Looking for a Nanny and going to Pratt!

      Oh the world and the paths we weave. Yesterday I was at the coffee house talking to mothers on the phone about their experiences with nannies who sent us references.  So conflicted they were!  Ohh dear.  It seems the nannies these days are from St. Lucia, Trinidad, and Jamaica.  This one mother, Maureen, who is an attorney, told me she was so tired of tip toeing around nannies, that she had no problems at work telling people what to do.  When Jonse came around she was so happy to have a nanny who was not only good with the children, but who she could actually talk to and communicate with.  Jonse came this afternoon at 5.  She was a large woman, 32, with a great smile.  It turns out she has a two year old who is in day care.  Lord, it reminds me of "The Help!"  Jordan said she felt strange giving her children to a nanny who had to leave her child to look after someone else's child! And, Jonse doesn't want to be on the books because she's not legal yet.  Lordy, lordy.
    Between the apartment I saw the other day across from the projects for $3000, I wonder what people are doing here.  WHat are they actually getting out of all of this?  Is it a form of torture?
    Madge was here helping when we interviewed Jonse.  Madge is a 19 year old student at Pratt in Brooklyn.  She is here from upstate NY on her own dime and worried about school loans, etc.   She has a great smile, and as she says, a great family and she misses her family, especially her mom.  I told her she seemed so square for the "arty" scene at Pratt, someone who actually loved her family.  I said you seem like the "Waltons".  She answered not quite the "Waltons".
   So as Jordan went to the place to work out, Madge and I talked of being a young woman in NY.  I said it wasn't an easy time, and that she should be careful at the parties, etc.  SHe didn't like the subways or men "leering" at her.  I understand.
   I said look, "it seems like you have a great family.  You have a beautiful smile, and you deserve a good life.  The so-called great career in NY isn't everything.  It's important that you have love and enjoy life.  That's not failure, that's success. Maybe you don't want to end school with a lot of debt!  Why should you?"
   And with that, I'm signing off.