Dishing with Liz: legendary columnist Liz Smith tells all on Texas, Angelina Jolie, the future of gossip, and Smith's new book, Dishing.Native-born Texan Liz Smith Liz Smith may refer to:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of in 1949, and she's still going strong. In 2000, Smith reviewed her journalism career with a best-selling memoir, Natural Blonde, detailing two lesbian affairs. This year Smith returns to her Texas roots with an anecdote-packed cookbook of mostly high-carb celebrity recipes titled Dishing: Great Dish--and Dishes--From America's Most Beloved Gossip Columnist Noun 1. gossip columnist - a journalist who writes a column of gossip about celebrities newspaper columnist - a columnist who writes for newspapers (Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. , $25). What's your idea of a perfect meal? Chicken fried steak Chicken fried steak (also known as country fried steak) is a piece of beef steak (generally cubed steak) coated and fried. It is associated with Southern U.S. cuisine. , black-eyed peas, collard greens Noun 1. collard greens - kale that has smooth leaves collards cole, kail, kale - coarse curly-leafed cabbage , hot biscuits, gravy, and vanilla ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1968), better known as Vanilla Ice, is a Grammy Award nominated, American Music Award winning American rapper and actor known mostly for the 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby. cream with chocolate sauce. Do you have any other guilty pleasures besides food? Reading. I read like a drug addict. What's your favorite gay classic? Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. How far has gossip come in your lifetime? It hasn't changed all that much. It's just that there are more people gossiping--the bloggers, the Internet, all these magazines devoted to celebrity coverage. It's like a mania in America. It's too bad people can't get their minds on more important things. Such as? Disastrous social conditions the world over. What are we doing about AIDS? About the environment? What are we doing about keeping the separation of church and state
You've been frank about the direction you think gossip is taking. I can't even do it the way I used to. So I've had to become a social observer. What's the difference? I'm more interested in commenting on what I see going on than in presenting some incredible fact about Jen and Brad. I'm not enthralled en·thrall tr.v. en·thralled, en·thrall·ing, en·thralls 1. To hold spellbound; captivate: The magic show enthralled the audience. 2. To enslave. with a lot of these people who've come along. They don't seem to me to be real stars. What about Angelina Jolie? A very good actress. Really good. Underrated. She's been pretty open about having affairs with men and women. She doesn't give a shit what people think. She sounds like an interesting woman to me. People are rejecting labels now, especially about their sexuality. Why does anyone want to be labeled as one thing or another? I mean, you might want to change your mind! How will gossip handle that in the future? The mean-spirited aspect of gossip will always exist. But we've come a long way in this country. People think that no social movement ever worked. Well, women's liberation worked. Things are getting better for women all the time. People have a greater racial consciousness too. Thousands of people now accept gay people who probably would have gone to a lynching of one if they could have. Red-state question: Is it harder to be from Texas these days? It's never hard to be from Texas. But I do have a little advice for Texas: Please don't send us any more presidents. Anybody special in your life? Honey, I'm 82 years old. I have thousands of friends, but I abandoned my romantic illusions a long time ago. What's the most fun you ever had? Going on the canopy ride in Costa Rica with my godson god·son n. A male godchild. godson Noun a male godchild Noun 1. godson - a male godchild godchild - an infant who is sponsored by an adult (the godparent) at baptism , who was then 6--riding 20 stories above the earth on a little sling on a rope stretched above this chasm. He was standing on the other side saying, "Lizzie, I'm really proud of you!" What's your next adventure? I'm going to write a novel about life after death. It'll be a farce, of course. I've already started. Stroh is a writer based in Washington, D.C. She lives with her family in the Virginia countryside. |
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