Shearling and shorn.

There’s no use pretending the story of the day is anything but Buzz Bissinger. Sorry, homosexuals, even your landmark Supreme Court arguments can’t steal the spotlight from this:

I own eighty-one leather jackets, seventy-five pairs of boots, forty-one pairs of leather pants, thirty-two pairs of haute couture jeans, ten evening jackets, and 115 pairs of leather gloves. Those who conclude from this that I have a leather fetish, an extreme leather fetish, get a grand prize of zero. And those who are familiar with my choices will sign affidavits attesting to the fact that I wear leather every day. The self-expression feels glorious, an indispensable part of me. As a stranger said after admiring my look in a Gucci burgundy jacquard velvet jacket and a Burberry black patent leather trench, “You don’t give a fuck.”

I don’t. I finally don’t.

But this meltdown-masquerading-as-an-essay is more than 6,000 words long, and that’s just 100 words and change. There’ so much more, including but not limited to sex, marital, kinky and pathetic; money, vast and unthinkable; magnums of champagne; Tom Ford cosmetics (used by the author) and so much, much more. Long story short: Buzz Bissinger, author of “Friday Night Lights,” has been going insane for the last few years, and has spent nearly $600,000 on high-end clothing, most of it from Gucci, lending the piece its ridiculous, wan headline, “My Gucci Addiction.” It’s like calling a deep dive into the culture of high-school football “High School Football.”

Don’t drop out, no matter how embarrassed you are, before you get to the sex part. Because that’s really the icing on this cake of tawdriness.

If you think I’m maybe getting too much glee from another’s public confession, be advised BB has been something of a jerk of late. Now we know he was being an even bigger jerk on the websites of the world’s high-end retailers.

I’ve known some shopaholics before; some of them had untreated mental illness, usually bipolar. My next-door neighbor in Fort Wayne was a house cleaner, and told me of trying to organize the closet of one of these souls — unsuccessfully, as it turned out, as she just went out and refilled the closet floor with a million more bags. You get a hole inside, you look for a way to fill it.

Speaking of filling holes, and change, and going a little nuts, here’s a story to bum out all your journalists: A 17-year-old just earned more than you will in your lifetime by inventing an app that boils your lovingly crafted story down to 400 characters. Yes, not words, but characters — that’s the new currency.

I guess we can talk about the homosexuals after all. I’ll go out on a limb and say Prop 8 will go down 6-3, with Alito and Sca-mos on the other side. Anyone want to float a different idea?

Posted at 12:48 am in Current events, Media |
 

62 responses to “Shearling and shorn.”

  1. Sherri said on March 27, 2013 at 12:55 am

    If you want to see Buzz wearing some of his spoils, there’s a photo gallery, but warning, it’s not pretty, and at least one of the images is really NSFW: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/11/07/buzzs-outfits/#photo-1

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  2. Dexter said on March 27, 2013 at 2:07 am

    Don Imus has had his issues with Buzz, but repaired the tear and has had Buzz on his show in recent years, whenever Buzz has a new project to plug. The first I heard anything about this new Buzz story came this morning, as Imus was discussing the meltdown of Buzz, and right away I was sure this was a “Sidd Finch” story, in other words, an April Fool’s joke.
    When I saw it here…I realized it must be true, and apparently it is.
    Well, that’s all I have; I don’t get excited reading about someone’s choices of clothing and sex preferences. Buzz Bissinger always seemed like a beady-eyed creep before I knew any of this new angle, so maybe I have a little less dis-interest in him now, now that I know he’s a spicy little old man instead of just a creepy beady-eyed asshole.

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  3. Dexter said on March 27, 2013 at 2:33 am

    It’s an exciting time for my cyber friends Craig Crawford and his David, as they get their marriage license yesterday in Washington, DC, about a mile from where the SCOTUS were meeting.
    Many of you will recall Craig, formerly of msnbc and now appearing on CNN regularly as a panelist and guest. I blog with him and the regulars almost every day. Click to see David and Craig holding their marriage license. Exciting times on the blog. They are getting married April 6.
    http://craigcrawford.com/

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  4. Dexter said on March 27, 2013 at 2:36 am

    art break. Hopper. “Blackwell’s Island”
    http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/2013/03/26/news/web_photos/EdwardHopperAuction115248–525×300.jpg

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  5. MarkH said on March 27, 2013 at 2:57 am

    Bissinger was worth 80% of your post tonight? The 17 year old journo-buster was worth far attention. And not just for the money angle.

