Ray Lewis, Michael Phelps, Anne Tyler smackdown
What better way to ring in the holidays -- a time for peace on Earth -- than a vicious contest that pits Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis, Olympic champion Michael Phelps and author Anne Tyler, among others? That's the aim of Celebrity Smackdown, an annual contest that determines the most popular local celebrity in Baltimore.
Besides Tyler, the local celeb list includes authors such as David Simon ("Homicide" and "The Corner") and Laura Lippman ("I’d Know You Anywhere" and the Tess Monaghan novels).
Many of the other celebs, including Phelps, Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill and movie director John Waters, have written books, but they fall short of being an author with a capital "A".
So if you're a book-lover, make sure to vote -- and ensure that Baltimore is known for more than athletes. Consider each bookish vote a victory for the English majors who were terrorized by jocks in school.
Vote, and vote often.
Comments
As a book lover- at Christmas time?- my celebs would have to be Madison Smart Bell- for "Charm City" (I don't see any underline feature here) or "Touch"- Virginia Crawford's upcoming book of poems-Ned Balbo's book of poems (he teaches at Loyola), latest chapbooks and books by black writers- do your homework Read Street-
O-don't forget- David Bergman's anthology of gay writing (Dave teaches at Towson)...
Has Ray Lewis written a book? has John Paterakis?
I don't think this society has a good idea of celebrity.
In my definition of celebrity- Brendann and Willa Walsh- who run the Catholic Worker house- Viva House- in the slums- they would be celebrities- not the phony ones! They DESERVE celebrity/
And- if you get their newsletter- you will see that they're both fine writers!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 8, 2010 3:17 PM