Being raised Catholic in a pressure-cooker household besieged by alcohol and bill collectors enforced and heightened a sense of sentry duty in me, the oldest of five children and the one most responsible for keeping everything from capsizing. Wild indulgence was for other people, the non-worriers.

In addition he recently contributed the foreword to Geoffrey Beene's forthcoming book Identity. Career
Since arriving in New York Wolcott has been a columnist on media and pop culture for such publications as Esquire Harper's Magazine The New Yorker The New York Review of Books and New York Magazine. From there he moved to New York City to work at The Village Voice.

James Wolcott (born 10 December 1952 in Baltimore Maryland) is an American journalist known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker.