The Stiletto

Bio

Certain relatives drive The Stiletto to apoplexy in the summer and autumn months of even-numbered years, and are best avoided during this period. Like many Americans, The Stiletto's family is a mixed bag: Multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multinational, ecumenical, and includes several members who are gay (in-laws, but still). The Stiletto loves them all – albeit, at a distance in election years. The Stiletto's parents are immigrants – legal - to the US and were fluent in English when they got here. They raised The Stiletto with the vaguely socialistic values (aka "idealism") common among European intelligenzia. They once believed Fidel Castro was a hero, Yasser Arafat was a freedom fighter, and Ramsey Clark (who couldn't get on a plane fast enough to represent Saddam at the Iraqi Special Tribunal) should occupy the White House. Growing up in one of the bluest cities in the US, The Stiletto never met a Republican or a conservative until entering the workforce after college - a role model to guide her evolution, to refute all the sinister fables The Stiletto had been told about Republicans and conservatives. Having read Animal Farm, Atlas Shrugged and Harrison Bergeron in rapid succession on her own – The Stiletto's teachers assigned Johnny Got His Gun and a passel of obscure works notable only for not having been written by dead white European males – The Stiletto found it increasingly uncomfortable to listen to the incoherent invective, wild accusations and shopworn rhetoric that passed for political discourse among the Dems and liberals with whom she shared her life. The transformation of the Party of Nixon to the Party of Reagan emboldened The Stiletto to effect a "reverse-Arianna." Having made their own journey to sanity in the years spanning Jimmy Carter's disastrous presidency and Bill Clinton's dishonorable presidency, The Stiletto's parents left the Democrat Party. And we all lived happily ever after.