My 2 cents:

Leibovitz seems to be yet another of those professional photographers that I find unbearable; the egotistical workaholic who might just as well be a trial lawyer or something. I've been a photographer my whole life, and I'm almost ashamed to admit it sometimes because of how I feel about being lumped in with those who I see as gears in the capitalist machine. I realize that may be unfair to the nice commercial photographers and lawyers in the world, but I've met too many whiny, demanding, high-maintence professional photographers to really think otherwise. So, I find it hard to say if her work is good or worthwhile or whatever; it may be for others but I just find HER annoying no matter what persona she may present. I would venture to guess that without her type A personality marshalling her team of assistants, she'd produce pretty mundane work. But, what do I know?

Also, she's certainly free to put images of her most intimate, painful moments out there for all to see; but it says more to me about her narcissist tendencies than about the univerality of death, loss, pain, etc. Someone else commented on her bravery in showing these pictures, I'd say discretion is the better part of valor.

And, what's up with the idea of having 3 small kids in her 50's? That's not necessary. Again, I smell an ego. But, again, what do I know? I'm not Famous, I'm stuck here in ordinary reality.

Another reader posted this NYT link:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/10/05/arts/20061006_LEIBOVITZ_SLIDESHOW_1.html

No photojournalist's eye there, sorry to say.

"For sustainable long-term growth, China has to get its citizens to consume more."

How many things can be wrong with one sentence??? It would appear to be a statement that does not reflect any version of reality that I understand.

It seems to me that:

Given the state of the biosphere (and especially given China's impact on it) long term growth is inherently unsustainable.

If there is to be sustainable ANYTHING over the long term, human activity on this planet must first achieve stasis of some kind, and then go into remission; at least as far as its environmental impact.

Chinese citizens are doing what would appear to be doing the wise thing, if saving 25% of their income is indeed what they're doing. If they were to consume much more, they and the rest of the world would choke on the resulting pollution that much faster than is already happening. The fact that the Chinese do not consume nearly as much as we do is one of the few things keeping worldwide environmental disaster at bay.

Of course, the average Chinese citizen WILL almost inevitably consume more in the future, and this will almost inevitably be an environmental disaster.

I'm glad I don't have kids to explain the state of the world to.

"She married a photographer, she should know that he's trained to abstract the human form into shadow/light, detaching from other concerns."

I guess that's the hype some photographers want you to buy into, sort of how this dude writes off photographing hot young brides as "all in a day's work". EVERY photographer I know would laugh out loud at such a statement, and as well as at anyone who believed it.

I wonder what mom's new husband would have to say about this?

And what about the first husband?

What would Oedipus say?

These kinds of thigs are taboo FOR A REASON. Odds are in favor of lots of icky green jealousy being dredged up, between mother/d.i.l and stepfather/son, on top of whatever weirdness there is between mother and son. (of course, I don't KNOW that, but I'd bet on it)

Comfortable With Your Body, contrary to what some "enlightened" posters would have one believe, is about going to the beach without worrying if you're too skinny or fat, or being able to ask your partner for what you want in bed, or bathing in a public bath without shame, or whatever. It is NOT about shooting soft porn pix of your MILF mom!

Look, it's just taboo. As in, there's probably something wrong with you if you do it.

...would make the better partner for someone well adjusted. Robert has many hallmarks of a narcissist. Maybe not a full blown egomaniac, he's probably a nice enough guy, but it's there. A number of posters have noted this in different ways.

You, LW, need to figure some stuff out, and fast if you want kids.

Robert will mess with your head if you pick him, unless you're equally egocentric in which case you two can orbit each other like binary stars. OTOH, it's not terribly fair to Joe to make him wait until you figure out what you really want. Ideally, that will be someone down to earth like him, but how long will it take you to get there?

Maybe you need to go through the stage most women start in their early 20's - pick (or should I say orbit) Robert, have the rug pulled out from under you after a while and learn why the handsomest most charismatic guy is not necessarily the best choice.If you actually learn that lesson, you won't have to repeat the grade and you'll meet a nice above-average Joe.

And what's with the Fake Letter crap? People go through this stuff! Have any of you folks done style analysis on all these so-called fake letters to see if Francis Bacon actually wrote them, or whoever it is you think is making them up? If you don't like it, write your own fake letter. On second thought, don't - you can't even heckle the columnist properly. Go finish your homework and get to bed.