Word: wasps
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...secret of class consciousness. "It took me nearly a quarter of a century to realize that here was the tension that gave me a subject," he notes, after admitting that while growing up Irish Catholic in West Hartford, Conn., he yearned to be an Episcopalian and a member of Wasp society...
...beginning was mainline Protestantism. At Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, and for 3 1/2 centuries thereafter, the denominations known today by that label defined the spiritual and moral ethos of the U.S. These prominent Wasp bastions nurtured the founders, imparting to them notions of republican government and individual freedom. Dominating American Protestantism, these churches shaped virtually every aspect of an evolving nation: its pioneering colleges, its 19th century novels of sin and rectitude, its capitalist ethic of striving and saving, and a world-conquering spirit that was shared by missionaries and entrepreneurs alike. Mainliners were at the forefront of social crusades...
What do these increasingly fantastical scenes mean? The audience may never be quite sure, but one thing is certain: playwright Tina Howe, overpraised in the past for her wan Wasp tone poems (Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances), has infused new energy into her work. At the same time, she has sustained her gift for hinting at profound meanings in humdrum moments. To Howe, the eternal in life is clearest in its ephemerality; the memories that haunt us to the end of our days are of the most ordinary, and thus revealing, events...
...campus elite energetically pursues the image of New England WASP wanna-be's. The prevalence of J. Crew clothing--the photos in a recent catalogue were shot on the Duke campus--is a universal joke among students. I even saw one undergrad carry a J. Crew catalogue into a hall bathroom. To the casual observer, much of Duke looks like an Ivy League school with a basketball team...
Robbins is a hard man to please; this is one notoriously imperious impresario. "When I work on a show," he says, "I'm a wasp. You know how a wasp buzzes around and keeps you on your toes and worries about everything. There's a sound in the air that keeps everything moving." At times the buzz becomes a sonic boom. "Jerry was still rehearsing during previews," says Victor Castelli, a City Ballet soloist who is assisting Robbins. "The kids are exhausted because they are not used to it, and Jerry will be frustrated and annoyed and will yell...