June 7, 2019

Can Someone Please Write “A Blogger at Sixty” About Me?

Madonna is not happy:

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Madame ❌ on the cover of N.Y.T. Magazine photographed by my dear friend @jr……….Also sharing my fav photo that never made it in, along with pre-shoot chat and a celebratory glass of wine 🍷 after many hours of work! To say that I was disappointed in the article would be an understatement- It seems. You cant fix society And its endless need to diminish, Disparage or degrade that which they know is good. Especially strong independent women. The journalist who wrote this article spent days and hours and months with me and was invited into a world which many people dont get to see, but chose to focus on trivial and superficial matters such as the ethnicity of my stand in or the fabric of my curtains and never ending comments about my age which would never have been mentioned had I been a MAN! Women have a really hard time being the champions of other women even if. they are posing as intellectual feminists. Im sorry i spent 5 minutes with her. It makes me feel raped. And yes I’m allowed to use that analogy having been raped at the age of 19. Further proof that the venerable N.Y.T. Is one of the founding fathers of the Patriarchy. And I say—-DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY woven deep into the fabric of Society. I will never stop fighting to eradicate it. 💔

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on

I have no idea what it’s like to be a celebrity of Madonna’s stature, but she sure is touchy. I just read the piece she’s complaining about, and it was a pretty ordinary profile. Yes, it’s titled “Madonna at Sixty,” and yes, the author includes a couple of paragraphs about how Madonna feels at 60—which Madonna turns right around on her: “I think you think about growing old too much. I think you think about age too much. I think you should just stop thinking about it.”

But that’s about it. The rest is pretty normal profile fare, including all the usual detail about stuff like the fabric of Madonna’s curtains. There’s not really very much about Madonna’s age, and there’s plenty about Madonna’s music and her influence. And just about all of it is positive.

I dunno. Maybe I’d feel differently if Vanessa Grigoriadis interviewed me and ended up writing a piece called “A Blogger at Sixty.” Then again, if she treated me with the personal adoration that she treats Madonna, I’d probably forgive her.

POSTSCRIPT: Just for laughs, I googled a few older male musicians. I found loads of “McCartney at 70” stuff, several “Springsteen at 60” pieces, and an absolutely endless pile of “Mick Jagger at ___” profiles.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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