Gay and Nan Talese at their house in New Jersey
I participate in this writing program that’s based out of Baltimore, where I will be going in a couple of weeks. Be prepared for posts with such titles as, “Stalking John Waters” and “Real Hookers, Real Lives”. I digress…any way, last January I went up to Northampton, Massachusetts to meet with my mentor and the other five people in our group. We basically talked writing and craaaaaft and drank a lot (writers, psh) and at one point starting talking about the formidable journalist Gay Talese, pictured above with his wife Nan, who had (has?) her own imprint at RandomHouse (damn, girl!)
Besides being the owner of a sort of unfortunate first name, Gay is considered to be the “father of New Journalism”, and is the author of books like Honor Thy Father (about the Mafia) and The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. He also wrote the essay “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”, which you can read in its entirety here, along with the other six best Esquire magazine stories ever written:
http://www.esquire.com/features/page-75/greatest-stories
So we were talking about Gay Talese and how he is a member of a small category of journalists who make no effort whatsoever to blend in with their subjects. Seriously, Talese would show up wearing a white suit and red suede shows in the Congo to write a report on half-naked pygmies. Baller.
We (collectively, as a group, though someone else may have initiated it) came up with a brilliant idea for an article or essay…a guided tour through Gay Talese’s closet! Each piece of clothing could be a platform for reminiscing about his many journalistic adventures! A story in a great outfit! What more could you want?
The group gave me permission to pitch this story around as long as I give them credit, which I will do but almost don’t even need to as they will be famous, well-dressed writers in their own rights in a matter of years (weeks, minutes). Let this serve as a record for anyone who steals the idea! Copyright! Mine! Plus I have five other people who will vouch for the birth of brilliance, which occurred in late January, 2009. It’s a boy! And we’re naming him Gay…(?)
If someone who edits a magazine or sumpin sees this and wants to pay me to write it (girl’s gotta eat), please let me know! I was thinking it would work well in New York magazine or Men’s Vogue, though that may have gone under…?
Granted, this may be like the time when I was a kid and I had what I thought was the most incredible concept for a series of chapter books a la The Babysitter’s Club. I almost exploded when I told my babysitter. “Basically it’s going to be set on a cruise ship and it’ll be about all the people who live and work on the cruise ship…”
“I hate to tell you this,” she said, “But that’s The Love Boat.“
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