European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 8, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse By Jane Gross new York times Patricia Hearst Shaw Wasin a i chef Home bound i Connecticut Wilh two Small daughters on a Busy morning. There were interviews scheduled to promote a new movie and he re Issue of her Book Aboul inc ordeal of Cap Lively with the sym ionese liberation army. There was preparation Lor an upcoming Benefit at Bloomingdale s in Manhattan for children with aids. So much to do but where was the Nanny who Well Home Lor the weekend but failed to return on time did you Ever Shaw said thai nannies never miss the air plane going out Only coming Back raised amid privilege and plenty As Palty Hearst then Frozen in memory As Tania carbine jutting from her hip in a Blurry Bank surveillance photo she now seams at base in her latest incarnation mrs. Shaw a suburban housewife having a bad Day. She is rather stingy with details about tier life 14 years after her Sloy mesmerized the world and touched every emotional nerve of a generation but a picture emerges of a woman who has come full Circle her Mother s daughter after All. Shaw 34, now lives in Westport conn., Wilh her husband Bernard one of her bodyguards during the time she was out on bail in the midst of a prison term for armed robbery. Her politics she said Are conservative and she doubts i was Ever As Liberal As i thought of myself in she has iwo daughters 7-year-old Gillian and 3-year-old Lydia and a Circle of friends 1hal includes Yasmin Aga Khan who joins her in work on Charity events. Gillian knows a Bare Bones account of her Mother s lurid history Shaw said Wilh the information originally provided by a child on the school bus. "5ho knows i was kidnapped by terrorists although i Don t think she knows what terrorists Are Shaw said thai i was Mado to Rob a Bank that i went to prison and that the president let me out. I said yes. That s True and Ihen she lost talking to her daughter about her past was not especially difficult Shaw said. She expects to have a harder Lime she said inc Day Gillian gets off the bus having heard about sex. As she talks she is sitting in her husband s of lace in the Hearst building in new York where he is the director of corporate Security for the family publishing company. Her dirty Blond hair hangs to her shoulders just Asil used to but her face is much Fuller than in the Days when she Sal on the witness stand in san Francisco fragile and Pale. She is wearing Well Cut Slacks and an italian suede jacket stencilled Wilh Flowers. A present from my last Stepmother Shaw explains grinning at her own impudence. Her parents divorced in the Wake of Shaw s trial and her lather is now married Lor the third time. Shaw s mood changes in the blinking of an Eye during an hour Long interview sullen one moment warm and Willy the next. She is most animated when describing what she Calls a recent change in Public attitude toward the Sla a Small band of Seif styled revolutionaries who were among the most Wanton remnants of the 1960s. I really feel vindicated finally she said. They ate no longer viewed As misguided Campus activists but sociopaths on the Loose More like the Manson family. They raped me mentally physically and emotionally and they stole my reputation. For a Long time people romanticized it bul that myth is finally Shaw is aware that there Are Many who find her explain Lions of the past frustrating and inconclusive. Both her Book and the movie that is based on in Lealure Patty Hearst As a dazed captive huddled in a dark closet Lor 57 Days without Ever directly answering the question of whether she was a coerced victim or a willing partner. The human mind can t be wrapped up and delivered she said. Troubles can l be summed up in easy packages. There should be questions. Life in t the question she is asked most often Shaw said is How her tile would be different had she not been kidnapped. She Calls inc query meaningless since she was a totally unformed 19-year old Al Tho Lime Wilh no defined we to return to. Anyway who cares she said it happened this Way and that s what you have to incorporate into your being she is also aware thai people meeting her Are surprised possibly even disappointed that she does not scorn More wounded what she Calls the gosh you re Normal syndrome. She said she has met other hostages including l. Bruce Laingen the . Charge d of Aires held captive in Iran who also survived the experience More or less intact. Ii depends on Iho kind of person you Are she said. And oven from there you have to summon every Reserve of so Rengh you by her own account Shaw is not a Brooder or a which has served her Well. Except for the periods when she was preparing for her trial writing her Book and offering 12 pages of suggestions to the filmmakers she said she has never re read news accounts of her ordeal looked at photographs of herself in Radical uniform or listened to the tapes on which she fold the world that she was a Soldier in the people s somebody once tried to sell me the newsreels by telling me you re going to want this someday " Sho said. To just wanted to sell the stuff and thought i d buy Shaw said the movie directed by Paul Schrader and starring Natasha Richardson skirted some of he Effing that had been largely buried Al these years. Thinking Aboul the events Don t bother me she said because events Are factual this happened and that happened. But the pain. I had Lor Gollen How much i cried and cried the horrible Leeling inside All the time of having to be with those people. The pain. The mind says no you can l think about this anymore or you won t be Able to be a human she shuddered Ever so slightly brushed her hand through the air in a gesture of dismissal. Ugh she needs it gel rid of Erma Bombeck i Call it the chalkboard Hearth. It s that Large Wall of chalkboard that dominates every classroom illuminating daily lessons in mathematics history and grammar right alongside moral values sex education and patriotism. This unemotional Wall was never meant to Lake the place of a family gathered around a fire at Home discussing feelings and altitudes. Yet every Day millions of children in this country gather in front of it in search of warmth from subjects that should be taught at Home. It s been a slow shilling of Power but a steady one. Remember the two dozen cupcakes we used to Send to miss won thin Wilh a note asking her in she d be kind enough to distribute them Lor Sheila s birthday Well it s worn Hin now and she has the responsibility of feeding children breakfast and lunch looking for lice instilling Good nutritional habits and physical fitness. And being Over watchful Tor alcohol and drug abuse. There was a Lime when the Only health Issue miss worn thin concerned herself Wilh was the annual pilgrimage to the nurse s office for the Eye lest. Is. Worn thin now is involved inoculations How to give car the Litany of Safe sex. Birth control teen age pregnancies the pros and cons of abortion and discussion on aids. The schools have shifted from Ollens to defense. These Are now parents voices Barry s a discipline problem at Home. What s the school going to do about ii someone ripped Oil a leather Coal right out of Lisa s locker. Don t they have a class to Leach those kids right from wrong Stan is depressed end does t want to go on saturday october 1988 living. Did t the school see this coming the sad part about Allol this is that most parents Don t realize How much they have Given away to the schools. Teachers have the children Only six hours a Day. Parents have them 18 hours. The chalkboard Hearth is limited. It can instruct Ihm in sex. Ii alls Short leaching them Aboul the love and responsibility that comes with it. It can Leach them How to drive but not Aboul accountability. It can help them select a career but in can l provide the support and sc.ll-c5le.em it takes to pursue it. It can spol child abuse Champion integration expand Iho Woidt with Field trips and identify the gifted but i can l begin to teach manners Pride nationalism respect stability values or a feeling of belonging. In t it time to rekindle the Home Hoarth