    After today’s audio, tough call on Prop 8. Not as easy as I thought earlier. Let’s see what happens when they hear DOMA today. Everyone thought ACA was a goner last year, until it wasn’t.

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  6. Prospero said on March 27, 2013 at 3:11 am

    The court has been Scalito since the Godfather got there and installed Shrub. And the country has been in the dumper.

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  7. mark said on March 27, 2013 at 3:55 am

    The Bissinger piece- what bullshit. Five thousand plus words in before he finds a little insight: “Maybe what I really am is an extreme narcissist.”

    Ya think?

    And boy hasn’t all that self-obsession and self-indulgence made him ever so happy…

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  8. ROGirl said on March 27, 2013 at 4:27 am

    Self-indulgence and narcissism? It’s a marketing bonanza. He can milk the publicity from this thing for a while, then the book with even more kinky revelations will come out, and he’ll go out on a book tour.

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  9. Deborah said on March 27, 2013 at 5:27 am

    As I was reading the Bissinger piece I kept thinking about his poor children. What must they think about their bizarre father? Sad.

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  10. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 27, 2013 at 7:37 am

    Blaise Pascal said we are all created with a God-shaped hole in our hearts, and most tragedy comes from our attempts to fill that gap with other things. Like Gucci.

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  11. coozledad said on March 27, 2013 at 7:40 am

    Buzz Bissinger just wishes he could get into Grayson Perry’s leathers. Actually, Grayson’s widely rumored to be a salt of the earth. In a poodle skirt.
    http://astrodreamer.squarespace.com/storage/graysonperry.jpg

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  12. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 27, 2013 at 8:29 am

    “I am on medication for mild bipolarity.” Well, either it’s not mild, or you need your dosage checked. (From the Bissinger piece.)

    7-2 is my guess; Alito is going to join Roberts in finding a way to define a right to marriage that can be expanded, conservatively. Scalia’s dissent should be interesting, and Thomas will write a separate, half page concurring dissent.

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  13. alex said on March 27, 2013 at 8:40 am

    The prognosticators on Prop 8 and DOMA are all over the map and in looking back over my life as a second-class citizen who has seen nothing but incremental change, and then only very recently, my expectation is that the justices will punt.

    I note that the Fox News angle on this whole thing is that the court is weighing whether to criminalize Christianity. The same rubes who didn’t abandon this sad-ass sideshow after it called the election for Romney are now certain that the End Days are here and some of the commentariat seem to believe that the court will find it more important to accommodate these folks’ warped sense of reality than the Constitution’s sense of justice.

    However it comes out, I’m just relieved that the battle is pretty much over. Even if gay marriage is legalized tomorrow, my partner doesn’t want to saddle me with his $100K in student loan debt that would be my dowry, so we’re going to wait a few years in any case. We won’t even go to Canada or Massachusetts for a “symbolic” marriage license because I’m sure the creditors will find a way to enforce it even if my own state refuses to recognize it.

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  14. Julie Robinson said on March 27, 2013 at 8:54 am

    Jefftmmo, I believe you are right about the God-shaped hole. I spent several months with my shopaholic/hoarder sister and cleared out her large apartment and four storage units. I found bag after bag of crap that she bought and never opened. When I went back a year later you wouldn’t know I’d done anything. Plus, it’s Florida, so bugs were everywhere.

    My read on the Supremes is that they’re looking for a way out, and they’ll rule they shouldn’t have taken the case at all. Maybe that’s not a bad thing; if a couple of the conservatives can be replaced soon it could be brought back to a more favorable court.

