The youngs among you maybe slightly amused to know that those long background and mood pieces used to be known among newsroom cynics as Thumbsuckers. Who knew entire newspapers would one day consist of nothing but? Take your time. Advertisers knew.
I think the piece you are looking for is titled "New Orleans" and is in book of essays called Portraits and Observations and can be read in the Google Book thing in its totality...and it is brilliant--especially the smashed cola caps shining like dimes on the street.
Also, anyone who has not yet read Gerald Clarke's Capote is missing one of the best biographies ever. I have read it to the point of virtual memorization.
@BadUncle: I get them from people who alternate between referring to themselves in first and third person, misplace apostrophes, brag about their GD kids and moan about how "busy!" they are. I HATE THOSE LETTERS.
@depardoo: Heh, I actually write emails very much like that -- but only to a select handful of friends, who return in kind. And it's not like you start off that way; you begin writing like a normal human, and then as the correspondence goes on you mutually evolve into more florid prose. It's fun.
Though the point about instant communication is a good one; I suspect the reason I developed the Capote-esque style was living in a different time zone, and being forced to long letters because the people I wanted to talk to were asleep. It'd probably never have happened if they'd been a phone call away.
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This image seems appropriate to this conversation.
08/18/09
Alessandra Stanley was 9 years old.
Or was it 8? Maybe 10?
We'll check later.
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3. Capote had last been to a beach in 1941. That year, 14 separate waves knocked him down.
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Ah, the mimeograph machine! I just got a great olfactory flashback.
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How many "darlings" and "sweeties" do you use?
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Though the point about instant communication is a good one; I suspect the reason I developed the Capote-esque style was living in a different time zone, and being forced to long letters because the people I wanted to talk to were asleep. It'd probably never have happened if they'd been a phone call away.
05/15/09
We should correspond!