The Smithian

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art: photo of Bobby Womack by Rory Van Millingen

[how they’re doing it] in London

What is a good husband, though? In [Yvonne] Brill’s case, it appears to have been one who supported her professional aspirations. In her interview with the Society of Women Engineers, she says that he agreed before they got married that she’d keep working; she said she’d seen young women engineers held back by husbands who were jealous of their success, even as she’d been helped by one who was “self-confident” enough to joke, at parties, about getting to spend the money she earned. At one point, she moved for a job of her own—one in London. He stayed behind in New Jersey.

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Fashion week fever may have died down in Paris, Milan, New York and London, but in India it’s just getting going.

[meaningful glance]

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art: photo by Charlie Phillips: “Notting Hill Couple,” 1967

[Zadie] Smith’s radar-sharp ear for dialogue, her visceral sense of place and the rhythms of the London streets make for some animated and memorable scenes in this book…

built her up…now the tear-down…

“When the proverbial cheapness of chips comes under threat,” the paper wrote, “the Times says enough is enough. Let us make our position crystal clear: we are against this weather. It must stop raining, and soon.”

…the film revolves around two brothers, Ade and Femi. Ade…a successful lawyer based in London, travels to Johannesburg for a conference with his wife. He…arranges to meet his estranged brother, Femi…a former student activist, who, after being tortured (seemingly by the Abacha regime), fled to South Africa where he…sells hair extensions and works on construction sites. Femi does not turn up for the meeting, but soon, his South African fiance, Zodwa, turns up at Ade’s hotel to report that Femi is missing.

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