XPost: rec.arts.anime.misc   
   From: tanstaafl@pobox.com   
      
   Just saw this in today's The New York Times, and thought it tied in nicely   
   to the recent threads about Aria: after nine centuries of male monopoly (in   
   Venice, here on Earth), a 23 year old woman has become the first woman to   
   pass the grueling test to become a trainee gondolier and can now take   
   passengers on her gondola while completing her training.   
      
   (Which inspired me to go back and re-read the chapter about Akari-chan's   
   promotion from pair to single: not sure I'd call it 'grueling', but it did   
   seem to be a genuine test of her skill at handling a gondola.)   
      
   All of which makes me wonder: did the males-only tradition in Venice   
   influence Amano's creation of a world where the Undines are exclusively   
   woman and most other gondola jobs are only open to men?   
      
   --   
   Nick           
      
   May you live in interesting times...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)