Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Maureen Dowd   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

An e-mail in response to my syndicated column this week:

To: Kathryn Lopez
Subject: Dowd-y Concerns

Ms. Lopez: I am saddened to think that you've been taken in by "Maureen Dowd." The application of logic and reason show that there actually is no such person; "MoDo," as we fans call the construct, is an elaborate practical joke the NY Times editorial staff has been playing on its readers. The paper isn't what it used to be—a while back the main story in the Sunday arts section was on a video game; not as a social marker or anything like that, but qua video game. But even the Times wouldn't actually hire and give valuable op-ed space to someone who characterizes all the stereotypes of the "woman writer." Personally I think the joke has gone on long enough.

If I ever thought MoDo actually existed I was convinced otherwise several years ago when the column was a temporary farewell so that, we were told, Maureen could finish off a book. Occupying one of the most valuable newspaper spaces in the English-speaking world, the column was basically a complaint about how she was oppressed and set upon and it came down to basically, "I'm a girl; they shouldn't hit me."

That actress who plays her on the Sunday talk shows should get more roles. She's quite good, managing to combine undoubted intelligence with virtually complete ditziness.

11/03 10:13 AMShare