Private Life

My cousin Paul sent me a link about the current Tiger Woods debacle. I pretty much agree with sportswriter Dan Wretzel: It's not the infidelity or consequences that followed--it's that he perpetuated a clean-cut image and placed himself in the role-model position. And I can empathize with the whole pressures-of-fame dilemma--when I went to China in '95, attention via the curious eyes of the locals followed me everywhere, all the time--it's ugly stuff. But for him to cry media harassment when his courting of said media helped create the firestorm he sparked, is a cop out.

We live in a world where the microscope of celebrity secrets/confessions (hello, Meredith Baxter!) help distract from a six-year war that shows no signs of slowing, an economy where the job losses are still flowing, a dysfunctional education system, a rising cost of living, and tons of economic uncertainty, tabloids--which have surpassed movies and television as entertainment.

Of course, I watch the circus like everyone else, knowing I'd hate to live under that kind of scrutiny. (An essay here and there is fine, but paparazzi? "Hells to the no," as the young people say.) That's why I left the bright lights (and flashbulbs) of New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles for the less-harried pace of Savannah, Georgia.

Featured Song: "Private Life," Grace Jones (from Warm Leatherette)