Blog

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald J. Trump during the G20 in Osaka, Japan in 2019. *Shealah Craighead/White House.*

Bad hombres, tippy-toes edition

March 20, 2023

Well, we’re all walking on eggshells aren’t we, waiting for the Gucci pump to drop. No sooner was Russian President Vladimir Putin indicted as a war criminal in the International Court of Justice for forcibly bringing Ukrainian children to Russia — an utter disgrace — than new BFF, Chinese President Xi Jinping, showed up in Moscow offering his support and a joke of a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine that would keep Russian troops in place.

Meanwhile, erstwhile Putin BFF, former American President Donald J. Trump, is facing an indictment of his own in New York over his alleged coverup of hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, a misdemeanor that could be bumped up to a felony if it is tied to campaign finance. For Trump — a man for whom there is no such thing as bad publicity — this plays into the martyr aspect of a paradoxical personality in which everything he is and has is the best but yet, poor, poor, poor, poor him.

A 2009 Miami Open match between Juan Del Potro and Rafael Nadal. *Photograph by Alex Lee.*

Why do we project ourselves onto others?

March 13, 2023

There is no March Madness for Novak Djokovic.

The un-Covid vaccinated world No. 1 isn’t playing in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, (otherwise known as the Indian Wells Masters) this week, and he won’t be playing in the Miami Open (March 19 through April 2), this despite appeals from notables like Billie Jean King that went all the way to the White House and from tournament directors, who, faced with the retirement of Roger Federer and Serena Williams and injury to Rafael Nadal, need all the superstars they can get.

With my books prior to Westfair Communications Inc.’s first literary luncheon, “History: Fiction and Nonfiction,” held Feb. 23 in White Plains, New York. *Photograph by Sarafina Pavlak/Westfair.*

Adventures in publishing, continued: Westfair’s first literary luncheon

February 27, 2023

There are few things in life more satisfying than living the life you see in your head. Such moments are rare, but when they happen, you have to savor them. Such was the case Thursday, Feb. 23, as Westfair Communications Inc. presented its first literary luncheon in White Plains, New York.

“History: Fiction and Nonfiction” was the theme of “Literary Westfair,” featuring Mary Calvi’s new “If a Poem Could Live and Breathe: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt’s First Love” (St. Martin’s Press) – about his first wife, the former Alice Hathaway Lee – and John A. Lipman’s biography “Alfred B. DelBello: His Life and Times” (Atmosphere Press). As Westfair’s chief cultural writer and luxury editor, I had a lot of skin in this game, serving as moderator and one of the authors who would be reading.

I’ll be reading from my new historical thriller (JMS Books) at Westfair Communications Inc.’s first literary luncheon, Feb. 23 in White Plains, New York, and March 25 at the Greenburgh Public Library in Greenburgh, New York.

More adventures in publishing -- upcoming appearances and awards

February 21, 2023

I pause here from my usual ruminating — and venting — to mention several upcoming appearances involving my new historical thriller “Riddle Me This” (JMS Books), part of “The Games Men Play” series, as well as my day job.

Harry Styles, seen performing in Rio de Janeiro last year, was heckled by Beyoncé fans at “The Grammy Awards.” *Photograph by* *Leticia Morales.*

Heckling diminishes us all

February 9, 2023

Heckling is as old as performing, but our digital cult and culture of narcissism, which has made everyone an instant celebrity, has given it a trending obnoxiousness. President Joe Biden was heckled by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the other MAGA Republicans at the State of the Union address. Harry Styles was heckled by Beyoncé fans at “The Grammy Awards.” Novak Djokovic was heckled by a drunken “Where’s Waldo?” quartet at the Australian Open. And Sydney Warner, wife of San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, was among the Niners contingent heckled at the Eagles-49ers National Football Conference championship game.

A kindergarten in the village of Javolik, Serbia, built by the Novak Djokovic Foundation. Djokovic is active in social justice issues that might surprise the far right, which has adopted him in its anti-Covid vax mandate crusade. Photograph by
Ванилица.

Of Novak and no-vax

February 4, 2023

Among those exulting in Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open triumph Sunday, Jan. 29, were members of the far right, who had adopted the world’s No. 1 male tennis player as the poster boy for their anti-Covid vaccine mandate crusade after the debacle last year in which he was deported from Australia for coming to the tournament unvaccinated, a moment that covered neither Australia nor Djokovic in glory.

The cover of Prince Harry’s new best-selling book, “Spare” (Random House). *Jacket design by Christopher Brand. Front cover photograph by Ramona Rosales.*

Prince Harry's 'Spare' view of himself

January 31, 2023

Having written about Prince Harry’s “Spare” (Random House, 407 pages, $36) elsewhere – and written about him many times for a variety of publications — I wasn’t going to weigh in on this blog about the book. I thought it might be passé. But what I’ve learned is that with politically divisive figures — and make no mistake, the prince and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are politically divisive figures — there is no such thing as passé. Witness this New York Times opinion piece, which plays right into the hands of everyone who defines liberals as “woke.”

I’m not going to reargue the article, except to say that while some members of the British press and posters have made scurrilous, racist remarks, the Sussexes must also be held accountable for their lack of professionalism in leaving the monarchy and the contradictory narrative they have since put forth. A similar contradictory quality dominates “Spare,” which purports to be an authentic account of Prince Harry’s life in his own words but is certainly not written in his own voice.