"IN RETROSPECT, so much of what Michael Jackson achieved seems baldly symbolic. This was the black kid from Gary, Ind., who ended up marrying Elvis' daughter, setting up Neverland in place of Graceland, and buying the Beatles' song catalog -- bold acts of appropriation and mastery, if not outright aggression. ... He made trademarks of the very emblems of his remoteness: his moonwalk dance and his jeweled glove -- noli me tangere and vice versa. He morphed relentlessly from the most adorable of kiddie performers ... to the most sinister of superstars ... he performed his dance of death as a central figure in America's long racial horror show."

So writes David Gates in the new Newsweek. I was particularly taken by the following statement, which I don't recall ever seeing before. "One shrink concluded at the time -- 2005 -- that he was not a pedophile, but merely a case of arrested development."

AND HERE is something I wrote in my syndicated column back in June 2005: "He has not been found innocent. He has been found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Michael Jackson -- and the rest of us -- has been spared the horror of a prison sentence.

"To many who have watched this wretched spectacle, he is guilty and will wear the mantle of child-abuser-set-free for the rest of his life. The prison he made of his existence prior to this is nothing compared to what is to come." I added:

"That Michael has not committed suicide has been the great press disappointment. The drumbeat for him to take his own life began in 1993 and never really let up."

OK, that was then; this is now. At the time, I took a dim view of Michael Jackson's ever really redeeming himself in the mind of the public. Boy, was I wrong! His sheer impressive, incredible, unique talent has taken over public opinion since his untimely death last Thursday.

Maybe this kind of tragic catharsis is a good thing. We can simply erase all the bad, weirdo, wacko things we felt at the end of that trial and go back to embracing the creative Michael.

AND, what do you know. Here in my office, in a limp little file, I find a handwritten letter from Debbie Rowe, which came to me in April 1997 right after she had produced the first baby for Michael.

I had met Debbie in the offices of Dr. Arnie Klein, dermatologist to the stars. She was always sweet and charming and I'd frequently heard about her through a mutual friend. Sometime in April 1997, I wrote something positive about her in the L.A. Times. I can't remember what this item was but it seems to be irretrievable.

Here's Debbie Rowe in her own words: "Dear Ms. Smith. I stay away from most articles written about me and/or my husband and child. Dr. Klein brought me your article from today's L.A. Times. I just wanted to let you know how I appreciate your comment. I just wish the rest of the world would back off and just believe the truth that we tell them. Thanks again. Debbie Rowe Jackson."

I see some people are already casting Debbie as a bad woman who will harass the Jackson estate over custody. Well, I hope that's not true. She was well paid by Michael for being a surrogate. But if she is watching Joe Jackson as he and Rev. Al Sharpton preen and pose and discuss how they are going to cash in on Michael's legend, she may wonder if she wants any children anywhere near old Joe, who Michael always said had abused him as a child. Michael's mother, Katharine, no longer lives with his father, but Joe is front and center taking charge these days. Let's hope they find a will that sets this all out better.

YOU NORA Ephron fans! You people worried about your necks. Don't miss the great photo by Ruven Afanador and the article by Ariel Levy in the July 6 and July 13 issues of The New Yorker on the one and only Nora!

HOOPLA ATTENDANT on the arrival of the documentary titled "The September Issue" is the talk of fashionistas. This is the result of cameras following Anna Wintour and her editors for most of the year 2007 when they created the largest edition ever of Vogue magazine.

Bryony Gordon of The Daily Telegraph says that the film is sizzling. It just opened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and is a riveting 88 minutes. The reporter writes that it makes "The Devil Wears Prada" look like an episode of "The Care Bears." Quoted are publisher Tom Florio on Anna:

"She's just not accessible to people she doesn't need to be accessible to. She isn't warm, because she's busy." Then Candy Pratts Price likens Vogue to belonging to a church. Asked if Anna is High Priestess, she says: "I would say she is more like the Pope." Grace Coddington stands up for Anna and is the rare one who does, with Anna conceding she could not live without her.

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)