Yes, I love Vanity Fair. I read it religiously… taking advantage of all the online goodies – but – I prefer my hard copy. There is little so satisfying as a hot cup of bergamot laced tea, curled up in my Ralph Lauren sheets, fresh from a hot shower where I lingered a bit too long – with a virgin copy of Vanity Fair.
I start with Graydon Carter… wondering why such a Lefty is appealing to my Federalist sensibilities. And for a girl who converted to Roman Catholicism last year – I find the Athiest, and new American Citizen, Christopher Hitchens to be the star of my fantasies. Why?
Very simple. Hitchens is brilliant, provocative. Ethereal. Masculine. Refined and Alpha-Dog. (Who could forget his article on the Blow Job! – As American as Apple Pie) This month’s article On the Limits of Self-Improvement, Part Idoes not disappoint. Undergoing an American-style extreme makeover, Hitchens is exposing that inner-tenderness a smart girl can see in those eyes at 100 paces. He is razor sharp and raw. And even if he is mocking the American way of life – he is embracing us ever closer. I love the candor, revealing all sorts of insecurities that plagues this man’s man who is a bit uncomfortable as a fantasy figure.
Hitchens is the consummate professor for girls of my Generation X league… smart, European – and the mere thought of him evokes our favorite song from our extreme-youth, Don’t Stand So Close to Me by The Police. Now that I have devoured my VF, where’s that Nabokov book?????
There is little so delightful, and so lovely as that moment of surrender. In politics, the lives of the powerful are described in sound bites, quick lies made up by enemies or adversaries, and those afflicted with the polluted judgment of true believerism. Hollywood celebrities see grotesque distortions of their personal choices in grainy photographs in supermarket tabloids.
The average man or woman, however disconnected from power or the red carpet – never really escapes either. Everyone has been a victim of gossip, whether they know it or not. The trick in the 21st Century – is to embrace the reality – without going “Reality TV.”
Mystery and romance seem as if they are distant cousins, almost forgotten in the din of cell phones and BlackBerrys and the beep and whir and the pleasant voice emanating from our new GPS guidance systems… but both still exist. So long as we carve out time for silence, a place where the quiet longing creeps in and fills our senses… the forgotten lover, the new lover, the cyber affair… the almost private connection to another… the person who finds the switch. Hits the switch. And unlocks ecstasy.
— Media Lizzy
“There fore, the person who is unable to write letters and notes never becomes a dangerous seducer.” — Soren Kierkegaard
While topics on The Media Lizzy Show are devoted to 2008 and how sexuality drives/affects the legislative agenda… my sense is authenticity will be the single quality to which voters resonate the most. Politicos are notoriously paranoid – usually with good reason.
When a politician’s private life intersects with his public life, humility and discipline generally dissolve into paranoia. Many politicians are afflicted with an inflated sense of security – scarcely realizing isolation is not the same thing as safety. As Barbarians (be it the press corps or a process server) begin to arrive at the gate with cameras and pitchforks in hand – the white flag usually rises and a brief statement is issued. Occasionally, hubris inspires mania. Like Gary Hart challenging the press – only to be photographed with a mistress on the deck of a boat aptly named the “Monkey Business.”
The stillness behind the security barriers, and beyond where peace officers whisper into microphones wired to their sleeve, and after the cleaning crew has taken down the stage…. the lives of many politicos are populated with agendas and scheduling decisions – it takes a very good person to keep balance and perspective.
Which of the 2008 candidates will step up to the plate – authentic enough to convince voters – that the agent of change they seek has arrived? Anyone can look good on paper. That does not make them good.
Trust is crucial. Setting the terms for a relationship of any nature requires some level of understanding, even when there is an absence of commitment. Desire is not so easily satiated as it once was.
The urgency, the need for connection presents itself when an affair – of the heart or of sexual expedience – is in its infancy. Every moment, pregnant with anticipation, grows ever more distant in American pop culture. Satisfying the hunger for human connection, acknowledgment in an honest way has become a footnote. Americans have drifted away from mystery and romance, settling for synthetic fame and shrink-wrapped, brown-paper-bag sex.
Gone is the embrace of moments when men and women are at their most authentic. The spark of ignition between two lovers is now hidden behind clinical language. And fights over abstinence or sex education. Baby boomers, I suspect, are filled with shame -their sexual revolution has been revealed for it’s truth: anxious, eager and simple sex undertaken to spit in the face of their heroic predecessors and parents, the Greatest Generation. They view every generation before and after as competition.
Bloodthirsty for relevance, they fought Viet Nam with a “we can win wars too” attitude, only to learn – War is not some romantic place over the horizon where men fight, a few die, most return home and move along. Life leaves scars. War leaves them open for inspection.
