I want the Deans to go away.

I'm already bored beyond measure by the dissection of their marriage, though I'm slightly interested in the inversion of the standard intermarriage cliche a la Philip Roth: swanky Park Avenue type marries achieving Jew, only in this case the Jewish partner is the wife and surprise! We get to keep the kids.

Though it does lead me to one of my favorite hobbyhorses, the portrayal of Jewish women.

This would be to my knowledge the third presidential candidate with a Jewish wife: Michael Dukakis, Joseph Lieberman, and Dean.

Segue.

Am shopping for furniture: we have a tiny living room and dining room and I am replacing our evil wall unit with something. The item I like best at the moment is something called the Verona hutch and china cabinet, brought to you by Pottery Barn. Verona makes me think of Venona, for some reason, which leads me back to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. It shouldn't, but it does.