Martha Stewart is back home after five months in a W.Va. federal prison. Obviously there is a vast reserve of media commentary, speculation, and explication on the meaning of it all. All I’m going to say is that Stewart’s one obvious flaw, an inability to relate to her employees and the teeming masses (when not in fawning fan mode) as fellow human beings, seems to have been mitigated by her time in the Gray Bar Hotel, and with a new sense of empathy and perhaps even a little humility, she may be even more formidable than before. This is a country that specializes in second chances.
Read even a little between the lines of Martha’s returning home greeting from her retooled website, and you can see the gist is The Ice Bitch Melts:
- The experience of the last five months in Alderson, West Virginia has been life altering and life affirming. Someday, I hope to have the chance to talk more about all that has happened, the extraordinary people I have met here and all that I have learned. I can tell you now that I feel very fortunate to have had a family that nurtured me, the advantage of an excellent education, and the opportunity to pursue the American dream. You can be sure that I will never forget the friends that I met here, all that they have done to help me over these five months, their children, and the stories they have told me.
Right now, as you can imagine, I am thrilled to be returning to my more familiar life. My heart is filled with joy at the prospect of the warm embraces of my family, friends and colleagues. Certainly, there is no place like home.
Martha