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20
WEDNESDAY
Ordinary academics take the fun out of every kitschy thing from barbeque joints to tiki lounges to drag cabarets, all under the aegis of “cultural studies.” Yale associate professor Wayne Koestenbaum has certainly endured many a seminar in literary and cultural theory, but somehow he has preserved a true taste for camp humor. His recent Jackie Under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon deconstructed the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis mystique, while his The Queen’s Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire blended down-to-earth personal experience with scholarly music appreciation. Koestenbaum reads from these studies (and perhaps from his poetry collections Ode to Anna Moffo and Rhapsodies of a Repeat Offender) at 8 p.m. at American University’s Bentley Lounge, Gray Hall, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 885-2990. CP