Now that Eliza is working at Saturday Night Live, I’ve been making an effort to stay awake to watch the show. Last night, Madonna was in a skit, which struck me as interesting because it took me almost the entire skit to figure out that the person playing Madonna actually was Madonna. Initially, I thought she was another Saturday Night Live cast member whose resemblance to Madonna was virtually nonexistent.

          Generally speaking, I am not critical of plastic surgery. I, too, look for ways to stave off the inevitable. But it’s one thing to turn back the hands of time, and quite another to lose one’s identity in the process. Madonna’s success has relied heavily on her notoriety, which has, in my opinion, far eclipsed her talent. She has made a career of putting herself out there, often reinvented. But someone should clue her in that reinvention is impossible if you’ve thrown out the original.