Jessica Eve Rattner

Much Madness is divinest Sense - To a discerning Eye - Much Sense - the starkest Madness - ’Tis the Majority In this, as all, prevail - Assent - and you are sane - Demur - you’re straightway dangerous - And handled with a Chain - -Emily Dickinson House of Charm is the ongoing portrait of Lee, a woman whose eccentricities conceal a beauty and intelligence that most people do not easily see. I met Lee in 2003 when we became neighbors. At first, like others, I knew her as a shopping-cart pushing raider of recycling bins, a tatterdemailion with a foot-tall dreadlock of grey hair. In the beginning, I was drawn to Lee’s colorful eccentricity, but years later it is her unusual contentment that continues to intrigue me. Lee’s dilapidated home has neither heat nor running water. The roof and floors are rotting; rooms are choked with recycling, found objects, and piles of cat feces. The condition of her house is dire; most people would consider it uninhabitable. And yet Lee is happy with her life and surroundings.   I’ve long been interested in our culture's ideas of beauty, happiness, and mental health—especially as they relate to women. Most people perceive Lee as crazy or “dangerous.” Few get close enough to learn that while she is indeed eccentric, she is also intelligent, well-read, charming, and self-assured. Without romanticizing Lee's situation, I can't help but wonder if her contentment in the midst of astonishing squalor, and her apparent freedom from society’s expectations, point to some secret the rest of us are missing.