This an e-mail exchange I had with Sam Negri, a long-time friend and newspaper man.
Sam wrote today:
One of the copies of New York Magazine you gave me had a story on the weird world of Internet celebrity. I think that was the hed. By chance did you read it? It has something to do with youtube and celebrities. I didn’t recognize any of them except the name Kardashian, who was identified by a word that was new to me: famesque, which they defined as famous for being famous. Anyway, I mention the article — really a series of articles— because it was the first time I truly felt detached from what I suppose is the contemporary world. I couldn’t understand 99 percent of what I was reading. The world has moved well beyond me, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
I had a strange memory two days ago. I realized that when I was a kid in Brooklyn, the only tattoos I ever saw were numbers on the left arms of concentration camp survivors.
My response:
I wonder if the world is still not with you and something so plebeian, meaningless and transient as fashion has concocted yet another splash of nonsense to tout.
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