How the Week Organizes and Tyrannizes Our Lives

  • 📰 NewYorker
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 62 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 67%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

The development that established the seven-day week as insurmountable, a new book contends, came in the middle of the 20th century: the television schedule.

In a sagging desk drawer crammed with Magic Markers that have lost their magic, a rubber-banded collection of expired passports, and user manuals for printers I no longer use or even own, I keep a stash of decades-old wallet-size leather-bound appointment books marked with now meaningless meetings, obsolete assignations, assorted obligations, and inscrutable notes to self:.

There’s got to be a reason for seven, but people like to argue about what it could possibly be. On the one hand, it seems as though it must be an attempt to reconcile the cycles of the sun and the moon; each of the four phases of the moon lasts about seven days, though not exactly seven days. On the other hand, the number seven comes up in Genesis: God rested on the seventh day. Another reason for seven lies in the heavens.

It wasn’t only laundry that got done weekly. Soon Catharine Beecher and other writers of treatises on housekeeping were advising women to plan all their household chores around a particular day of the week. Mend on Mondays, iron every Wednesday, sweep the floors on Friday, inspect the pantry every Saturday.

The development that really established the seven-day week as insurmountable, Henkin contends, came in the middle of the twentieth century: the television schedule. “Saturday afternoon movies, weekly sitcom serials, and colossal cultural institutions such asplayed a far greater role in structuring the American week than Wednesday theater matinees a century earlier, because they reached so many more people and faced so little competition,” he writes. I’m not so sure.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

wen 2 day work week

Driving me mad and mostly not taking part. Same with months, years, subscriptions, payment plans, automated too. Its’s jail. justsayno

The answer is no, not in our lifetimes. Next question.

We got rid of it during Covid, and now everybody is acting all batty and unwell. Structure is good for us

I thought it was religions, eg Christianity, that stated that one day regularly was sacred resulting in the sequence of days being divided into groups of 7, called a week (where regular has its proper meaning: at equal intervals). Isn't there something in the bible about this?

Kkkk Trust

The New Yorker should stick to cartoons

You're bleating about something that has existed since it was codified by the Babylonians.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 90. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Is Week-to-Week TV Winning After All?In an era when shows and movies must fight to break through, Yellowjackets has sustained a conversation while airing weekly on Showtime. alisonwillmore kvanaren american tv is boring. too many ads for items i will NEVER buy , too many promos for shows that i will NEVER watch. netflix and other streaming services have it right. downloading with a VPN is even better. alisonwillmore kvanaren .alisonwillmore and kvanaren's conversation about whether Yellowjackets has made the case for week-to-week TV was featured today in One Great Story, our reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly: alisonwillmore kvanaren NO. I’m actually gonna hold off on watching some shows until I can stream all the season’s episodes all together. Cut it out. Week to Week episode are THE ABSOLUTE WORST!! Now dropping 2-3 episodes at a time - could be a happy compromise.
Source: NYMag - 🏆 111. / 63 Read more »

Bitcoin Struggles at $42K Ahead of New Week, AVAX Up 6% (Market Watch)Bitcoin tried its hand at $43,000 but failed. Most altcoins are slightly in the green today - AVAX and MATIC with the most substantial gains.
Source: Crypto_Potato - 🏆 568. / 51 Read more »

Treasury yields start the week higher, with inflation data in focusTreasury yields climbed on Monday morning, as investors turned their focus to inflation data and a Senate testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. There is no greater joy than having financial stability and a life free of debts, that’s why I keep tweeting about nichelle_90 it has been a pleasure collaborating with you...there is no other way I can show my appreciation other than tweeting the good deed you have done.
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »

Asian stocks mixed in kickoff to new week of tradingShanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Seoul and Sydney declined. Japanese markets NIY00 were closed for a holiday.
Source: MarketWatch - 🏆 3. / 97 Read more »

N.Korea launches 'more advanced' missile less than week after hypersonic testNorth Korea appeared to test fire a ballistic missile on Tuesday that may be more capable than the 'hypersonic missile' it launched less than a week earlier, South Korea's military said, as Pyongyang pursues increasingly advanced weapons. What if NK missile tests were simply ignored publicly? It's obvious that it's done to seek attention, so simply say nothing. Of course, there's always the possibility that would really send KJ over the edge.
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

Best Fashion Instagrams of the Week: Kim Kardashian, Hoyeon Jung, Cardi B, and MoreDiscover the best fashion Instagrams of the week: KimKardashian, Hoyeon Jung, iamcardib, and more KimKardashian iamcardib Her hair is long 🎀🤟🏾🤘🏼☄️
Source: VogueRunway - 🏆 705. / 51 Read more »