martha/alexis axis

Oh the psychology to feast on in Martha Stewart-world. Her recent home decorating issue is so full of Freud and meaning it's like a novel.

I would like to take this moment, though, to comment on one aspect of the Martha/Alexis (her daughter) dynamic. Not via Whatever! TV/radio, which I can't watch/listen to (don't have the right cable station or Sirius), but honestly don't think I'd want to, anyhow. Only so much meta-Martha I can take.

There is this idea that Alexis says what Martha is really thinking, but when you look at their blogs--which, while spun, do reveal a closer/more real-time look at their lives--it's more than that: Alexis's life looks like the phantom life being lived in the world of Martha Stewart Living. Martha's doesn't.

Alexis' blog is full of photos of baked goods she makes for other people--tons every month. And food she cooks, cleaning and organizing she does (in her multi-unit Richard Meier apartment). Here are a few photos from her blog of pie-making and the cake she made for Martha's birthday:



Martha's blog is full of travel photos from speaking engagements and corporate meetings, and photos of other people working for her on her properties. When she posts photos from her home, she is often filming for the show:























I'm generalizing, but still. It does strike one. It makes me think a bit of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, where the daughter had something to do with the mother's creation as a writer/public figure and with her positioning and the chicken and the egg and all that. Not sure what exactly came first.