Word: melmac
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...that, when cooled, is virtually unbreakable and dishwasher-safe. This made it the durable dishware of choice on some U.S. Navy ships during World War II. After the war, designer Russel Wright and the St. Louis-based company Branchell, among others, developed molded dinnerware out of melamine, known as Melmac, designing sets under names like "Flair," "Fortiflex" and "Color-Flyte." Throughout the 1950s, as Americans started buying processed foods and washing machines, clamoring for anything that conveyed "modern," colorful melamine bowls and plates became mainstays in kitchens across the country. Unfortunately, Melmac tableware was prone to scratches and stains...
...past decade or so, Melmac has become popular again, with collectors and savvy eBay dealers selling Wright and Branchell pieces, and new designers using the material for retro-themed household items...
Every summer my parents rented a cottage at the shore, lugging Melmac plates and jelly glasses, setting up a beach encampment by day, playing cards by night, always with the same families. Part of the pleasure came from there being ever more children and grandchildren--and the same spouses. All wasn't sweetness in the family: doors were slammed, tears shed, dreams thwarted. With her energy and brains, my mother might have run General Motors. Instead she ran us, and felt there was no greater happiness. As we race from boardroom to courtroom, soccer practice to PTA, with hardly...
...still an instigator. If I fall in love with a show called Gilligan's Island, I'll turn the Tanners' backyard into a lagoon. If I don't like the President's policy on nuclear arms, I'll phone him on Air Force One and explain how we incinerated Melmac. Still the same old me: no moral compass, no sense of proportion, no fear. I still break things a lot too. I learned the hard way that you can't smoke fish in a toaster, puree a rock in a blender or light an oven an hour after you turn...
...into trouble because I am smart and energetic, even if my intentions are good. The people who push this idea say that in about half the shows I am bored, frustrated or hurt and trying to run away from home, something children do here a lot. Remember how on Melmac it was always parents who wanted to run away -- at least at my house...