So now I'm a Madonna fan? Okay.

I keep thinking, for some reason, about Gary Sitton. Holy shit; I miss that man. But I only really saw him through one lens—the lens of his writing. It was, they tell me, a good deal more complex for those around him—particularly the women in his life.

I used to copyedit Bear's columns and articles for Hunting Magazine—as gently as I could, but we did have to have a couple of conversations that ranged from normal author-query/fact-checking concerns to one rather extravagant dispute over an adjective of his that I had recklessly (recklessly!) deleted. I was crushed to have upset him, of course.

My favorite quotes of Sitton's:

Gary Sitton, on Madonna:

We stayed that night at his house, with his charming wife Madonna—that would be Madonna the charming lady, not Madonna the thermonuclear tramp.

Yeah. I thought it was a bit harsh toward the Material Girl. After all, Madonna the singer made it okay, for one brief shining moment in the 1980s, for a woman have breasts—and I'll always be grateful to her for that.

But there was no mistaking where he was coming from. It wasn't a question of him wanting to have it both ways, as so many of us do these days. (Such as me: I want to joke around, pretend I'm one of the guys, but never ever have that repartee hit a nerve. That, of course, is impossible, unless I'm only going to hang out with people I've known for 20 years.)

Gary Sitton, on popular culture:

There is much to be said for good, old-fashioned prudery.

And he practiced what he preached. At least, more than most of the rest of us. Again, there is The Proverb of Martin to consider: "everyone's a hypocrite now and then." Uh-huh.

Gary Sitton, on life:

Be safe, and shoot straight.

Please do.

Special thanks, as always, to those who try to treat their fellow human beings with respect—male and female, gay and straight. It ain't easy, is it?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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