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  15. Randy said on March 27, 2013 at 9:38 am

    “Speaking of filling holes”… Nancy, you so naughty…

    Have you seen Buzz’s meltdown from a few years back on sports bloggers not knowing their place? Is that like a journalist melting down on a sportswriter? I am confused…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBPSGvkpWMA

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  16. coozledad said on March 27, 2013 at 9:47 am

    Gucci men’s clothing best represents who I want to be and have become—rocker, edgy, tight, bad boy, hip, stylish, flamboyant, unafraid, raging against the conformity that submerges us into boredom and blandness and the sexless saggy sackcloths that most men walk around in like zombies without the cinematic excitement of engorging flesh.

    That’s one no-writing sumbitch. Sounds like a monologue from The Tick.

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  17. nancy said on March 27, 2013 at 9:53 am

    I saw that BB rant about blogs, and yes, it should have been seen as an early warning of an impending meltdown.

    I don’t know why no one told him that leather pants and high-heeled boots can only be worn by a Steven Tyler, in part because Tyler is tall, long-legged and — this is key — skinny. Gawker had the final description of what Buzz looks like: “a Russian music producer.” I’ll say.

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  18. Bitter Scribe said on March 27, 2013 at 10:13 am

    Regarding Bissinger:

    1) I always thought “Friday Night Lights” was wildly overrated. In particular, I got tired of BB constantly reminding us how racist those folks were. (And no, I’m not one of those “you’re the real racist” assholes. It’s just that BB was ham-handed, obnoxious and superior about it.)

    2) I really started getting turned off to BB when he made some offhand comment about Fred Goldman’s “self-serving” press conferences during the OJ trial. The man’s son was brutally murdered and the murderer went free, for God’s sake!

    3) What kind of grown man calls himself “Buzz,” anyway?

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  19. Peter said on March 27, 2013 at 10:19 am

    Looking at the “after” picture is making me think he would have been a better choice than Al Pacino to play Phil Spector. At least you’d save a ton on wardrobe.

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  20. Scout said on March 27, 2013 at 10:26 am

    I must live under a rock because I never heard of this sad sick fuck before today. So he’s into S&M. Quel surprise. I have no patience with people who have to write crap like this, either: ” I was spending enormous amounts of money, but because I make a good living and received a generous inheritance from my parents, there was no threat of going broke.” And I spent it all on me me me. What a colossal ass.

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  21. coozledad said on March 27, 2013 at 10:32 am

    Is “a little bit bipolar” shorthand for “I’m going to spread my allotment of hell around in teaspoon sized dollops”? Because visiting his newly old-man ass on sex workers is beyond wrong.
    I don’t know where he gets the idea that wearing leather makes him look like anything other than a balloon sculpture of Richard Simmons.

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  22. Heather said on March 27, 2013 at 10:32 am

    I don’t even know if you have to be tall to wear that stuff, but you should at least not be stocky and barrel-chested. Everyone doesn’t have to be skinny, but dress to flatter your body type, please!

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  23. Julie Robinson said on March 27, 2013 at 10:39 am

    Scout, you and me both. I’d rather read more from jefftmmo about his work than wasting my time on this guy.

    It’s supposed to get to 40 today. I can’t believe that sounds good. 42 tomorrow, and for a bonus prize, we’re supposed to see the sun. The sun! The sun! The sun!

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  24. Jeff Borden said on March 27, 2013 at 11:00 am

    I was saddened to realize my 23-year marriage is meaningless in the eyes of many anti-gay marriage supporters because Johanna and I never had kids. This makes that crazy Duggar clan with the 18 or 26 or 47 kids the bestest marriage in the world, right?

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  25. Connie said on March 27, 2013 at 11:05 am

    I agree with Scout. Never heard of the guy, don’t care, won’t read the stuff.

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  26. Judybusy said on March 27, 2013 at 11:08 am

    Scout and Julie, me too, never heard of the guy, and will not waste time on the article.

