Lisa Birnbach

These are brutal times for the well-mannered. Nice people have to put up with loud cell phone users, people who don’t write thank you notes, or even respond to printed invitations with RSVP engraved on them. Like the canon of literature, common manners have gone underground. Is it suddenly okay to wear a hoodie to a business meeting? No, Mark it is not. Is it proper to send a condolence note on Facebook? In this lecture, Birnbach discusses the shifting sands of correct behavior in the digital era.

In this lecture, Birnbach discusses the "language of style." Once only conversant in preppy attire, she's branched out to try speaking “Cocktail dress," “Festive attire," “Black Tie” and “casual” in many places around the globe.

Unlike some mothers, who know absolutely the right way to do every thing, and know the right experts to trust, Birnbach considers herself a rank beginner. With three children of her own, she continues to do experiments on them. Some of have worked well; some not so much. In this lecture, Birnbach acts as the confessor; the audience as the confessional.

Birnbach has spent endless hours of her life instructing WASPs how to be "Waspier." From this restricted club to that Junior League, she's decoded the way of life of the Episcopal gentry in this country, and everyone is keen to hear the details. Some want in as outsiders, and the insiders want to see if she's got it right. Growing up Jewish and preppy in Manhattan was not only not an oxymoron. It was common, invisible. (*Birnbach never even learned the word “macher” until graduation from her Ivy League college and spent time with comedians.) Readers these days think it’s “fascinating” that a Jewess would write “that book.” Birnbach is happy to explain.