Celebrityship

I had heard of her celebrityship frequently, but had never seen her before.

While this was no doubt true for da Vinci and his sodomy suit, and Cellini's escapades, the contemporary mass media and the urge for candor carry celebrityship to new heights, as part of aesthetic appreciation, broadly conceived.

These include the prominence of image and electronic media in political discourse (the Berlusconi effect) with the consequent blurring (or Blairing) of the lines between politics and entertainment as part of a culture of celebrityship.

He hadn't foreseen the celebrityship that was accorded him as soon as he entered the lobby from the parking garage. Everyone had to stop him and offer either congratulations on his survival or wishes for speedy recovery or both.

I first experienced the remarkable ability of celebrityship to neutralize race a decade ago as a Chicago television reporter when I was sent to cover a political rally in a white neighborhood that had been the scene of several anti-black riots, including one in which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was hit in the head with a brick.