    I dealt with my own brand of crazy this past weekend. You may recall I’ve got a jackass of a father, who has not spoken to me beyond a few words since I cam out to him 12 years ago. Weeeel, his mother died and the funeral was Monday. He actually approached before the funeral, tearful, thanking me for coming. Because I am a total sucker for redemption, I pulled him aside. Let’s just say there is no more ambiguity about my father’s disgust for me. I think my last words were, “You chew on your bigotry and hatred like it’s a juicy piece of meat.” It was very shocking to feel his hatred beaming out, instead of the love that should come from a parent. The good that came: my normally reserved sister-in-law was very supportive, as was my very religious, not-too-thrilled-with-a-lesbian-sister sister and my mom. She spoke to my dad earlier (they’ve been divorced a long time, and he was horrible to her–emotionally and physically) asking him what he was going to do about me. That took tremendous courage, and I’m getting all weepy thinking about it.

    So, this supreme court decision touches me in a very deep way. It would mean validation and some vindication about a very hateful man: that this hatred will not stand, that he is small and powerless to impose his world view.

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  27. BigHank53 said on March 27, 2013 at 11:15 am

    I read the Bissenger piece yesterday after Longform put up a link to it. Cooze, the reason they’re called sex workers is because it’s work.

    It’s his money, and he’s entitled to blow it any way he chooses. He also presents a nearly irrefutable argument against any further tax cuts for the already wealthy, and brings to mind that old saying: Never forget that your purpose in life may be to serve as a warning to others.

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  28. LAMary said on March 27, 2013 at 11:23 am

    Bitter Scribe: 3) What kind of grown man calls himself “Buzz,” anyway?

    Astronauts. At least one.

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  29. Connie said on March 27, 2013 at 11:27 am

    The President of Howard Miller Clocks is Howard Miller III, better known as Buzz. Back when I babysat him he was a naughty little kid.

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  30. Little Bird said on March 27, 2013 at 11:28 am

    Is “Russian music producer” code for “pimp to Siberian hookers”?

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  31. Heather said on March 27, 2013 at 11:32 am

    BigHank53, I just read a piece online at The Good Men Project in which the writer was shocked to learn that the prostitutes he used were in the business mainly for the money (one said she was glad he had called because now she could pay her gas bill). Prompting half the world’s population to say, “Duh.”

    I felt some sympathy for BB, actually. Especially at this line: “I never fit the traditional definition of a sexy male straight or gay—tall, ripped, six- packs within six-packs. I wanted the power that sex provides, all eyes wanting to fuck you and you knowing it, and both men’s and women’s clothing became my venue.” I can see how for someone who doesn’t fit into empirical, objective definitions of beauty, that could be heady. But hey, that’s why people develop great personalities. I’ve always found a good sense of humor and wit made some objectively so-so looking guys very attractive indeed.

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  32. nancy said on March 27, 2013 at 11:49 am

    Eric Zorn spins gold from Bissinger’s straw.

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  33. Peter said on March 27, 2013 at 11:54 am

    Heather, that cracks me up. It would make a great online ad: “Work from home and earn big money doing something you love – Be A Whore!”.

    Judybusy, I’m sorry about what happened. It’s hard to say – I mean, you know examples of parents who just write off or shun the kids when they stray (e.g. Westboro Church), but how do you do that? How can you do that?

    I hope one day he’ll realize that, no matter what he believes, what he’s doing is wrong.

    Good luck.

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  34. DellaDash said on March 27, 2013 at 11:54 am

    Not even spindle-shanked Steven Tyler could dissipate the mild disgust that always flutters my senses when encountering leather-clad crotches that must be secreting rank genitalia stewed in body fluids.

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  35. adrianne said on March 27, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    Call me shallow, but I can’t look away from Buzz’s meltdown. Schadenfreude and all that.

    Funniest comment today on the Supremes’ Prop. 8 arguments came from our fabulously gay congressman, Sean Patrick Maloney, who’s been with his partner, Randy, for more than 20 years and who has adopted three children with him. When our intrepid reporter asked if he was going to make an honest man out of Randy and marry him already, Sean replied, “I don’t think I’ll be proposing in the pages of the Times Herald-Record.”

