Anonymous wrote:Is she is happy, why is she hiding how she lives from the person on the other end of the zoom? Why the divider thing behind her? Because she's clearly embarrassed with how she's living.

My husband had an efficiency when we married and we had a divider to section off the bedroom. Normal to have in order to create a bit more privacy. Every person who enter my home doesn’t need to see my bedroom.

It is hysterical to read this with post after post discussing this piece of art as if it is a real person who actually lives exactly like this.
More amusing than the actual art.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Progress”

Thank goodness I'm not expected life that I don't want like my grandmothers were. Progress to me means you can live happily in your 5, 4, and a door; and I can live happily in my apartment. If you snipe at my choice it probably means you're not as happy as you think you are.

It's interesting how the only people slinging insults on this thread are those who are offended by the thought of a single woman. Hm.

Not true at all. I am a happily single woman with a clean house, and I find the woman in the picture to be gross and deplorable. There is nothing modern nor cutting edge about being nasty. If she thought it acceptable, she would not feel the need to hide it in her zoom date.

of course she doesn’t find it acceptable. don’t you have any areas of life where your actually doesn’t meet your ideal? Or are you perfect? This cover is art - it’s not a referendum on the importance of house keeping.

I'm an essential worker, have gloves AND mask at home, have the cat and the Match account and some mess (not as bad as cover image). I find this cover charming and would love a book full of pandemic scenes of all kinds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me clear this up. Pile of books on her left, silhouette of a man on screen...BUT, the dead giveaway is the size of her hoop earrings (age 25). The medical gloves on floor hints that she may be in the medical field. The disarray is funny, but not unmanageable. Couple of prescription bottles may indicate a chronic illness; immuno issue, migraines, anxiety, whatever. Two cats doesn't mean a thing, yet it's purposely done to create maniacal speculation that her life is somehow less gratifying than yours.

Grad student on a zoom date.

She’s a woman of color. Hoop earrings are not a hard marker for age. I’m Afro-Latina and late 40s. I will be buried in my hoops.

I’m white and I have the same hoops. Why are you so focused on her race/ethnicity? It’s not really the point.

The PP claimed the hoops set the woman’s age at 25. Makes sense if the woman was not black or Latina. Hoops are trendy for young white women. Not the norm for white and Asian women over 30. You are clearly super-edgy and a fashion icon.

I am a painfully normal 47-year-old white woman and I have hoops that big that I wear frequently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Progress”

Thank goodness I'm not expected life that I don't want like my grandmothers were. Progress to me means you can live happily in your 5, 4, and a door; and I can live happily in my apartment. If you snipe at my choice it probably means you're not as happy as you think you are.

It's interesting how the only people slinging insults on this thread are those who are offended by the thought of a single woman. Hm.

Not true at all. I am a happily single woman with a clean house, and I find the woman in the picture to be gross and deplorable. There is nothing modern nor cutting edge about being nasty. If she thought it acceptable, she would not feel the need to hide it in her zoom date.

Thank you! I agree. How much time does it take keep that tiny living space clean? Probably not much more time than it took to set up the room divider and adjust the laptop so the mess can't be seen.


But actually, the drawing would not be nearly as interesting if the living space was tidy.

NP - I think that is the beauty of this cover. To your point, a lot of people are depressed. This is one of the first signs. She’s wearing the mask. When she isn’t wearing the mask.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Progress”

Thank goodness I'm not expected life that I don't want like my grandmothers were. Progress to me means you can live happily in your 5, 4, and a door; and I can live happily in my apartment. If you snipe at my choice it probably means you're not as happy as you think you are.

It's interesting how the only people slinging insults on this thread are those who are offended by the thought of a single woman. Hm.

Not true at all. I am a happily single woman with a clean house, and I find the woman in the picture to be gross and deplorable. There is nothing modern nor cutting edge about being nasty. If she thought it acceptable, she would not feel the need to hide it in her zoom date.

Thank you! I agree. How much time does it take keep that tiny living space clean? Probably not much more time than it took to set up the room divider and adjust the laptop so the mess can't be seen.


But actually, the drawing would not be nearly as interesting if the living space was tidy.

Anonymous wrote:You have to click the link to see the entire photo -- the woman is standing outside of her house with her husband and two small children.

To think of the profit that came from a single quarter ~70 years ago, which in my opinion is a head nod towards your point. So much symbolism here!

Anonymous wrote:I showed the magazine to my family. Comments were as follows:

DS#1 (grad student): "She's on a Zoom date. Why is that so controversial?"

DS#2 (college student): "She has cats -- I think the dog/cat thing is always controversial. Personally, I would never date a woman with cats."

DD (college student): "She looks like your basic college student or grad student, like someone who'd be my friend, but not my roommate -- her apartment looks like DS#1's room."

DH: "She's living her pandemic life. Oh, and she hasn't shaved her legs."

LOL. The great thing about it is that everyone is right! That is the beauty of art.

Anonymous wrote:Hope she will not refuse the mask on the floor. Something tells me she will run out in a hurry and wear it again after being on the floor.

I've seen multiple millennial women do this before. I used to go to the outdoor SoulCycle pop-up in the Union Market parking lot, a few of the young women would take off their masks for class, drop them on the parking lot concrete, and wear them again after class on their sweaty faces. Blegh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Progress”

Thank goodness I'm not expected life that I don't want like my grandmothers were. Progress to me means you can live happily in your 5, 4, and a door; and I can live happily in my apartment. If you snipe at my choice it probably means you're not as happy as you think you are.

It's interesting how the only people slinging insults on this thread are those who are offended by the thought of a single woman. Hm.

Not true at all. I am a happily single woman with a clean house, and I find the woman in the picture to be gross and deplorable. There is nothing modern nor cutting edge about being nasty. If she thought it acceptable, she would not feel the need to hide it in her zoom date.

We all have the ability to choose our own paths and this is the path she chose. She seems happy and who are we to judge?

Or maybe she’s like the teen mom bashing 30+ moms in the other thread and she’s already raised her kid and got divorced.

The 1957 cover looks a lot like where I grew up in the suburbs of Boston. Looking at it now, I think of the (generally) happy home my family lived in -- though my family isn't white like the one depicted -- but I can also conjure up Cheever stories and images of the pain that might have been hidden in those lovely old houses. Similarly, this week's cover made me smile -- a young-ish woman who's doing her best to make a life for herself during this unprecedented time. Maybe this Zoom date will be the one. At the same time, I can see how some folks might see pain there -- loneliness or uncertainty -- but some of the interpretations here are just bizarre and mean-spirited.

You have to click the link to see the entire photo -- the woman is standing outside of her house with her husband and two small children.

Anonymous wrote:“Progress”

Where's the woman in the first cover?