By Rawlins Gilliland, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – I'm mystified at the number of people who seem thrilled by the thought of Martha Stewart facing possible time in prison. Even more puzzling, many of those who seem to hate this woman, whom they've never really met, are women.
When the tell-all book about Martha Stewart came out, friends - mostly women - loved clucking over the most onerous passages: how Stewart's husband had left her, how her daughter despised her, how she was a shrill witch who "came from nothing!" - and clawed herself to prominence. How "pretentious" she was. My thought at the time was, "Why do you care?" The apparent answer? Martha Stewart, like Phyllis Schlafly or Hilary Clinton, is threatening to many, while inspiring and affirming to others. Concerning her "working class" roots, try naming a few icons of style and design who come from a privileged background. Chanel? Armani? Tom Ford? Ironically, it seems to be almost requisite that taste-makers began in humble origins. P.S., Stewart is a Barnard graduate, hardly, shall we say, a rural junior college.
I reject the knee-jerk notion that Martha Stewart has been crucified simply because she's a successful woman who overstepped her bounds. If so, how safe could Oprah Winfrey be? In truth, she is an enormously successful businessperson who made enemies en route to the top. And enemies wait patiently to pounce. What Stewart allegedly did was presumptuous, careless and haughtily stupid, but why is Martha Stewart suddenly the pin-up girl for corrupt business ethics when Kenneth Lay is still living in luxury? When Michael Milken has re-invented himself as the patron saint of prostate cancer after ruining a few million lives?!
Martha Stewart created an empire making the seemingly complicated simple and understandable. When I watch Rick Bayless' series or the syndicated B. Smith shows, I feel like I'm supposed to be a swooning voyeur watching their adventures rather than learning something useful. By contrast, I learned from Martha how to approach becoming organized. A lifelong dream, and no mean feat for a man raised by pack rat artist parents in a haphazard home environment. I no longer have a junk drawer. My office is in order. My laundry area is a photo op, and my closets work. Unlike Heloise, whose crafty ideas strike me as better suited to a mobile home, Martha Stewart really does have a vision and an encouraging obsession with orderly excellence. That's a good thing!
I also learned from Martha how to make quick and easy pie crust. That one cost me a seven-pound weight gain before I tossed the recipe. How to fold a fitted sheet. Promptly forgotten, but it worked once. And most importantly, how to be foolproof when choosing a honeydew melon, my absolute favorite!
Before Martha taught me to press and smell the melon's navel, I wasted hundreds of dollars on pricy and tasteless honeydews. All I learned from Stewart's peers like the Tyco boys is something I already knew; greedy men seeking power routinely lie about sex and money.
Gee, which indicted or convicted felon made the more positive impact on our American life?
I'm bettin' on Martha.
Rawlins Gilliland is a writer from Dallas. If you have opinions about this commentary, please call (214) 740-9338 or contact us through our website at KERA.ORG.