The Boomer Chronicles

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This is Not an Ode to Black Cleaning Ladies Posted: 05 Aug 2011 05:43 AM PDT I clean my house just often enough to prevent it from being a total pig sty. So today’s the day. I decided my kitchen floor wasn’t getting as clean as I’d like using a mop, so I got down on my hands and knees and washed it. This happens about once every five years. Today I’ve been thinking about the women who cleaned my house when I was a kid. It was not unusual for my parents and their peers to hire black women to clean their houses. We had two different women, first Clara, then Maggie. I never got used to the feeling of having someone come in and clean while you sat around watching TV or whatever. I especially hated the kitchen-floor cleaning. Back then, I don’t think my family owned a mop. So we had a reddish rubber mat for Clara or Maggie to kneel on while they cleaned the kitchen floor — on their hands and knees — every week. My feelings today have not changed. I have never hired anyone to clean my place and I never will. My feeling is, if you are hiring someone to clean your house, maybe you have too much house. Or maybe you think it’s beneath you to clean. Today, at least in the Boston area, where I live, homeowners are hiring Brazilians instead of black women. But the story is the same. Paying someone to clean your house. I tried reading The Help, the best-selling novel which is opening as a movie next Wednesday (August 10), but I couldn’t get past the first chapter or so. I know the story has moved many people, and I don’t deny that I still love Clara, but the relationship was tainted from the start.

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