Bonni Brodnick Blog

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May 8, 2008 "I Swear" By Bonni Brodnick Guest Columnist Whenever one of my mother’s sentences begins with “I swear,” I take cover and get ready for the diatribe. If I’m in the kitchen, I stop chopping. If I’m in the car, I turn my Blue Tooth lower. It’s just too good to miss. “I swear, kids these days purposefully dress with no respect. They show their underwear, for crying out loud. Boys’ pants are practically falling off. And what’s with those stringy things on girls’ hips? Do they have any idea how ridiculous that looks?” “No, Mom, I don’t think so.” “If you dress sloppy, you act sloppy. Years ago you would have been scorned by society and looked at askance if you showed your belly button or underwear. Clothes had some sense of propriety and rules of society. There were parameters of knowing what’s right and what’s wrong. I swear there’s just too much laissez-faire nowadays. Kids have opportunities to dress the way they like and express their individuality ...

By Bonni Brodnick Is anyone else catching the new American Movie Channel (AMC) series, “Mad Men” on Thursday nights at ten? Now that the same “Soprano’s” writer/executive producer Matthew Weiner has put Tony to bed, what other soapy drama is there on tee-vee? We tried HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords.” NIX. We like “Entourage”, but besides Cooper Anderson’s “360”on CNN, where can you get drama like “Mad Men”? It’s set in 1960 New York (in the month of April, to be exact) and is about the then new world of advertising and the ruthless competition of artful sell on Madison Avenue. Main encampment is Sterling Cooper Ad Agency and the characters are cutting-edge cool. Donald Draper, the main character, is beau and brazen. Roger Sterling, his boss and co-partner of the ad agency, gives a whole new look at having a morning glass of milk (with vodka). The full-of-gloat young rising account exec Pete Campbell has a post-honeymoon twinkle in his eyes (for someone else in the office). My other sup...

By Bonni Brodnick The pocketsize Mini Coopers are about the cutest things on Westchester country roads. Going through a mid-life crisis (although at “mid” life he’d be living to 104, but don’t say anything), my husband gave in to buying a two-toned red hot Mini with a white top. I was used to driving around in a blue Volvo Mommy station wagon where I just hop in, shift into first gear, and go. No one ever looked at me. I didn’t even have to wear lipstick. “You’ll see,” said my husband. “When you drive a Mini, everyone waves. It’s just like boating.” Long Island Sound: Interstate 684? I saw no connection. No connection until I drove his Mini Cooper. Within three miles from home, two Mini drivers waved at me. Suddenly, I was no longer invisible in a Volvo station wagon. I was someone! I was also slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, hi,” I muttered and returned a wave limply under the dashboard, too abashed to look at the other driver. Another mile down the road, another Mini waved. What is this ...

POUND RIDGE PAST: REMEMBRANCES OF OUR TOWNSFOLK, by Bonni Brodnick, with photographs by Fran Collin and graphic design by Gina Federico, is a collection of more than 30 first-person interviews with the town's elders. The historical, personal recollections in this book span from the rural 1920s to the swinging 1970s and reveal what life was like in Pound Ridge, New York in the 20th century. Signed copies of the book are $30 + $4 for shipping/handling. To place your order, contact poundridgepast@gmail.com or PM me on the POUND RIDGE PAST Facebook page.

By Bonni Brodnick When I was growing up, there was a strict seasonal dress code for boys and girls. Undershirts, layer number one, and turtlenecks, layer number two, were de rigueur winter- wear. If you didn’t have a turtleneck, a dickey sufficed. An itchy wool sweater made for toasty layer number three. We wore thick, pilled tights under corduroy pants in winter and stiff new blue jeans in spring. There was no white after Labor Day, and anyone who wore sneakers in the winter was considered completely déclassé. Jumping ahead three decades or so, and I now have two teenagers. They ask for only three things (okay, four, if you count the latest iPod): blue jeans, sneakers and polo shirts. They ask for these winter, spring, summer and fall. For my 17-year old son, the blue jeans have to be two sizes bigger than his waist so that they look like they will literally slip off should he bend down to pick up something (which would be a miracle, especially if he did this in his bedroom). On the o...