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Friday, July 26, 2002
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Maxim Saves Journalism: "If you go into magazines, and I hope some of you will, just remember this: Don’t be snobby, don’t be selfish: Write for readers. If you don’t, your career will be very unhappy…or very short. "
12:14
Thursday, July 25, 2002
realization
I've been doing some reporting today on breast cancer activism.... talking to activists is so cool. I worry about the littlest things, when there's so many more important things to devote mental space to.
11:42
question
"If it's impermissible to belittle the likes, dislikes and habits of local ethnic groups or people from other lands (and it certainly is wrong), why must it be acceptable to belittle the tastes of fellow Americans who live in what is often and derisively termed "fly-over country"?" -- post in a NYTimes forum on being a New Yorker. I've been thinking about this lately. Well, more specifically I've been thinking about the National Geographic-ish approach to talking about life in a new place. Like: "And then the rural Pennsylvania natives tried to learn how to swing dance, tentatively placing one foot in front of the other, balanced precariously on their skinny white legs. Afterwards they dined on a local delicacy, cabbage and noodles." Well, that's an exaggeration. But you know. It's sort of what Patrick talked about in his barber shop blog. How to fairly perceive and describe a place's local atmosphere. Hmm.
10:08
question
Why do I make even simple things seem complicated? And more importantly, how can I stop?
09:59
Monday, July 22, 2002
question
You can make a living in Central Park if you can paint children's faces, perform a ballet with puppets, get yourself out of a strait jacket, sketch charcoal portraits, play the cello, paint names in calligraphy, bend wire into the shape of a dragon or sit on a bench with an iguana on your head ("Take a picture with the Iguana Woman for $1"). Now, I would like to be able to make a living in Central Park. But I can't do any of those things. So I'm thinking about setting up a stand that involves writing. You tell me your story, and I will write it down. For example, "The story of how you met! Recorded forever. Told in 150 words. $1." I could sit there with some outlandish typewriter or something. What do you think? I mentioned the idea to Janelle's boyfriend Dave, a native New Yorker. He pointed out that the most successful arts of Central Park have both a visual and a take-home component. It's interesting to watch someone sketch a portrait or make a wire dragon or sit there with an iguana on her head. But no one really just gives you something to take home. It may be hopeless.
13:05
quote
"I have heard something about that, but... it is New York. Don't worry. They will fix it. Enjoy." -- European-sounding man selling artistic jewelry at a street fair, when I asked him about the power outage
10:05
update
I spent the weekend with Janelle in New York. On Saturday morning in Allentown, I bought a bus ticket at a diner called the Charcoal Drive-In. I waited in a little shack next to the diner for the bus to come. And then I woke up in New York, essentially on another planet. The highlights? On Saturday, power outage in all of downtown Manhattan: no working street lights or crosswalk signs, a young guy in thick-rimmed glasses and a trendy backpack directing traffic energetically at one intersection, store owners sitting on the steps outside their shops, restaurant workers standing outside flicking dish towels at each other, Washington Square Park full of people watching people.... Also, wandering the street fairs, remembering what it's like to have almost everything at your fingertips, remembering what it's like to bump into someone every three seconds just walking down the sidewalk, remembering why I missed New York, remembering why it made me tired, too... drinking bubble tea in Chinatown, drinking an alcoholic milkshake in the East Village, drinking mint iced tea in Union Square Market... sitting in Central Park, in the warm shade, watching a Japanese drumming concert.
10:03
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