Happy days are here again! Camille Paglia is back at Salon with a regular column.
Here’s just a taste of the rhetorical style that makes La Paglia so irresistable:
Right now, I’m leaning toward John Edwards in the primaries. He has problems — a thin political résumé, a fancy estate at odds with his populist message, and a dated hairstyle that looks femme and foofy at a time when military buzz cuts and Caesarian close crops are in. But Edwards is a ferocious, knife-sharp debater with foxy, seat-of-the-pants smarts, and I hope he creams his opponents.
And should you doubt Paglia’s stature as a cultural herald, check this out:
On to pop culture: Anna Nicole Smith. I heard the first bulletins about her death on the car radio as I was driving home from campus last week. At the Popeye’s drive-through (where I was ordering Cajun wings), I blurted in agitation to the window lady, “Anna Nicole Smith just dropped dead — tell everyone!” — which she promptly did. The staff inside (all African-American) were startled and incredulous.
As she says a little later (ostensibly of Nancy Pelosi, but as always, she’s really referring to herself): “She’s brass knuckles in a velvet glove, and I’m loving every minute of it.”
I like the look she had in the late eighties with the frosted/grey streaks. Or was that her natural grey and now she’s coloring it? Whatever she’s doing with it now, I think it kinda makes her look like Janet Reno (the first 4 years of clinton).