In the Hmm department:

But there's nothing wrong with being effeminate or having a good cry, Ms. [Robyn] Warhol said. People who enjoy "good cry" books and movies (her list includes "An Affair to Remember" and "The Color Purple") tend to share the same values � affirmation of community, hopefulness, the importance of the individual and of personal affection. Those values, she argues, run counter to a primarily masculine ethos of control and repression of emotion.

� Felicia R. Lee, in "Feminist Theory vs. Pop Fantasy" (NYT Sunday)

"The importance of the individual" is sloppy writing. I think what Lee means to get at is more along the lines of, uh, valuing and appreciating the individual. (As opposed to, what, valuing and appreciating the individual�s needs? The relative importance of the individual versus that of the group? Will think about this.) Also, what jumped out at me is the fact that Ms. Warhol, who teaches English and feminist theory at the University of Vermont, must have specifically asked the NYT to refer to her as "Ms." instead of with a professorial honorific. Interesting.

So OK I want to say a few things about pop culture. And I should affix a disclaimer to the effect that nothing could be more false than the idea that I think I�m great and everything else is disgusting and contemptuous and all I do is tear things down and puff myself up because I am an arrogant monster. On the contrary, when it comes to myself and my critical orientation and efforts, my rhetorical strategy of choice is to assume that it�s all crap, every shred of it, and then to try to drum up evidence in support of the radical theory that it may not be. The thing is, I fundamentally cannot accept the idea of pop culture as an end in itself, which is how it seems most often to be practiced. That�s why the Udovitch piece a few Sunday Timeses ago was exciting, even for me a token of aspirational numinousness, because although among her references were videos, teen magazines, and the oeuvres of Mandy Moore and Britney Spears, what she did with all this neon white noise was scholarly, illuminating, and � it seemed � sincerely felt. It was just a dumb fluff piece on how Mandy Moore is more self-determined than some of these other triumphs of marketing, but no it wasn�t, it was terrific. (I remember Mim from way back when she used to write for the Village Voice in the late 80�s and early 90�s. Mostly I did not like her at all, I thought she was self-absorbed and angling for this peculiar flirtatious relationship with her readers, it felt like a pathological need for attention, and then one day the paper published her review of "American Psycho" and I was totally floored, I couldn�t believe how solid it was or that she�d had it in her all along. Truly, I must have read it over dozens of times, in fact for many years I saved it in a binder I used to keep of how I�d like to learn to write. Here�s to you, Mim.) Nils � what�s up with this entry, it is Nils Nils Nils � seems not to be so much down with the lady but I read the New Yorker before I did the Voice and I have to represent; Pauline Kael, in one of her KPFA radio shows, once answered a letter from a listener who inquired as to how to become a movie critic, what movies to see and what directors to study. Kael said Well of course there�s that but you must also know art, history, mythology, politics, current events, those are all just for starters, and you have to dedicate yourself to continuing to learn about all of these things. Her point was that a film is not made in a cultural vacuum, it is instead a kind of cultural emblem, and in order to write about it you also have to know about everything outside of it and about what came before it and made it possible. And yes there is a sense in which having been an English lit and Classics major is to have consigned oneself to a lifetime of self-rationalization, but I also believe this. I believe it like it�s my religion, and maybe it is. Sometimes a member of the cult of pop cult will get uppity with me because, say, I don�t read comic books and I don�t watch "Entertainment Tonight" and I don�t know the name of the latest J. Lo video and I have no clue who Meg Ryan is dating at the moment. Like that sort of thing is what it�s all about. But I don�t think it is. How is that valuable? How is the process anything but the pursuit of a narrowly circumscribed body of trivia? Where is the "sincerely" or the "felt"? And what do you do with the trivia once you have it? Mim knows. Susan Douglas knows. Ms. Dr. Warhol probably knows. I was thinking about this on the way home yesterday because I was remembering all my references from the first part of yesterday�s entry, what I am reading, etc., and I realized that among pop-culties they would have marked me as deeply uncool, eyeroll-provoking. And I insist that it�s not just because I have to that I think they are wrong. The thing I am doing, I am doing right. I define myself, and I find myself notable, in the presence of that.

I should have said: "I want to say a few things about pop culture TO MYSELF." Nevertheless I will leave it in. My new strategy: 1. Leave it in. 2. Throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.

The Wife of Bath has still not told anyone here that I�m gone for good at the end of next week. I feel strange about saying, "Oh, by the way, everybody, I quit" and I do think it should be up to her to pass the word around � but, argh, what�s the holdup? I am getting paranoid and self-conscious and self-doubtful on account of how many people have asked me whether the Wife of Bath offered me a promotion and/or lots more money and/or more vacation time if only I�d stay. The implication seems to be that if I were really worth keeping around, she would have. When I reply No she didn�t, there is an longish awkward moment after which my interrogator mercifully � and this smarts too, it always sucks to be the object of mercy � changes the subject. And what I want to know is, fuck, where do you people work, that a question like that is even conceivable for someone in my job, at my age? Can I work there too? Do you understand the concept of an office job? I work for a large corporation with strictly codified rules about benefits and salary ranges and salary sub-ranges and a compartmentalized HR division so that my manager could not pull strings to score me a better job elsewhere inside the machine and probably doesn�t know if better jobs are elsewhere available, and there is nothing I personally can do about it. Is that so difficult to understand? Now there�s a conspiracy theory afoot that the reason the Wife of Bath hasn�t announced my resignation yet is that she is knocking herself out assembling the copious elements of a fat sweet offer that she hopes would negate it. No, that isn�t happening. And no, it�s not because I�m unworthy. So please stop making me feel bad. Thank you.

I have an errand to run tomorrow afternoon and Steve is busy at night on the Good Ship Whatever, so I�m thinking I might find time to run down to Ross and check out the selection of trashy little summer shirts, a few smashing examples of which Vanessa has been sporting lately and now I want some too. Tits tits tits. Goodbye.