Since their summer of love, a growing hatred of the alpha-male edged out virtually all other goals. Feminists like Patsy Ireland and Hillary Clinton chose convenient, ambitious men as husbands. Never mind the hypocrisy of seeking mainstream approval while pursuing an agenda where men and the institution of marriage are seriously degraded. Their agenda is not about expending the definition of marriage – as they would lead some to believe – instead, and more succinctly, it is about cuckolding and humiliating men.
Hillary Clinton’s embrace of her husband’s infidelity may be the most politically deviant act in recent memory. Teresa Heinz Kerry looked adoringly at John Kerry during the 2004 presidential contest but her words were more powerful than the images. She professed that her deceased first husband was the love of her life, her soul mate. Cuckolded, again.
No mortal man may compete with the ghost of a lover. And America spared John Kerry history’s judgement for trying. Kerry, and national Democrats, never noticed that Americans still hunger for a glimpse of tenderness in our Shining City on a Hill.
Generation X and Generation Y are fighting yet another global conflict, where blood is spilled and heroes do not return. They march forward with two lessons in their rear view mirror.
1) The greatest Generation returned home with iconic photographs of reuniting couples kissing as the ticker tape flew.
2)Baby Boomers are still struggling with the rage of Viet Nam – and their lust for being “better” than those who came before.
Today’s warriors are saddled with the burden of remaking America – in her own eyes – as the world watches. Our sexual identity as a people has been lost. The British are stiff but open. The Italians are known for their passion. Our political ally and rival, France, is possessed of sexual decadence, romance, tales of ardent lovers, and an abundant menu of sexual options.
The American psyche is saturated with manufactured reality, fame, and political debates. Domestic political issues run the table – all choices are run through a focus group. From “Obama Girl” to Paris Hilton to Perez Hilton, sexuality has become about the act itself – instead of how we arrive as a participant.
There’s no edge, no spinning wheel on which we prick our delicate fingers to become spellbound… we are surrounded by judgement. A spontaneous kiss or virtual love affair is condemned. Gay marriage is condemned. AIDS is a platform for fundraising. Anti-abortion education is annual march on Washington, and a platform for raising cash. Pro-abortion advocates add names to Emily’s List – to raise money. A Senator’s wife creates so unhealthy a distance that her husband takes a prostitute as lover A Congressman runs from the Capitol in shame, because of his homosexuality. A generation of our children believes oral sex and anal sex – are not “sex.” A former Majority Leader claims if only we hadn’t aborted 30 million babies – we wouldn’t need immigrants from Mexico.
The war on terror isn’t about Islam, because then we would have to talk about pedophilia and genital mutilation.
Talk about anything other than what is real. What is authentic to the American, or human experience.
Sex is perhaps the most natural form of communication between two people. Restoring feminine mystery to the equation, and restoring the respect for a real alpha-masculinity would begin to bridge the distance. Not everything needs to be decided today. The quiet moments of discovery can escape mention on the Senate floor. A stolen kiss or passionate embrace is not a matter for inclusion on a legislative agenda. Attraction is not a crime against humanity.
The act of surrender, of complete trust in another human being is a conscious choice – a beautiful accident of our higher reasoning. Entering into the space of a lover is like a step, then a plunge into total darkness, brings us one step closer to creating the sacred space between self and lover, where every kiss and touch lingers… the noise of war and terror and elections and deadlines and education and obligation just fall away… Americans must be reminded of the tenuous relationship with our maker – as our returning soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are with every letter from home, every remembered caress…
This leap of faith is rewarding and private… it is where we find our freedom.
I love Christopher Hitchens, in a Don’t-Stand-So-Close-To-Me, wish-he-were-my-English-teacher, let’s listen to The Police way. His chain smoking, Johnny Walker drinking and older-man hotness combines with wicked humor, total brilliance, and an understanding of the world we live – an honesty in his writing…. to make a man so captivating… I am certain that somewhere – some woman – will eventually publish her memoirs of an affair with Hitchens, Hot Sex With the Smartest Man of the Milennium.
The other delicious man from my secret love stash is none other than World Bank big-dog, NeoCon Icon, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Sure, he’s in hot water for a possible ethics breach… namely for the outrageous salary he approved for his mistress while she’s on leave over at the State Department helping out Liz Cheney… rumors of the two ladies possessing Condi Rice voodoo dolls have not been confirmed.
The Wall Street Journal folks are having a LOT of fun at Wolfowitz’s expense… and if you’ll hunt through the first few comments of the story linked HERE… you’ll see my thoughts!
Yes, I love Vanity Fair. I read it religiously… taking advantage of all the online goodies – but – I prefer my hard copy. There is little so satisfying as a hot cup of bergamot laced tea, curled up in my Ralph Lauren sheets, fresh from a hot shower where I lingered a bit too long – with a virgin copy of Vanity Fair.
