A hundred million dollars in New York and twenty-two fish-hooks on the border of the Arctic Circle represent the same financial supremacy.
—Mark Twain
I hosted Thanksgiving in my home for the first time this year. In a rather pleasant reversal of roles, my mother assisted me in the kitchen as I prepared the feast. She spoke admiringly of my All-Clad roaster, my Le Creuset enameled cast iron pans, and my Gunter Wilhelm knives, among other things. She seemed far less impressed when the time came to set the table, though, as I pulled out the mismatched plates and silverware I had bought at Goodwill in 1998, and glasses from Dollar Tree. What’s behind this apparent contradiction?