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  36. Sherri said on March 27, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    I read Friday Night Lights a long time ago, long before there was a movie or a TV series, and liked it a lot. I think Bissinger has talent, but a while ago, either he gave up on that talent for schtick, or we’ve been watching a spectacular devolution into mental illness. I’m still not sure which.

    BTW, on my copy of FNL, the author is H.G. Bissinger, no “Buzz” anywhere. When Buzz the jerk surfaced and started yelling at bloggers, it took me a while to figure out it was the same guy.

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  37. Charlotte said on March 27, 2013 at 12:12 pm

    Judybusy — I keep thinking of my uncle, who left his wife in 1967? 69? and moved to Philadelphia with his “friend” … at their 25th anniversary party my father said to his brother “Well, you’ve done better with G than I have with either of my two wives.” And my cousin who said that even as his father was dying of AIDs, he never really came out to him … that it was all still somehow coded, and he carried this residue of shame. Or the sweet guys I went to college with who agonized over accepting their own sexuality, which then, meant you’d never have a family. It was enormously wrenching. I for one, don’t want to be straight-married (which is apparently good since I’m now too old to have kids so it wouldn’t “count” anyway), but I would love love love for this conservative court to have to validate that gay relationships are exactly as valid as straight ones.

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  38. coozledad said on March 27, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    the reason they’re called sex workers is because it’s work.
    A combination of hate-fucking and waiting tables at a fried seafood place in Georgia work.

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  39. Peter said on March 27, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    Wait a second. Bissinger worked at the Tribune? Was it the same time as Bob Greene? or Royko?

    Whoa.

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  40. coozledad said on March 27, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    I didn’t know Steele owned a Subaru.
    http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/steele-says-priebus-is-crapping-on-his-legacy?ref=fpb

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  41. velvet goldmine said on March 27, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    Zorn’s punchline is a little blunted because he biffed the origin — the piece was in GQ, wasn’t it, not Vanity Fair?

    Not a big deal, but it made me pay attention to the podium from which he is braying. I wonder if any of the GQ readers will be smart enough to consider this essay a mirror, albeit a fun house mirror. They may not be spending the kind of money Bissinger is, but I’ve known a few mid-life crisis guys who probably spend a similar percentage of the family’s income on looking ridiculous.

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  42. Linda said on March 27, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    Cooz: “Is “a little bit bipolar” shorthand for “I’m going to spread my allotment of hell around in teaspoon sized dollops”?” The best definition I have ever heard.

    As for hoarding filling a hole in your soul, it may be more than that. Like a lot of mental illnesses, it may have a phsyiological mental component. Research on hoarders indicates that they may in fact process information differently–really. Many have a hard time making “executive decisions”–weeding stuff down and out. I can confirm that it’s true of a friend of mine who hoards. I used to think that her inability to make decisions was just “her.” In fact, if we went out to eat, I had to allot a half hour for her to choose something off the menu. She can no more pick an item to eat, than she can pick items that she can part with. There’s more to it than that, but that’s a significant part of the problem.

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  43. Charlotte said on March 27, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    Re: the Bissinger quote — reminds me of my dad, who came back to the states for a visit a few years after moving to Prague where he moved in the early 1990s “to be Hemingway in Paris in the 1920’s”. He borrowed a motorcycle and rode from Colorado to California and in a letter afterwards he claimed that the motorcycle was so cool on the road he could tell “that women wanted me and men envied me.”
    Became one of those catchphrases that could always make my brother and I laugh.

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  44. Julie Robinson said on March 27, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    Judybusy, my condolences to you for the death of your grandmother and the suckiness of your father. Loss is painful in all its forms.

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  45. Dorothy said on March 27, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    Yes, Judybusy, I would like to echo what Julie said. I read your entry just before I went to lunch. I’m very sorry your dad is so unkind.

    On a different note – Jeff (tmmo) – I hear we’re going to be under the same roof this afternoon. Want me to save you a seat!? 😉

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  46. Bitter Scribe said on March 27, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    “Zorn’s punchline is a little blunted because he biffed the origin — the piece was in GQ, wasn’t it, not Vanity Fair?”

