As I understand it, the term "witchcraft" does not refer to the type of Salem witch trial witchcraft we all think about when we hear that (understandably charged) word. It isn't about Wicca, either. It's not really about magic of any sort.

What it really refers to is manipulation - the nasty quagmire of gossip, undermining, lying, control, and passive-aggressive destructiveness that can often suffocate people once they come into power. Sometimes you hear it referred to as "hype" or "soul power", and the apostle Paul listed it as one of the "works of the flesh" in Galatians 5:17-21:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery (some translations: witchcraft), enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

"Witchcraft" is often blamed or referenced in evangelical circles when a religious or political leader climbs to the top of his/her ministry/profession by dint of his/her charisma rather than by a resolute dedication to the truth, morality, or the good of the people they've sworn to care for. Taken to its extreme one might consider evangelical "witchcraft" to be analogous to the term "cult of personality".

I disagree with Sarah Palin on almost everything, but I won't lump her in with religious fanatics based on that particular terminology. This is something I can certainly understand the blogosphere latching on to as evidence of Palin's backward snake-handling brand of Christianity (for the record, I see her religion as a fairly garden-variety form of fundie-evangelical Christianity), but at its core it's a relatively mainline idea. In the video it's certainly presented poorly, but the concept isn't as arcane as it seems at first glance.

(Disclaimer: I grew up in the Bible Belt. BUT! I was Episcopalian! EPISCOPALIAN!)

The other day I ran across a compendium of comments about DFW's death culled from various blogs. It was an astounding mishmash of near-hilarious tone-deafness and the sort of opalescent brilliance that sometimes glimmers in the deepest recesses of the internet. One single two-word post made me cry:

Infinite Rest.

I am so tired - so exceedingly tired - of this sub-sub-genre of relatively intelligent, adequately talented, undeniably attractive young women writers who insist on using their sexual allure to bludgeon the world with tales of their unrestrained naughtiness. They appear oblivious to the fact that the topics they choose (sex! how I lost my virginity! my all-powerful blowjob technique! did I mention sex? well, then - how about light bondage? how very saucy I am! want to see my knickers? wait; I'm not wearing knickers!) effectively land them in the sewer of Cosmo freelancers.

They're the writerly equivalent of the obnoxiously loud, overly-made-up, sun damaged, drunk, wannabe Housewives of Orange County that show up at even the best parties. They're the women that make men uncomfortable and other women embarrassed, the ones who think they're still skating through life on assets that actually crapped out on them a decade or so ago.

It's ugly. It's tiresome. It was ugly and tiresome when Erica Jong did it; it's only grown uglier and more tired since then. Sex and the City ended, women. It ended about three years after it had peaked, but it did end. You wriggling tarts are starting to look as dated as a Girls Gone Wild video from 1997.

It disgusts me to think that so many women are out there crusading against the exploitation of women while people like Sloane "Look at me, I'm SAUCY!" Crosley get rich by exploiting themselves. Way to represent the sisterhood.

Why do this? Why become the Paris Hilton of the literary set? You women have talent; why prostitute it for a few moments' notoriety in the more easily titillated sectors of the internet? Why settle for being known as a celitbutante?

Take a clue from Diablo Cody: quit stripping and make some art.