It’s been a while since we turned our cruel gaze upon Jodi Kantor, the twenty-eight-year-old editor of the New York Times Arts & Leisure section. But several days ago we were notified that she’d been a guest on the Leonard Lopate (radio) show. We gave it a listen, and Ms. Kantor exceeded all our expectations: her grating, self-important manner was a perfect fit with her--shall we say--unfortunate judgment. Well, what else were we to expect of someone who once said (of the pre-Kantor years, presumably) that "the Times is feeding its readers spinach for dessert"? It is amusing to note that when Lopate brought up this remark, Kantor recanted: "I do believe that cultural criticism is dessert." Yes, and so is spinach if your mother says so. The reverse is also true: the Times under Kantor is serving us Hostess Twinkies for dinner. Thus does Ms. Kantor say, by way of self-praise, "We did one of the first big pieces on Usher!"
To say that Kantor is satisfied with the job she’s doing would be quite an understatement. When the news is bad (she says)--Iraq, tsunami--"It’s a relief to read the culture pages" because they provide news that "comes from a universe of pure delight." Furthermore, "The Times is not nearly as stuffy as people think," but it does "treat the arts and culture like a serious journalistic subject. It’s endlessly rich and fascinating." One can pretty well guess what she means by "stuffy" and by "arts and culture"--the former denotes "cultured," the latter, "whatever’s hot with the kids these days." If that’s the way she sees things, it’s hard to imagine some Times readers wouldn’t rather have the spinach.
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