    Zorn did not say that the piece was in Vanity Fair. He said, correctly, that Bissinger is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.

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  47. Scout said on March 27, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Judybusy, your situation is exactly the reason discrimination in any form should not, cannot, will not be tolerated any more. I am so sorry that happened while you were mourning the passing of your grandmother.

    I have been completely amazed at how many straight friends on facebook have changed their profile pictures to the red equality sign or made comments in support of marriage equality in the past few days. It speaks volumes to where we are now compared to just a few years ago. I am so grateful to all who stand up for what is right.

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  48. Dave said on March 27, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    Judybusy, I cannot imagine ignoring my children although, without mid-life crisises that I’m aware of, we’ve felt ignored by my parents for years. We really don’t know why, entirely. However, now they’re very feeble, mother in stages of dementia or worse, father with congestive heart failure, and we’ve been right there doing what we can. It wasn’t like they ever said anything specifically hateful, it was more of an attitude. It’s been hard. It hurts, both the ignoring and them in their present condition. My sympathies to you and also for the loss of your grandmother.

    There was Buzzy Bavasi, the baseball man, don’t know where Buzzy came from, but what kind of nickname is Buzzy.

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  49. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 27, 2013 at 2:49 pm

    Dorothy, leaving now; save me two, I’m bringing my 14 year old son. He met Chelsea Clinton, he can meet the Tuskegee Airmen.

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  50. Deborah said on March 27, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    I don’t know why I care but I looked up more info on the Internet about Buzz Bissinger. I had said earlier that I felt sorry for his kids but I read that he has a special needs kid. He had 3 children the youngest a set of twins who are 28 now. One of the twins had a birth incident where he didn’t get oxygen and has been mentally challenged all his life, a savant, the other twin didn’t have the birth problem at all so developed “normally”. So I guess I can cut Buzz some slack, but he sure seems like he has gone off the deep end.

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  51. Deborah said on March 27, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Judy Busy, my heart goes out to you. Little Bird’s father did not speak to her for 8 years and then only because she makes the effort to keep in touch with him. I do not understand how parents can do this to their own children. On the other hand we have the opposite situation with my husband’s older daughter, she has completely rejected us and we don’t know why. We must have offended her in some way about 12 years ago but have never been able to find out what we did. She lives in France with her French husband and has 2 children we’ve never seen. We found out that she has done this to her husband’s parents as well, only they live in France not far away from them. She will not let them see the grandchildren. We keep up with what is going on with her through my husband’s younger daughter who claims to be just as baffled as we are. The two girls were never close so info is sporadic. The younger daughter has issues too.

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  52. Jakash said on March 27, 2013 at 6:39 pm

    I don’t know why I feel compelled to straighten out a dispute about a joke about a story which is repellent to me in the first place, but here goes.

    velvet goldmine wrote: “Zorn’s punchline is a little blunted because he biffed the origin — the piece was in GQ, wasn’t it, not Vanity Fair?”

    Bitter Scribe countered: “Zorn did not say that the piece was in Vanity Fair. He said, correctly, that Bissinger is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.”

    Zorn’s original punchline: “Honey, before you get mad that I just bought myself a new driver even though the old one was perfectly fine (and not the reason I’m erratic off the tee), I’d like you to read this article in Vanity Fair…”

    Sorry, Scribe, but velvet goldmine’s analysis Pans out on this one. Regardless, any sentence using the word “biff” without referring to a “Hardy Boys” or “Death of a Salesman” character sounds like gold to me.

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  53. Bitter Scribe said on March 27, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    Jakash–Oh, ouch! How did I miss that last line? I stand corrected. I’m not usually that sloppy (nor is Eric).

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  54. Prospero said on March 27, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    Somebody reads GQ? And what the hell does GQ stand for? Gypsy Queen? I don’t guess Bissinger is getting into any more locker rooms in the near future. And now we know why the guy was trying to claim rights to “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” when he had nothing to do with it. Puts my Gucci u-trou in a bunch. And God help me, I looked at those pictures Sherri linked. Are those jeggings? Nasty.

