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"A rejuvenated tax specialist, a boarding school pixie, a literature major from Virginia and a clog-wearing nutritionist."

The NYT makes the 4 individuals that ran a prostitution ring sound like characters in a new, bad sit-com.

What, exactly, makes a human being a "pixie"? Apparently, Cecil Suwal was "petite" and "bubbly."

And how did the "tax specialist" get "rejuvenated" ? by going into the prostitution business?

[The] boss was Mark Brener, 62. He dealt with a stack of medical bills for his late wife by starting the escort service, an idea that dawned on him several years ago as he surveyed sex-related advertisements in the weekly newspaper The Village Voice....

The venture reinvigorated Mr. Brener. He dyed his hair black, donned a leather jacket and recruited three women to help him. The four seemingly had little in common beyond a desire for extra money and a willingness to earn it in alternative ways.

So there's your "rejuvenated." He dyed his hair and got a leather jacket ? and entered the prostitution business.

Then there's "Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, whom friends describe as a reserved and bookish graduate of the University of Virginia, scheduled meetings between willing young women and wealthy men." So you graduate from a fine college and you become a secretary... for a prostitution business?

The "clog-wearing nutritionist" ? get it? Each member of the unlikely foursome in our new sit-com has a different kind of unlikeliness. This one, Tanya Hollander, has kitchen shelves that "brim with spices and herbs" and a table "strewn with grapefruit and books of holistic and organic recipes."

"I?d like to help people heal through food, to use food as medicine and to take the time to choose the right meals."

The comic dialogue will practically write itself. She can be like Saffy on "AbFab."

Now why do these 4 mismatched characters come together in their ridiculous enterprise? The Times delves into the mystery:

For decades, studies have tracked the forces that drive people into prostitution. Few, though, have reviewed what, beyond money, propels someone toward a life as a pimp or a madam.

What, beyond money.... I love that.

?We don?t know much about people who run brothels, massage parlors or escort agencies,? said Ronald Weitzer, a sociology professor at George Washington University who has written about the sex industry.

Call up the expert and learn... we don't know much.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).