“I was very strongly drawn to him and, in spite of the difference in our ages, a great attachment sprang up between us.”
Henry James’ muses, the bust in his dining room, and a sort of secret dynasty
writing
Boston Marriage in Old Atlanta: An iPhone rings a silent Bell
A forgotten poet was resurrected by AT&T, which normally can’t raise a signal much less the dead. But with a little smartphone gumshoeing, I had deciphered an enduring lesbionic relationship hidden in plain sight in the middle of Atlanta’s staunchest Rebel cemetery. It was like a gay Da Vinci Code!
The Internet is a directory, but a good guidebook guides
Guidebooks as we know them have declined not simply because reading habits are shifting. The product shifted first. Guidebooks became dispensable because guidebooks, as we now know them, do not retain many of the characteristics—concision, opinion, direction—that once made them an important tool for sorting through the chaff. It’s been so long since guidebooks guided that we forgot what it means to do so.
Why ‘travel writing’ can cease to exist
The concept of “travel writing” is so limiting. Who wants to read about travel? That’s a personal process, and it often involves non–illuminating details such as taxicabs, tickets, and uncomfortable beds. If you drop the “travel” and are just a “writer,” you haven’t lost a yard of territory. You are still covering the whole planet.
How Ann B. Davis changed my life
The Ann B. Davis incident fertilized the soil of my skepticism. A new world had opened in me. I became a travel writer, a skeptic, and a storyteller. Thank you, Ann B. Davis.
The night I jilted Gloria Steinem
David Bale gave me many things that I never properly thanked him for. His support helped change and redefined my life. But his biggest lesson was not to hide when I am invited to live.
A little of my recent work
I round up a few links to a selection of the coolest things I’ve been up to in the past few months.
The Amazing Plague
Just turn on the TV right now and count how many times people say it on the news, reality shows, and interviews. Whenever someone runs out of an ability to properly explain something with specificity, they run to the adjectival filler ‘amazing.’ It’s cheap, industrial-grade description — the corn syrup of self-expression.
Why I peck
A friend recently gently accused me of being too vocal on Twitter about bad customer service. “Do I henpeck too much?” I asked her. “It’s what makes you you,” she said. “Keep pecking.” Being a consumer reporter is one of the things I do. Being a travel writer, too, is a form of consumer reporting…. Read more »
You are being erased
Your biographer is screwed. You are leaving nearly nothing behind. While you pour your energies and thoughts into the machine sitting in front of you, you are leaving nearly nothing about you that your descendants will be able to find. You know it’s true. Compared to your parents, or your grandparents, what are you handing… Read more »