Letters to the Editor
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Lighten up, Francis
Seriously, critics. When did it become cool to be nasty toward people writing cleverly about themselves?
Oh wait, that was always cool-- nevermind.
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Salon 1999
Carina Chocano and Cintra Wilson when she was funny.
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this sucks
I strarted to read it. After the second paragraph I quit. It really is lame. Trying to have a one night stand can be funny (see The Sure Thing with John Cusack). Or sweet. Or horrifying. But this was lame.
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You don't suppose Amazon could be in on this, do you?
"Sloane". The name is so Lake Foresty, almost like a Ferris Bueller joke or something. Reading the piece, I began to get this wrong idea, like the article was really an early April Fool's joke; one that would have us all rolling on the floor Wednesday when it was revealed that Sloane was really Joe Klein or Maureen Dowd, HA-HA. Or maybe Joan Walsh writing on leftover Bushmills and half a tab of Cialis.
But Holy Smokes it looks like Sloane is legit and really had a tough time finding a buck with enough hoof left to jump the fence. On behalf of horndogs and skeezbuckets everywhere I want to apologize to Sloane and assure her that there really are plenty of us out here, especially in Bakersfield and rural Kern County, CA, so long as she can see (or drink) her way past a little B.O. and the teensiest bit of mental infirmity.
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Style over substance
The excerpt from Sloane Crosley bespeaks a way of writing that's long on style and short on substance. That would be fine for someone who aspires above all to be a prose stylist but that's not how she pitches herself — her vignette is supposed to be sweet, and deceptively moving. The reader is meant to be disarmed, to say "Awww" out loud as a cover for the inner humiliation of realizing the presence of innocent genius.
Unfortunately what Crosley produces falls flat, like a pop composer who can make you tap your toes at a comfortably familiar tune but never moves you to sigh, or a competent cartoonist whose carefully-emulated caricatures are technically adequate but lack the power to persuade. The climax of the story is a fine example:
We talked, he handed me headphones, and I listened to some of his rap. And then he kissed me. Which is pretty narcissistic, kissing someone while they're listening to your music. ...
Afterward he gave me a mix tape, which I wound up leaving in a Danish hostel two weeks later.
Her narrative becomes scattered, almost an inventory — not because it serves her purpose or helps us understand or takes us to the resolution of her conflict, but simply for the sake of being scattered, because she doesn't really want, or perhaps know how, to let us in.
If Crosley is truly writing what she knows, then she needs to learn more. But I doubt that's her problem — having read a few of her pieces on Salon or through links I can't help but feel like she's mostly writing what people around her know, or think they know, which in some ways is the opposite, and in the end the wise naif is merely sophomoric.
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That's nice..
I didn't read this, because the editors should know that the cake is a lie..
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A little Googling
And I have a renewed general dislike, not for Ms. Crosley, exactly, but for Salon running this piece. Ms. Crosley apparently has connections in literary circles in NYC, began work as a publicist for a division of Random House in NYC @ 22, is class-president pretty... her writing seems half-baked, but since she's SO pretty and knows SO many of the right people... give me a break. It sounds as if it's been rather smooth sailing.
Who wants a fluffy, pretty kitten in an alley full of ordinary cats? Ooh, an annointed one. How lovely for her. Meanwhile, back on Earth, all of the non-annointed ones, you know, the smaller strawberries passed over in favor of the big, luscious one...
Again, it's not her. But why is this story on Salon?
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joining the chorus
i was going to write a long letter about what a waste of a main article this story was, but i see plenty of others have beat me to it. i'm not here to come down on the writer, but i do think the editors of Salon need to start listening. the non-political writing in Salon has gotten worse and worse and it's full of this navel gazing bland tripe.
who do you think your audience is? a story like that would only seem interesting and appealing to a 17 year old. i can read better work in Slate, which is not what i hold as a measure of quality.
well, i let my subscription to Salon run out last december, it just wasn't worth it, and i'm sure i'm not the only one.
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this piece sucked --- alteran, nice reference
First off, alteran, nice Stripes reference. I try to work that into situations every once and a while and folks just look at me with a blank stare. Glad someone else appreciated that line.
I only read a few comments, but I think the consensus is clear, this piece was a complete waste. Childishly written to a level that is unbelieveable at times. It started to improve towards the end, yes I stuck it out, but you can only put so much lipstick on a pig.
Salon editors, Saturday's piece 'God talked to me today' was so touching, as were the other pieces written by Ann Bauer, that I can not believe that the same group of editors approved both of these stories. This piece should have come out on Saturday instead, when it would have received less attention. It stunk.
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Wow! What a reaction
I thought the story was cute. Long, but cute. I remember similar encounters when trying to discover the truth about sex. Like giving my first b.j. (Too much teeth). Or being mortified having nubs when a guy was caressing my legs. I find it hard to believe people would go to such lengths to be so critical of such a fun little story! Yikes!
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@Salon
Enough is enough!
Its bad enough that the same old articles are routinely shuffled around on the website to.... I don't know.. trick people into thinking there is fresh content.
But now we have to wade through this kind of fluff?? What kind of magazine is Salon going to be?? Your credibility is slipping and junk like this does not help.
If you are going to be a serious news and politics online mag you should work on being that.
This is just lame.