Pop Culture

is lost on me. I'm rarely interested in the "goings on" with any celebrity. Paris, Brad/Angelina, Ben/Jennifer, Madonna, Oprah, Martha Steward--I couldn't care less. Though I don't care, I do wish I understood it. I was reading the WSJ, and I saw an article about Katie Couric's likelihood of not completing her contract term. I never understood why CBS wanted Couric anyway. But I don't watch Today, Oprah, Good Morning America or any of that stuff. I guess I'm just a pop-culture curmudgeon.

I did see Couric interview Howard Stern, she was twirling her hair--a provocative gesture to be sure. I'm no prude; far from it. But that interview always stuck in my head. The wooing of Couric by CBS always stood at odds with that image of her. She may have charm, but she lacked gravitas. And gravitas is what one needs from an anchor--not perkiness, not hair twirling provocativeness, not toothy smiles--gravitas, talent and experience. I think of Diane Sawyer and Leslie Stahl among others.

I'd be lying, though, I I told you that I looked away from the tabloid stories that have pictures of un-made up faces and cellulite infused buttocks with a "Guess who?" tag line. Those headlines remind me that celebrities are regular people. If we spent more time developing our own talents (regardless of how meager) and less time celebrity fawning, then. . . . I was hopeful as to the many ways that sentence could be completed.