The History of Weekends

My husband, who cooks on weekends,
goes on the internet to find out when 
weekends became a thing. In ancient Rome, 
every eighth day was market day. During 
the Han dynasty, officials took every fifth 
day off to rest and wash their hair. 
In the early nineteenth century, factory 
owners and laborers came to an agreement 
that work could stop at two on Saturday 
afternoon, as long as people would come 
to work sober on Monday. It wasn't until 
1940 that the Fair Labor Standards Act 
formalized the forty-hour workweek 
and the two-day weekend. Some people
wanted more time for beer, others
for prayers. Some people sit idling
at their desks, then promptly shut down
their computers at 5:01. It's as if
the ceiling had changed to a different
color. Some colleagues advise me to ignore 
work email on weekends, even when my Inbox 
column glows with insistent green dots 
at 10 PM. My youngest daughter says,
productivity and optimalization are concepts
of the capitalist machine. Why shouldn't rest
also be legislated? Heat up leftovers, or make
a small meal from scratch. Make tea, write 
in your notebook, make valentines with your 
second-grader. Think of a nap as an achievement, 
as well as the whole history behind your being where 
you are: here, when it could have been otherwise.