This past week as I traveled to Nashville and back, I read Joan Didion's Where I was From. I enjoyed it. It was an interesting mix of history, memoir, genealogy, and sociopolitical analysis. I think it went a long way in explaining California (I lived there for 15 years). Her analysis of the Spur Posse, which was one of the notorious incidents I lived on tv, was the best and most sophisticated that I have read.What does that mean, lived on tv? It's something more immediate than seeing it on tv. I saw the planes fly into the World Trade Center on tv, but in speaking to friends in New York and Washington, I just didn't experience the event in the same way. I would say there is a sense of the local that is missing, of not quite understanding the social context. I also lived the '92 riots, the '94 earthquake, and the '95 slow speed chase. It's not that I don't think outsiders can't understand it, there's just something missing in the analysis. Anyway, Didion got it right. And it was particularly fascinating to find out what happened to some of those boys. It would be even more interesting to me to find out what happened to the girls, but they've never been the center of that story...
1 comment:
I love that phrase "lived on tv" - it really conjures a sense of having a connection to an event that goes beyond merely observing it. You're making some great progress on your list. I seem to have a lot of items in the works, but not a lot of things crossed off. You're inspiring me though with your home projects!
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