This morning I woke up at about 6:30, rolled over onto my back, and thought about Snooki. Instantly I wondered, "Why am I thinking about Snooki?" I know virtually nothing about her. I saw about 10 minutes of Jersey Shore once. I read an article in the Times about her a month or so ago. But there I am lying in bed, enjoying one of the few quiet moments my life provides, thinking about Snooki.
Then I remember - she's on the cover of some magazine. People or something. I saw it several times when I was in the grocery store with my son as he pounded the grocery cart with his bottle.
The cover of the magazine said something about anorexia, how she had almost died from it. This seemed unlikely to me, but what do I know? How I would I presume to know what is or isn't likely for this total stranger?
I had a thought when I saw the magazine - she's going have to keep coming up with revelations like this. Having no particular talent (I don't say this perjoratively. I just mean she didn't come to public acclaim through any particular accomplishment, artistic or otherwise), she's going to have to do things, reveal new things, to keep the camera on her. How much can there be to reveal?
I also thought of something I read about Brooke Shields years ago. When she was only a teenager, her agent said, "She'll be a part of the rest of all our lives." It's a ludicrous statement, of course. It's also true. Snooki is a part of my life. She's even in my half-formed thoughts as I wake. It's almost intimate.
This must be one of the defining traits of our culture now, the way that strangers that we have no feeling about take up places in our subconscious. What does that do to us? Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot.
The cover of the magazine said something about anorexia, how she had almost died from it. This seemed unlikely to me, but what do I know? How I would I presume to know what is or isn't likely for this total stranger?
I had a thought when I saw the magazine - she's going have to keep coming up with revelations like this. Having no particular talent (I don't say this perjoratively. I just mean she didn't come to public acclaim through any particular accomplishment, artistic or otherwise), she's going to have to do things, reveal new things, to keep the camera on her. How much can there be to reveal?
I also thought of something I read about Brooke Shields years ago. When she was only a teenager, her agent said, "She'll be a part of the rest of all our lives." It's a ludicrous statement, of course. It's also true. Snooki is a part of my life. She's even in my half-formed thoughts as I wake. It's almost intimate.
This must be one of the defining traits of our culture now, the way that strangers that we have no feeling about take up places in our subconscious. What does that do to us? Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot.
Any thoughts?