You probably get lots of E-mails from hopefuls wanting to become advice columnists, but I thought I would ask anyway: How does one become a successful advice columnist? I believe that I have something to offer. I give advice to friends and family, and I’m sure that there are many other people out there who would benefit from my advice. I am not interested in simply spouting my opinions: I am interested in helping people. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!
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Some of you probably caught me on Bill O’Reilly’s show, The O’Reilly Factor, on Fox News last week. I was on to promote my new book, Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America, and O’Reilly began our segment by barking at me about owing royalties to Robert Bork, the conservative author and social critic who wrote Slouching Towards Gomorrah. Of course, if I owe Bork money then Bork owes money to Joan Didion, author of Slouching Toward Bethlehem, and all three of us owe money to the estate of W.B. Yeats, the poet who got this “[blanking] toward [someplace]” business rolling.
Anyway, I was having a nice enough chat with the combative Mr. O’Reilly, holding my own, defending pot smokers and sex educators and other sinners. And then O’Reilly asked me what I thought about gay bathhouses. I made the mistake of telling him the truth: I hate gay bathhouses and I think they should be closed. This is not a new position. I’ve been an on-the-record gay-bathhouse basher for ten years now. (And guys, are gay bathhouses even necessary these days? Web sites like gay.com have turned every gay man’s apartment into a virtual gay bathhouse. Why eat out when you can order in?)
Dan Savage’s new book, Skipping Towards Gomorrah (Dutton), is on sale now. For more info go to skippingtowardsgomorrah.com.
