Joanne Rowling had two childhood heroes, Jessica Mitford and Robert F. Kennedy. She named her first daughter for the one and took the first name of the other for her second pseudonym, ‘Robert Galbraith.’
Both these choices for role models or exemplars are curious for reasons I hope are obvious. Mitford was a determined and public communist through the worst of the Stalin era and RFK was, with his father, brother, and, some say, his namesake, a serial abuser of women. For an anti-authoritarian feminist from the lower middle class, this hyper-privileged pair from the wealthiest of families with beliefs so contrary to those she champions herself have always just made me shake my head. My childhood heroes were Mohandas Gandhi and Woody Guthrie, both of which men I understood by the time I graduated high school were men with admirable qualities and with off-setting failings that made them unfit as types for emulation.
Tomorrow I hope to discuss Rowling’s reception and then return of the RFK Ripple of Hope Award in the context of RFK, Jr’s recent run for President, endorsement of former President Trump, and predictable response of his family. Today I hope you’ll enjoy JKR’s profession of admiration for RFK, Sr., and why she admired him as she did.
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