Magic More Useful than Home Economics

[video here; had to remove the embed, since it was auto-playing some lively orchestral music!]

Since my last two posts have been novel-length, I thought I'd give you all: a) a break, and b) a video on Home Economics from the ever-splendid Prelinger Archives of ephemeral films. I found this video via Rob Walker's murketing blog. Which, for the record, is great. Mr. Walker featured it in his "Sponsored Film Virtual Festival," an absurdly interesting exploration of the Prelinger Archive. I like his analysis, too. Listen to this: "To me what the film is really about the transformation of knowledge, or rather the control of knowledge — the replacement of folk learning with organized and managed learning; the replacement of skill acquired at home from family and community, to skill acquired from authorized experts."

And if that's not appealing, I don't know what is.

At one point in time, I decided to write a term paper on the development of home economics curricula. I collected many library books on the topic. They lived pleasantly in my room—under my bed, nestled up against my powercordless electric keyboard—for months. I did not write the paper. I returned the books.

I probably wrote about something useful, like amateur magicians, instead.