This is from Russ "Mugger" Smith's column in this week's issue:
>Oh Dear, I've Offended Someone
>
>Last week I received an anonymous fax that contained Katha Pollitt's
>early admission entry for the National Magazine Awards. It's quite a
>stunning piece, actually, a reaction to a friend's critique of
>NYPress, and I can only hope The Nation's white feminist receives
>her due.
>
>It reads: "'A yeasty brew'? Sure-if you like to wash down your lunch
>with a big glass of fermented cat pee!
>
>"Those ubiquitous NYPress boxes are pretty full at the end of the
>week. At Film Forum (hip downtown theater much-frequented by the
>young and restless) the huge stack of Tuesday's NYPresses had barely
>been touched by Saturday afternoon. Russ Smith is pretty good at
>getting publicity for himself in the mainstream media he claims to
>despise (in which he certainly seems to take himself very
>seriously), but you never hear a column or story in NYPress
>discussed outside its pages, and almost none of its writers either.
>(I think so far the most famous writer they've developed is Amy
>Sohn, who wrote a column about her sexual humiliations, and went on
>to write for the trashy New York Post for about a minute.) "Can you
>name their movie critic and describe his/her taste? You don't even
>see tag lines from their reviews in ads for books, records or
>movies. "I should mention in interests of truth in advertising that
>Russ Smith offered me a column. I declined-politely too-and that is
>probably why they go after me so often. Some people just can't take
>rejection! Still, it shows you what a jerk Russ Smith is-obviously,
>he thought I was a pretty interesting writer when he wanted me to
>work for him! But once I said no thanks I became a boring liberal, a
>whiny feminist, a mediocre member of the journalistic establishment
>with nothing whatsoever to say.
>
>"Hard to respect a guy like that."
That, of course, is Katha's post to this list of November 15. Smith comments:
>Indeed. It's true that I offered "whiny feminist" Pollitt a column a
>few years ago and also accurate that she politely declined. But
>Katha, hon, it wasn't for your dazzling prose that I wanted to add
>you to our eclectic roster of writers. Rather, at NYPress, unlike
>The Nation, we encourage wide diversity of opinions. Who knows, one
>day faux-populist Michael Moore, if he took a few writing courses,
>might wind up in our pages.
Russ, if you're reading this, is there a reprint fee on its way?
Doug