Clothesline debate rages on

June 26, 2009: Clotheslines blow through culture again

In a society struggling with economic turmoil, wars and swine flu, who could have predicted a debate would erupt about . . . clotheslines.

In last Friday's Home & Garden section, we wrote about whether clotheslines are eco-friendly throwbacks or home-devaluing eyesores.

Online comments, blog debates, phone calls and e-mails indicate we struck a nerve with readers. Most were pro-clothesline. Here's a sampling:

. . .

Mary R. Spencer e-mailed us and posted comments online. "If my undies offend someone, they can look the other way. Droopy pants, skin tight clothes, short skirts and the language some people use today offend me much more than clean clothes on the line."

. . .

Loretta Davis of Mechanicsville asked, "Why does it appear perfectly acceptable [perhaps even laudable] to air dirty laundry on nationwide TV, but is considered obscene to hang clean clothes on a backyard line?"

. . .

On the Church Hill People's News blog, a portion of the story was posted under the title, "Y'all wanna see my underpants?"

. . .

"No degree of healing can compare to the reverie one experiences from drifting off to sleep swaddled in a set of sun-dried linens," said "The Stretch Monster."

. . .

An online comment from "dogtown" lamented "what an elitist and snobbish society we've become!!! It's sad, since Mother Nature is only too happy to dry our clothes for free -- no pollution, no consumption, no waste."

. . .

Elaine J. Lidholm wrote: "I grew up on a farm in Missouri where, of course, we used a clothesline. One of my earliest memories is of my Dad stringing a little line at my 5-year-old height. I had a small woven basket, my own stash of child-sized clothes pins and a little apron with pockets where I kept the pins. My realm in Clothes Line Land was handkerchiefs, washcloths, socks and doll clothes. It was one of my first-remembered senses of accomplishment."

Contact Julie Young at (804) 649-6732 or .