The day Dick Cheney came to town
Long-time readers of Polinaut may know that I love great writing. I don't mean great writing as "stuff that's written that I agree with" (which, I recognize at this time of year eliminates just about everything). I mean great writing as in the ability to whisk you off somewhere, make you seem like you're there, and then bring it all home with a fabulous final paragraph. I play with this concept as best I can -- which isn't all that good, frankly -- on my other blog: Stirrings from the Empty Nest.
I took my break this afternoon, which traditionally involves me escaping to the 5th floor of Polinaut's world headquarters and quietly reading through the New York Times (I get through all the local papers in the morning and it doesn't take long) for a half hour or so.
Today I read one article and thought it was written so well (especially the last paragraph), that I came back to my Dilbertian cubicle right away to tell you about it.
Partisans won't like it. But fans of the power of the written word might.
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It's from a reporter named Mark Leibovich. Here.
His is an old style, now out of favor, that I try to use all the time, with nowhere near the success that Leibovich has. Take a nugget -- a seemingly insignificant nugget -- use it as a jumping-off point to tell the story, tell the story, then bring the nugget back to wrap up the story. It wasn't until I took the time off last summer that I realized I even try to do it.
In this case, it's a a 6 year old girl, a fan -- a big fan -- of Dick Cheney.
You can't make this stuff up.