almost intolerable even for an American, but I used to look at our friends and wonder how they ever endured...
...Beyond its name, however, it was a complete mystery...
...Next I tried the Congressional Cook Book—certainly some California representative therein would "give...
...The reason we knew it was a squash was that she had written she was sending, one to the "Room of Our Own...
...exclaimed the student who is living with us this Winter...
...What "higher authority" may decide on the control of the atomic bomb can never restore us to pre-bomb "safety...
...What is more, from what I read, the discovery has untold possibilities to enrich life for all...
...The discovery is here to stay...
...Needless to say, I do not hold with that point of view...
...IT is my own feeling that we should not let the shock of the atomic bomb throw us off base so that we wash our hands of further responsibility either for its control or for the maintaining of life's rich values...
...No, the atomic bomb is not going to prevent my looking forward to the joys of each season as it rolls around, or a jaunt into music or cookery as the opportunity comes...
...We all appreciate that the war has left us weary and distraught and that each of us must look about her and cultivate ways of recouping our energies and spirits...
...True that we have not made the progress we should and have been short-sighted in per-mitting selfish interests to control too much of that vast domain, but nublic opinion is steadily growing in the right direction...
...As more and more enlightened sections of our country began to appreciate the power of electricity, the people demanded to control that nower for the public good...
...None of us had ever seen the like before, but, "Let's try it...
...There can be no doubt but that we Americans have been spoiled in our unquestioning assurance that "Life Can Be Beautiful," as one of the radio programs puts it, without too much effort on our part...
...Certainly," I replied, "but I'll have to do some delving in my cookbooks to see what we are supposed to do with it...
...When the first shock of the bomb raids on Janan have subsided enough to let us do some hard thinking, shouldn't we approach the problem something as we do that of electricity...
...The sooner we get on top of ourselves, the better chance we have of mastering that world of science which is galloping along without waiting for us to catch up with it...
...Isn't this another case where sitting back in hopeless resignation gives that much more power to ruthless selfish interests which unfortunately exist in every country and every time...
...While I was having fun tracking down this bit of research, a friend dropped in and looked at me with amazement...
...Eureka...
...NOW I know that my squash is a type of zucchini (I would say "Italian" but fear the Armenians might balk) and that one cuts it up as with a summer squash, boils in salted water and, says my friend, it is perfectly delicious served with sour cream...
...The thought that life does not stretch away indefinitely and securely is a bad shock...
...This friend belongs to the too-prevalent school that claims that there is no use making further effort in life since the atomic bomb will come along in a few years and wipe us all out...
...Whereupon I went to my cookbook shelf and scratched my head...
...Again failure...
...I think this is why the atomic bomb has given us such a jolt...
...It seemed to me that one effect of this environment was to make the individual much more appreciative of the smaller joys of life—a sunset, a flowering tree, a lovely child, kindliness and thought in friendship—a thousand and one of the good things in life which we fortunate Americans more or less take for granted...
...Why spend time on such a project when there are so many more important things waiting my time and attention...
...From there on I tried the Recipes of All Nations, the Battle Creek Cook Book and on through my collection to Omar Khayyam, all to no avail...
...The size and wealth of the country, its geographical position, its still tremendous resources have given most of us an unquestioning confidence...
...What has impressed me during the years of the war, and in my travels previous thereto, is the amazing urge of human beings just to exist...
...First I took down Sheila Hibben's National Cook Book, thinking that some Californian might have the secret revealed, but sad to say I found only two recipes for Summer Squash...
...Finally I bethought me of a friend who had spent a year in California...
Vol. 9 • October 1945 • No. 40
