Comments on Advertising for Love: Hot!!

@Anonymous "but in 1860, as a fact of sociolo...

2009-06-30T15:05:33.850-04:00

@Anonymous "but in 1860, as a fact of sociology, your interpretation couldn't mean anything but the life-threatening ruin of that woman. " Unless, of course, she was a very discreet widow.

No, snark away, I get very defensive of my ads is ...

2009-06-22T18:02:53.908-04:00

No, snark away, I get very defensive of my ads is all but I can always use constructive criticism.

Honestly if I was using this ad in my research I would be looking at it much more seriously and probably coming to the same conclusions as you. But it's much more entertaining to write about them this way - what's so cool and appealing about the ads is how open they are to interpretation if you DON'T have to be an academic about it. So here's where I get to play.

mostly teasing you guys...but in 1860, as a fact o...

2009-06-22T17:34:31.840-04:00

mostly teasing you guys...but in 1860, as a fact of sociology, your interpretation couldn't mean anything but the life-threatening ruin of that woman. surely, the most likely interp'n of the ad is that they met at christmas, did not spend days together, but rather the last time they met was at canal and broadway. no dramatics, just funny semantics. (but ahem, what's cynical about history and fact? am i the only person who doesn't make passes at people in rose-colored glasses? i'll shut up...shouldn't be snarky on your site, since the ads you have up are so lovely and fun!

@Anonymous - wow you are so much more cynical than...

2009-06-22T13:27:12.205-04:00

@Anonymous - wow you are so much more cynical than I! You might be right, but I don't know that off-the-rails stalker control freak is the only possibility here.

Future dead hitchhikers? Am I missing something?

wow. christmas man is publicly alleging that she ...

2009-06-22T13:07:40.397-04:00

wow. christmas man is publicly alleging that she had an anonymous sex bender with him (in the 1800s, that meant a woman subsequently starves to death or has to be a prostitute), and then that she rode off towards 5-points, the bar and whorehouse part of town. he is an off-the-rails stalker control freak or trick-gone-wrong. she's an unlucky barmaid trapped for a WEEK in an apartment with someone to whom her reputation (aka survival) is wholly irrelevant. nice read, future dead hitchhikers.

Aw, that's very sweet. But I'm going to s...

2009-06-21T17:12:40.463-04:00

Aw, that's very sweet. But I'm going to stick with my version.

Hmmm... I wonder if we can be sure there WAS sex i...

2009-06-21T14:46:20.794-04:00

Hmmm... I wonder if we can be sure there WAS sex involved. An alternative narrative: Two lonely people meet on Christmas eve, listening to carolers in Union Square. They realize that neither has anyone with whom to spend the holiday. He lives alone in a rambling townhouse west of the park; she is a young woman who, for some reason, is stuck in New York without a place to stay.

So the gentleman, being a gentleman, offers her the hospitality of his home for the holiday. He asks his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, to make up a room for her, and they spend the week celebrating the birth of the Saviour and participating in charity works in the city.

Feeling herself attracted to her chaste benefactor, she decides to discretely return to her studies at Vassar college on the Monday morning, and thus escape what could have been an awkward situation...