McSweeney’s: Smelling our forefathers
“There is no smoking gun, no private indictment detailing taco night at the Continental Congress. We update Facebook anytime a co-worker cooks fish in the kitchenette microwave, but the Founders are largely silent in their papers when it comes to stench. They swam through a river of it every day, and immersion surely led to indifference.”
Over at McSweeney’s Chris White asks What Did the Founding Fathers Smell Like?
My favorite deduction:
“Free of television and laptops, the men themselves led active, sweaty lifestyles: Adams took daily strolls, Washington and Jefferson were constantly on horseback, and Madison had to keep up with Dolley. They wore heavy clothes even in those burning, putrid summers, and some had a thing for leather pants. Laundry service was probably decent, but bathing wasn’t a full-body activity—most days they would be washing just their face and hands in a basin, leaving bacteria to wage a revolution everywhere else.”
I’ll post notes about the paper I mentioned below over the weekend.
By the way, if you have an iPhone, it would behoove you to check out McSweeney’s iPhone app designed by Russell Quinn. For about CHF 6.00 (about 1-for-1 with the dollar right now) you get the app and a six-month subscription of articles, audio and video from the site.