A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

AND THUS AYELET WALDMAN NEEDS TO FIND A NEW FORUM IN WHICH TO DISCUSS HER FABULOUS MARRIAGE: Returning to the topic of defuncting magazines, here's an entertaining discussion of all that was ridiculous about soon-to-be-shuttered high-end mommy magazine Cookie. Lots of snarking for the mockery-inclined, but also an interesting note on the differing mission of the parenting magazines of our childhood versus the parenting magazines of our parenthood:

The ladies’ magazines our mothers read were all about making the Effort visible . . . . [T]he bulk of these magazines’ pages, as well as their covers, were devoted to elaborate cakes a mother could make for any and all occasions, like a Tom Turkey cake for Thanksgiving with jellybean eyes and a wattle fashioned of Red Hot Dollars . . . . The thing about those cakes, though, is that even though they would be summarily eaten almost as soon as you had finished, the point of them would be to say, look how hard Mom worked!

Contra Cookie's New Mom:

Cookie recommended themed entertaining for the New Mom as well, but the birthday boy’s cake was in soft focus compared to the no-fuss hand-squeezed passionfruit caipirinhas served to the adult guests. How easy it was for the New Mom to entertain! [S]he could whip up an al fresco Brazilian churrasco for sixteen in no time flat, and everyone, including the four-year-old guests of the birthday boy, devoured the pork skewers and coconut rice balls she threw together just that afternoon while the New Mom sat back and ENJOYED HERSELF — and while I, reading it, wanted to scream.

Ah, Cookie. Go gentle into that good night.