The Outfits hung ready; imposing frills, and colour that would give you a headache in a dark room.
The boys were Not Keen. Jeffrey had suggested a cowboy outfit instead!
There was a hubbub in the garden today. Bunting had been put up, a long table had been put up, and there was a cake which the boys had been told not to touch until later.
They both watched out of the bedroom window as the adults hustled and bustled about.
The Outfits hung ready; imposing frills, and colour that would give you a headache in a dark room.
The boys were Not Keen. Jeffrey had suggested a cowboy outfit instead!
They got dressed. Badly.
Dad bustled in, took one look, and started tucking Karl’s shirt in.
‘Come on boys, this is an important day for Nana; we all need to be good and soon there will be cake!’
‘Cake!’ the boys agreed.
‘Oh, you both look darling!’ he said, and wiped a small tear from his eye. ‘Right, gang, let’s go!’
Dad led them out of the bedroom and into the hurly-burly of preparations.
‘OH MY BOYS!’ Nana shouted.
‘Happy birthday, Nana!’ Karl said.
‘Bless you, sweetie, it’s not my birthday, it’s my wedding day!’ Nana smiled. ‘I’m marrying my greatest love!’
But I bumped into them again by the compost heap, and I have never been so happy! So why not spend the rest of my life happy?’ Nana asked. She stood, smoothing her dress.
They held onto the ring cushions tightly - Dad had been firm about not dropping them. Very firm.
And as quickly as that everyone was throwing confetti and cheering.
‘Come on, Karl, it’s cake time now!’ said Jeffrey, and they made a beeline for the table.
And finally IT WAS CAKE TIME!
‘Hello, boys, how are you? It’s all been a bit waiting for cake, hey?’
‘You and Nana looked so happy!’ Jeffrey said.
‘Love is nice, but kissing is yukky, Nana Norma!’ Karl said.
And Norma smiled a happy smile.
More from Life
"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
As a dean of a major academic institution, I could not have said this. But I will now. Requiring such statements in applications for appointments and promotions is an affront to academic freedom, and diminishes the true value of diversity, equity of inclusion by trivializing it. https://t.co/NfcI5VLODi
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) November 10, 2018
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