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  55. Judybusy said on March 27, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    Thanks, everyone, for all your kind words and support. It really does help; I haven’t been in touch yet with my real-life friends, but wanted to get it off my chest. Deborah, I remember your sharing the story of your daughter and her father before, but your husband’s daughter was news. I would find it extra painful, that not knowing the reason why.

    It was a tough couple days: the next day we went to a dear friend’s father’s funeral. He died of lung cancer at too early an age. However, we know the whole family, so even though I didn’t talk about my dad, and we were there in grief, it was very comforting to see this family together, and knowing Jim was such a good guy.

    His granddaughter, Kaitlyn, had been sending mystery postcards since October, when the treatment options had ended. The week before he died, she decided she’d better call grandpa and tell him who had sent all these postcards! By that time, Jim couldn’t speak, but they put her on speaker phone. He squeezed his wife’s hand, and made a “Oh, really, Kaitlyn?” look with his face as the mystery was revealed. My partner and one of Kaitlyn’s uncles came up with a plan to send her mystery postcards from all over. We’ll tell her on her birthday in June who arranged it all!

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  56. Dorothy said on March 27, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    What a sweet story, Judy! I would love to send a postcard (or ten) and give it Nancy my okay to give you my email address, if you’d like to share Kaitlyn’s address. Just a cheery postcard with no names, right?

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  57. brian stouder said on March 27, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    JudyBusy, you go!

    Life is strange, eh? And just when you think maybe it’s not so strange, things take a turn

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  58. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    Judy, thanks for the rest of the story. Some folks just don’t want redemption anywhere near them, and push it away at all costs. That’s a tidy definition of my reluctant minimalist belief in Hell — some people insist on going there, but you don’t have to let them take you with them, and God says “if you’re really quite sure . . . well then.”

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  59. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 27, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    Very nice to sit with Dorothy this evening at a program for the Tuskegee Airmen which was in part organized by a mutual friend. My son, who’s having a tragically educational and practical Spring Break, actually found it all interesting, which from a 14 year old I call a major victory. He loved the story about how Eleanor Roosevelt played a role in helping sustain the training program for the Tuskegee pilots, which one of the original air crew members told: she visited, and wanted to go up on a flight with a [koff] colored [koff] pilot. Her Secret Service detail head said “No, ma’am, you can’t do that.” After some back and forth, she insisted he call the President. Getting FDR on the line, the security chief explains “She’s upset because we told her she couldn’t go up with one of these colored pilots,” to which the President of the United States says “Good Lord, man, I’m President and her husband, and I can’t get away with telling her what to do, so why should you be able to?” So Eleanor goes up, but only after the press photographers get there, so they have good shots of her distinctive profile in the backseat of a trainer with a Tuskegee pilot, which are published nationwide.

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  60. Dorothy said on March 28, 2013 at 6:23 am

    Best story of the event, Jeff! But my heart is still breaking for the little guy at the end of the stage who actually was active in WWII and who liked to grab the microphone and tell his little anecdotes, related or not to what they were talking about already, and then got teary-eyed nearly every single time. I’m thankful the rest of the fellows were younger than him because otherwise we might have been there another 90 minutes while they entertained us with endless stories.

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  61. velvet goldmine said on March 28, 2013 at 9:09 am

    Bitter, no worries! I has thought about maybe noting it in Zorn’s comments section, but like Sarah Palin I eschew the gotcha media, by golly!

    Jakash, thanks for the sorting out, and yeah, biff is a handy word for those times when a minor mistake doesn’t deserve “fuck up.”

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  62. Brandon said on April 1, 2013 at 4:08 am

    I don’t know why no one told him that leather pants and high-heeled boots can only be worn by a Steven Tyler, in part because Tyler is tall, long-legged and — this is key — skinny.

    When Steven Tyler is vacationing in Hawaii–and trying to have an anti-paparazzi law (written in large part by his lawyer) passed by the State Legislature–he prefers shorts and no shirt.

    As another commenter pointed out, rock stars need not to be tall to rock leather pants. See Axl Rose, just short of average height.

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