Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Caroline, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin have all made it illegal to ban clotheslines, allegedly over environmental concerns about saving water and energy. That’s good news.

But snooty people in many suburbs and McMansions think they are ugly and bring real estate prices down. Thousands of towns and cities have banned clotheslines in America. Clothesline lovers are fighting back.

What a shame.

Maria and I pay attention to environmental issues, and it is very difficult for me to imagine how clotheslines do anything but conserve water and save the environment. They are certainly not ugly; they are iconic symbols of American life. Gated communities are well known for banning clotheslines; they think it’s a hallmark of poverty (those photos of Jewish and Irish immigrants in lower New York in the 20s and 30s.).

To me, clotheslines are a kind of art; seeing this one blowing in the wind this morning was beautiful. And there are no clothes that smell fresher than clothes that dry on a line.

There is now a national movement to fight clothesline bans, good for them. Courts are ruling in their favor. I’m in.