Mean girls meets the Trump administration playbook in Hannah Selinger's Valley of the Moms. The combination of petty vindictiveness and unstoppable abuse of power to perpetrate privilege makes for a delightfully suspenseful read.
At first glance Hamilton, Massachusetts seems bourgeoisie utopian with its beautiful homes and Lululemon clad moms shepherding carefully cultivated children between elite activities while dads commute to power jobs. But behind all this lie sinister machinations.
Newcomer Anna gets a decidedly uneasy vibe when she tries to sign up her second grade daughter for her school's Ziti with Your Sweetie dance. After a long time refreshing her computer she reads that it has been SOLD OUT. Checking out the PTO's Facebook page, she learns about a ticket pre release the day before to parents who had paid extra for premium PTO memberships. She knows what her husband would say.
"Anna could hear Denny in her ear. Don't respond. Don't get into it. Let those idiots have their premium PTO membership and just LEAVE IT ALONE."
But Anna knows it's more than just a school dance. It seriously harms the kids whose parents can't afford premium memberships . "She thought back on the kids who had been left out of things when she was small herself, the ones she knew were from poorer families, who wore secondhand clothes, who lived in houses down along Washington Street. Their parents rented, didn't own, and you weren't supposed to talk about it, because you weren't supposed to talk about money. But those same kids had grown up with less opportunity, and it was always apparent, from the time they were seven to the time they turned seventeen."
Thoughts of those kids spur Anna to action. She's going to infiltrate the PTO and turn it egalitarian. Unfortunately the members are dead set against that kind of change. Especially the leaders. Especially PTO president Mimi Mar and her two best minions. You can probably picture the teenage mean girls striding down the school halls intimidating all they encounter. Now picture them decades older just as mean but more powerful. Anna has stirred up a real hornets nest.
How far will they go to maintain the status quo?
The story is told in two strands. One, narrated by Anna, tells about her David v. Goliath struggle for the kids. The other, narrated by Denny, tells of his attempts to find out who killed her and dumped her body in a river the next year as he tries to adjust to life as a single parent.
Truly Valley of the Moms is a cautionary tale for our times.
On a purrrsonal note, Tuesday I had Children's Garden and Community Garden. Wednesday I shopped at Orono Thrift Shop and participated in the vigil. Thursday was the first meeting of the clothes mending club my friend, Emma, is starting through Black Bear Exchange. We drew a small but very excited and engaged group. I'm sure it will grow. I was sewing decorative patches on a denim jacket. I'd pinned them on last spring and let the jacket languish in my cat shirts closet. It was wonderful to have a space and time to work on it and congenial company to keep me from getting bored. I can hardly wait for our next meeting. I have some actual mending.
A great big shout out goes out to Emma for having the tenacity to carry her great idea into reality and all who are now sharing her vision.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
