tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post7295002304369593681..comments2024-02-13T10:20:04.888+00:00Comments on David Hepworth's blog: The best writers tell you what they see, not what they thinkDavid Hepworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05973053694541321308noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-56133099011702664542013-03-13T16:27:21.879+00:002013-03-13T16:27:21.879+00:00It’s the February 11th podcast. The staff there st...It’s the February 11th podcast. The staff there still talk about Mitchell with great reverence. I wonder if he became so much of an institution at the magazine that people felt that they couldn’t intervene and maybe give him a gentle push. <br /><br />I’ve been typing the names of some of the people in his book into Google: Philippa Duke Schuyler – the gifted child who Mitchell interviewed when she was nine - had the predictably tragic life of a young prodigy. The resentment towards her parents in her latter years and a belated search for her own identity – something that most of us experience during our teens. She died, aged 35, evacuating orphans from Vietnam. The helicopter she was riding in crashed into the sea. Having never learned how to swim, she drowned.<br /> <br />One other point of interest in the podcast is something that New Yorker editor - David Remnick touches on towards the end: The need to balance the articles on ‘society women, industrial leaders, distinguished authors, ministers, explorers, moving picture actors and any actress under the age of thirty-five’ with more leftfield idiosyncratic pieces. In this he seems to be guided by intuition. He comes across as man with a vision of what the magazine has to cover in order to survive, and also what it should be doing in order to broaden it’s perspective. <br /><br />He reminded me of a short piece that appeared in The Word Magazine, about the barefoot bandit - Colton Harris-Moore: A former resident of Camano Island, Washington, who taught himself to fly using the Microsoft Flight Simulator, and who went on to steal a number of light aircraft and commit over 100, relatively benign, burglaries, all while evading capture. This is a story that didn’t resonate at all in the UK, and it’s really the last thing that you would expect to read about in an English magazine that concerns itself mainly with music, film and books. And yet there it was – this real-life drama that sounded like the source material for a Bob Dylan song - and it was very interesting. Afterwards I followed the saga of Colton Harris-Moore online until it reached it’s bizarre conclusion. <br />backwards7https://www.blogger.com/profile/04902342759719621771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-32040274235891958472013-03-12T20:25:08.514+00:002013-03-12T20:25:08.514+00:00I was just catching up with the New Yorker podcast...I was just catching up with the New Yorker podcasts today and there's one (March 11, I think) that features a long discussion about him with two people who remember sharing an office with him. It's really interesting stuff and I think you'll find it here. http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/outloudDavid Hepworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05973053694541321308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-1108289018279735412013-03-12T20:24:36.184+00:002013-03-12T20:24:36.184+00:00I was just catching up with the New Yorker podcast...I was just catching up with the New Yorker podcasts today and there's one (March 11, I think) that features a long discussion about him with two people who remember sharing an office with him. It's really interesting stuff and I think you'll find it here. http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/outloudDavid Hepworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05973053694541321308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-87202011442924725422013-03-11T11:30:34.492+00:002013-03-11T11:30:34.492+00:00I'm about halfway through this collection. The...I'm about halfway through this collection. The level of detail is incredible but never overwhelming. Mitchell methodically builds up his profiles piece by piece until you have a complete mental image of a person. You feel like you've spent time with them and know them to some degree. <br /><br />I get to the end of each of these essays which are generally about an individual and I wonder what happened to the subject. A lot of them existed in quite precarious circumstances and their fiercely idiosyncratic personalities were likely to keep them in that state. I was reminded of the late Soho Pam who was a good person at heart, and who was homeless for reasons that she kept to herself. <br /><br />I wonder about Mitchell too; why he carried on writing but stopped submitting his work. He was so good at it. I wonder what happened that made him say 'enough.' backwards7https://www.blogger.com/profile/04902342759719621771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-57754773619696537682012-12-30T10:02:18.066+00:002012-12-30T10:02:18.066+00:00You've put it on my 'must read' list.You've put it on my 'must read' list. Diannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02214774182418445930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-35005074589013537792012-12-29T10:21:06.768+00:002012-12-29T10:21:06.768+00:00Thanks David. Great review. I'm downloading my...Thanks David. Great review. I'm downloading my copy now.Nigelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09252766855035438100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-32638953369187257162012-12-29T09:25:42.705+00:002012-12-29T09:25:42.705+00:00Sounds excellent. We're going to be passing a ...Sounds excellent. We're going to be passing a Waterstones this morning and I will look out for this.Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07112354725005655943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-58203541132361873082012-12-29T08:05:32.898+00:002012-12-29T08:05:32.898+00:00I will be in London shortly and will endeavour to ...I will be in London shortly and will endeavour to pick up a copy of this. backwards7https://www.blogger.com/profile/04902342759719621771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-66556810839781346022012-12-28T19:24:25.260+00:002012-12-28T19:24:25.260+00:00Wonderful. I've just finished reading 'The...Wonderful. I've just finished reading 'The Art Of Fielding' by Chad Harbach wherein a character refers to a journalist who, after writing a handful of articles in the '50s, goes into the office everyday without penning anything else. I assume this is who he meant. Thank you.Pezzlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02671965987345866353noreply@blogger.com