Word: transients
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...this country, of course, we don't have a nobility, the idea having been outlawed by the Founding Fathers (who nevertheless insist on being known by capital letters). Human nature and affectation being what they are, we have naturally produced a nobility of our own, somewhat more transient although hardly less worthy than the British kind. Their lordships were created by the Sovereign, ours by Sam Goldwyn. Theirs try to be seen with the Queen, ours with Joan Rivers. What our crowd lacks in gravitas, it makes up in laughs. Nor has it produced a noticeably poorer class of peer...
This pose of respectability is part of the joke, of course. Nothing underscores outrageousness better than a no-nonsense manner. Frazier's method reaches an apotheosis of sorts in the title story. Things begin innocently enough: "In today's fast-moving, transient, rootless society, where people meet and make love and part without ever really touching, the relationship every guy already has with his own mother is too valuable to ignore." In arguing that men should start taking a sexual interest in their moms, Frazier, like any responsible essayist, raises possible objections to his plan: "One problem is that lots...
...discovers the American air to be full of strange odors and foreign languages, especially English. She is part of a typical "Jewish immigrant hegira": first the densely packed tenements of the Lower East Side, later the wide open spaces of the Bronx, where her household is a turnstile of transient relatives. Simon's father plugs along in the shoe-design business and resents the energy and inquisitiveness of his wife and oldest daughter. Kate learns early that men can be a primary cause of pain and guilt...
ANONYMITY IS THE modern way. We spend much of our lives--in the street, on the bus, in the store--with people we don't know. There is a certain comfort in this, a kind of transient absolution from social niceties; after all, we'll never see these people again. Aptly, the sociologist David Riesman '31 has called our culture "the lonely crowd...
...Concord to MCI-Norfolk. There's a "constant cloud over Norfolk," Grannum says. Concord is the Massachusetts prison system's classification center, where officials determine whether prisoners should be given minimum, medium, or maximum security. From Concord, they are shipped to the appropriate prison. Because of Concord's largely transient population, it is known to be one of the more peaceful prisons in the state...