Not So Little Sister
Scrapbook Not So Little Sister THE SCRAPBOOK feels abashed that it has paid so little attention over the years—indeed, has paid no attention at all in print—to Britney Spears, the pop singer,...
...According to the Associated Press, “Nickelodeon is considering a special for its young audience about sex and love following the news that 16-year-old ‘Zoey 101’ star Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant...
...the two offspring in swift succession...
...First, Thomas Nelson, the religious publishing house, has suspended publication of a heart-warming memoir by Lynn Spears, Britney’s mother, about the life of a pop-star mom...
...At work they are aristocrats, Kings of the Meritocracy, schmoozing with Felix Rohatyn...
...The article describes a fundraising auction at a private school in Manhattan: When a home-cooked meal by a famous chef was being auctioned off, the doctors dropped out of the bidding at $7,000, the lawyers at $15,000, and then the bankers, private equity and hedge fund crowd got serious and fought it out among themselves, with the winning bid coming in at $40,000...
...And finally, it has prompted executives at Nickelodeon, the cable network that produces Zoey 101, to seize a teachable moment...
...the shaved skull...
...And now, THE SCRAPBOOK observes, even Britney must be astonished to learn that her 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn (“I would like to be like Britney, but maybe better”) Spears, star of the wholesome Zoey 101 TV program for preteens, is pregnant by her 19-year-old “former boyfriend...
...the video of a cursing, bald-headed Britney wildly striking a photographer’s van with a furled umbrella...
...Face it, we have no status,’ says an Am Law 100 [i.e., one of the one hundred most profitable law firms in the U.S.] partner of the pecking order at his sons’ private school...
...Or of poor John Sununu, who ruled the world when he was White House chief of staff but had to feed, educate, and house eight children on $125,000 a year...
...We can’t see anything difficult about explaining 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, her pregnancy, her “former boyfriend,” her sister, her mom, her extended household, and the whole phenomenon of pop culture, to children who frequently see things with clearer eyes than their elders...
...the loss of parental rights...
...THE SCRAPBOOK’s only concern, especially where Linda Ellerbee is concerned, is preserving the dignity of the Spears family at this special time in their lives...
...This blessed event has had a number of consequences...
...the marriage to the tattooed dancer/rapper and their self-produced “reality TV” show...
...The sufferers of this malady,” wrote Brooks, “have jobs that give them high status but low income...
...Apparently the differences are becoming undeniably apparent in social settings...
...the contentious divorce...
...Difficult...
...The disparity is not to be borne...
...the Las Vegas wedding annulled after 55 hours...
...Second, it has reminded many Americans of the antiquated legal principle of an age of consent, and the laws governing statutory rape...
...For the special, Nickel odeon said it’s talking with Linda Ellerbee, the veteran newswoman who has stepped in frequently in the past with shows on talking to children about difficult issues in the news...
...We concede, there’s been a lot of material to ignore: The gyrating teenage videos...
...Scrapbook Not So Little Sister THE SCRAPBOOK feels abashed that it has paid so little attention over the years—indeed, has paid no attention at all in print—to Britney Spears, the pop singer, former Mouseketeer, tabloid princess, and star of our favorite female-bonding movie, Crossroads (2002...
...Or, you may not...
...The Tragedy of SID Revisited A few moons ago, David Brooks memorably diagnosed in these pages the heartbreaking affliction known as Status-Income Disequilibrium (SID...
...Consider the plight of the army general, who can command the movements of 100,000 men during the week but stretches to afford a Honda Accord for weekend outings...
...Status-IncomeDisequilibrium sufferers include journalists at important media outlets, editors at publishing houses, TV news producers, foundation officers, museum curators, moderately successful classicalmusic performers, White House aides, military brass, politicians who aren’t independently wealthy, and many others...
...the home visits from child welfare agencies...
...They won’t give you the time of day...
...You’re just one step ahead of the doorman.’” Amidst your Christmas celebrations, you may want to spare a thought for these sufferers...
...They lunch on an expense account at The Palm, but dine at home on macaroni...
...We go to these school functions, and this well-heeled group looks right through you...
...the quick-as-awink stints in rehab...
...It’s been an interesting few years in the life of one American celebrity...
...All day long the phone-message slips pile up on their desks—calls from famous people seeking favors—but at night they realize the tub needs scrubbing, so it’s down on the hands and knees with the Ajax...
...Now the outbreak Brooks identifed a decade ago is spreading upwards, to include New York City lawyers...
...Robert T. Miller, at the First Things blog, noticed a recent story in the American Lawyer reporting that “lawyers in Manhattan’s elite law firms—the kinds of places where partners make $1 million a year and more—are depressed because they don’t make as much money as financial professionals...
...the court order against her mother...
...At home they are peasants, wondering if they can really afford to have orange juice every morning...
...As for THE SCRAPBOOK, we think the American Lawyer may have discovered the wellspring of John Edwards’s populism...
Vol. 13 • December 2008 • No. 16
