contributing writer @wearemel, @ringer, & @splicetoday. seen in @theatlantic, @parisreview, &c. repped by @inkwellmgmt. co-host of @whatisleftpod 
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Am I to be excited by interviewing some Instagram powerlifter who is somewhat stronger than I am, but much more popular for strength than I am? Of course not. And I make sure I convey that. What I need to explain is their experience, and my own experience helps with that
Which is why I don't do many profiles of musicians. That is not an area I know much about, relatively speaking. Staying in my lane is an obsession, but also a necessity in 2019, when writers "hot take out of their asses" in order to push paper and make a few buckeroos
I rarely profile "creatives," either, because why should I waste my shot in a magazine putting over some other "creative," doing their hype work for them, when I have to maximize my own revenue. I'll make an exception when the person is a true legend, like Ben Katchor
And if I single out a writer as an inspiration, like Ralph Wiley or CLR James or George Schuyler, that is because I have studied their sentences in such detail that I am shamelessly paraphrasing them nonstop. Whole "heart punch" paragraphs of mine are homages to other work
In fact, if you bother to read the stuff I write, the easter egg is I'm constantly referencing every prior story and many prior sentences or sentiments, which are in turn derived from intense study of the "commonplace book" or "vade mecum" I've been compiling since '96
In a marketplace of pushing paper or selling takes or whatever we might call this last gasp of for-pay writing, this is my concession to art, to my personal aesthetic, to the life I've lived as exemplified in what I've created (however poorly, hastily, etc.)
The people who makethe best interview subjects are the ones who have nothing to lose or gain by talking to me, and thus can answer the questions readers might want to see addressed. All too often, these interview subjects are eccentric older people who have left the marketplace
"Staying in my lane" is very Camden Camden.
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