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But as People, They Suck: A Pandemic Profile of Celina Powell

Like an internet Angelyne, Celina Powell drives a powder pink Mercedes- G wagon, paid for by subscriptions to her OnlyFans account, which…

I wrote an essay about one of my favorite internet shit-stirrers, Celina Powell.

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Final Thoughts

There are over 230,000 dead, and tomorrow that number will be higher, and the next day it will be higher still. There are over 230,000 dead, and the man most responsible for the body count is still…

Some final thoughts.

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Sunday Pages: "The Intimacy of Racism"

An essay by Fiona Helmsley

I wrote a short essay about families and racism for Greg Olear’s Prevail.

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Olivia de Havilland died. While she wasn’t one of my favorite actresses, she served as a bridge. She was one of the last living actresses from a period of Hollywood filmmaking that continues to intrigue me. I wrote her a letter a few years ago. She was over a 100 years old at the time and I was deep into my Leslie Howard fixation. My letter was gooey and fawning and contained questions about working with Howard and Montgomery Clift. Because I have a vivid imagination, I imagined we might become pen pals, but she never responded.

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Brigid Berlin became famous as a socialite surrogate for Andy Warhol, a position held before her by blue blood glamour girls like Baby Jane Holzer and Edie Sedgwick. But while Brigid attended the best schools and vacationed at the best chateaus, the togs she charged at the best boutiques and the portions she consumed at the best restaurants were larger than the earlier socialites she replaced on Warhol's arm. Brigid didn't stifle her appetite nor her attitude. She was obnoxious. She was often nude. She was addicted to both speed and key lime pie. She wielded her mouth and the implied imposition of her size as a weapon. Nowadays, badly behaved heiresses are a dime a dozen, but in the 1960s to openly disdain and go out of your way to embarrass your Hearst magnate father took courage, gall, and a healthy dose of recklessness. Brigid left the sterile pre-packaged existence of the uptown socialite to "slum" with the downtown demimonde. Butch and in your face, John Waters felt fearful seeing her walk down St. Mark's Place, while Warhol felt protected by the toughness she emanated (as well as envious of the stock she came from and rejected). Warhol constantly poached ideas from his circle, and he swiped his incessant polaroiding and tape recording from Brigid. Though she refused the "artist" label, Brigid Berlin was an artist and a revelation. In a 2000 documentary about her life, Brigid said that in death, she hoped to enjoy her beloved key lime pie “in the sky." She died yesterday at 80 years old. I hope she's enjoying it now.

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The mail here has been a little screwy. A neighbor just brought over a package of Girls Gone Old in Finnish.

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Roxane Gay

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 Hero. Legend. One of the most important men of the 20th century. Rest in peace (or pissed-offness), Larry Kramer.

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This is amazing! Penny Arcade as Blanche DuBois and Steve Earle as Stanley Kowalski. Sunday, May 31.

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“She just liked my book and said so—how ungentrified on her.”

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Girls Gone Old is now available in Finnish, with a slightly different title.

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This is an incredible story. A famous opera singer was stalked by a young model who was bitten by a lion at a car show in New York City.

Soprano's Tale: Obsession, Love and Death. Offstage.

Birgit Nilsson was the object of a young admirer's devotion. Then it stopped being harmless.

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I love the look on this woman’s face.

I have three new poems up at Hobart today.

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If you’re ever bored, it’s a pretty fun morning going through the digital archives of the American Social Hygiene Association, an organization that had its heyday in the early 20th century, propagandizing about premarital sex and the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea. The collection has all these crazy campaign posters and brochures used to promote moral hygiene. Here is part of a 1920 brochure entitled “The Case Against the Red Light.”

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