This kind of crap really sets the effort back, now doesn’t it?
How could Ms. Seltzer of Campbell Hall Episcopal Day School’s gang-banging story come off as so authentic that she would not only fool her respected agent, her reputable publisher –but also put blinding stars in the eyes of the editorial team that created the ridiculous (pre-revelation) feature story in the New York Times showing her in her Oregon kitchen in her post gang banging life? I can imagine the excitement in the photographer’s face as he tells her, ‘here, hold this red bandanna up to your (white suburban upper middle class) face’ for this gritty shot?
Was Ms. Seltzer book deal and subsequent flurry of press the result of true and exceptional literary merit – that raw, honest, searing but yet lyrical truth telling, the tender unexpected revelations and intricacies of language that we all hunger for – or was it the shiny patina of sensationalism and buzz? I can’t help but wonder and it worries me.
thats it, brother