Carolina Capers: Trailblazer & Food

I’m still enthusing about spring here and reveling in the beauty of droopy, fragrant Chinese wisteria (header photo), early azaleas, and the lovely slim branches of the redbud trees.

A SINGULAR WOMAN

Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray

If you spend any appreciable time in mid-coast Maine, you are likely to become aware of Frances Perkins, first Secretary of Labor and first female U.S. cabinet secretary.  She was originally from Newcastle, Maine, and served for 12 years in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cabinet.  Her homestead is now a designated historic site and open to the public certain times of year.  The Chief Penguin and I learned about this site and a few years ago briefly met her grandson Tomlin Coggeshall who was instrumental in establishing the Frances Perkins Center.

Up to now, I only thought of Miss Perkins, as she was known professionally throughout her life, as a devoted and dedicated unmarried public servant.  Stephanie Dray’s historical novel presents a much more rounded, fuller portrait of this woman while also detailing her critical, essential role in creating, advocating for to Congress, and implementing the Social Security program. Many of us benefit from this program today.

A reserved New Englander, Perkins was ambitious, smart, and an astute judge of people.  Her initial encounters with FDR were off-putting as she found him shallow and too full of himself.  She was friends with Sinclair Lewis before his success, got to know Eleanor Roosevelt a bit, and ultimately married Paul Wilson, a wealthy economist.  Theirs was a love affair later disrupted and strained by his mental breakdowns.  

Frances kept her personal life extremely private and shielded her daughter Susanna as best she could from the worst of her father’s illness.  Her later encounters with FDR were more fruitful as Frances began to work with him in the New York State government and then during his presidency.  It was a partnership that benefited both.  

There are several biographies of Frances Perkins, most of them written 15 years ago or more.  What Dray does so very well here is capture what this woman was like outside the office.  Relying on documents and letters, the novel is written from Frances’ perspective.  But being very thorough, Dray provides an in-depth afterword stating where she has deviated from the historical record and made novelistic assumptions.  I found this a totally engrossing depiction of a trail-blazing woman and heartily recommend it!  

Related Works

Earlier I enjoyed very much both Dray’s The Women of Chateau Lafayette about a historic castle in France and My Dear Hamilton.  She makes history and these individuals come off the page.

As a footnote, I was somewhat amused to read this week in the Boothbay Register that a Maine woman, Ruth Monsell, has written a new biography, Frances Perkins: Champion of America’s Workers, that will be released mid-April.  It will be interesting to see if this work covers new ground.  (~JWFarrington)

ADVENTUROUS EATING

Bosphorus

Earlier this week, we joined a group for lunch at Turkish restaurant in downtown Cary.  In existence since 2006, Bosphorus is a welcoming small restaurant.  Service was friendly, and the Chief Penguin and I ordered the lamb shish kebab and the chicken shish kebab, respectively.  Each came on a bed of bulghur pilaf with a  house salad of lettuce, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes plus a cucumber dip.  The portions are generous and tasty.  Turkish tea was offered for dessert along with baklava.  

The menu also includes a selection of appetizers (hummus, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves et al ), wraps, salads, and Turkish pizzas.  The dinner menu is similar to that at lunch.  A casual place with good food. 

Note: Header photo and redbud tree ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)