At left, the cover of the november issue of Vogue UK as sold in Paris (or in NYC, or in Rome, or anywhere overseas). It's a glamorous pic of Carolyn Murphy. At right, the very same issue of Vogue UK as sold in the UK, with shitty local TV "stars".

A loyal reader of this humble weblog had faxed a letter to the UK Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman, complaining about the utterly awful cover she got in the UK. Two days later, she received a letter from her personally responding to her comments.

Shulman says in her letter that the UK cover was not the original choice, but the other options under consideration didn't work out, so she decided to run with the picture of the four TV stars, which is lifted from the portfolio inside the issue.

She said that while she appreciated that the November cover was "not a classic Vogue image", she chose to run it because she was keen to dedicate an issue of the magazine to TV, which "like it or not, is one of
the most powerful cultural influences around".

Let me say here immediately that my (mixed) appreciation of Shulman as editor has surged when I heard this story, because editors rarely reply to letters, it's generally their assistant/circulation editor/managing editor and the likes who reply in general terms. Here, the SALTYT reader received a prompt reply from the editor herself, addressing the issue precisely and without empty words.

Having said that, I don't like much that "like it or not" answer. It sounds arrogant. It's also besides the point: the reader hasn't complain about British television, but about the decision to give the cover to a non-fashion (anti fashion?) subject.

The good news are Shulman promised in the end of her letter that the December issue will have a great cover.

R-rated lines net apology
RICHARD RUBIN Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

Charlotte-Mecklenburg public library director Robert Cannon apologized Tuesday for a sexually explicit reading at the publicly funded Novello Festival of Reading.

N.C. native Jim Grimsley read a 15-page excerpt of his book "Boulevard" last Wednesday at the Neighborhood Theatre, shortly after a speech by a children's author. The novel, Grimsley's fifth, tells the story of a young gay man who moves to late 1970s New Orleans and works in an adult bookstore.

Though not the most graphic part of "Boulevard," the excerpt Grimsley read is R-rated and then some, with coarse language, references to homosexual sex and descriptions of items in the store.

"We made a mistake," Cannon said. "We didn't know that he was going to read those particular passages."

Cannon said the library should have warned the audience of 450 about the content beforehand.

But Grimsley, who teaches at Emory University in Atlanta, said he wouldn't want to speak in a place so conservative that his work requires a warning label.

"This is the world their children are going to grow up in," he said, adding that he didn't recall seeing children in the audience. "They're going to hear dirty language. They're going to hear about sex."