1) The letter form is a good way to warm up I’ve found that the letter form is a good way to get me going. I write letters just to warm up. Some of them are just, “Fuck you, I wouldn’t sell that for a thousand dollars,” or something, “Eat shit and die,” and then…
I pick an orange from a wicker basket and place it on the table to represent the sun. Then down at the other end a blue and white marble becomes the earth and nearby I lay the little moon of an aspirin.I get a glass from a cabinet, open a bottle of wine, then I…
(an excerpt) Vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing. As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and…
Former Black Flag front-man Henry Rollins has, over the course of his career, achieved notoriety as a punk-rock pioneer and prolific spoken-word performer – but in recent years he’s also become an advocate of slow, humble, close-to-the ground international travel. Though Rollins’ 1994 band-tour memoir Get in the Van contained hints of his shoestring-travel instincts,…
1) When you’re ready to stop, stop For the nonfiction writer, the simplest way of putting this into a rule is: when you’re ready to stop, stop. If you have presented the facts and made the point that you want to make, look for the nearest exit. –William Zinsser, On Writing Well (1976) 2) Your…
Sometimes a moment contains so much of itself it begins to multiply. A beetle lands on an entomology book, then scuttles towards The White Album. At any moment there are at least twelve assholes reading On the Road on the road and some lovers talk about fucking while they fuck. Remember that time we drank…
1) On the psychic necessity of distant places We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis. 2) On the simple pleasures of the present moment For my own part, I am pleased enough with…
By Rolf Potts (excerpted from Forever Nomad) Years ago, while I was trying to finish writing a book about the philosophy of long-term travel, I ran into a problem while outlining the final chapter. My intention in this chapter had been to speak to the importance of — and difficulties inherent in — returning home…
Not many people know it but Adam and Eve had a dog. Its name was Kelev Reeshon, which means, first dog. Some scholars say it had green fur and ate only plants and grasses, and that is why some dogs still like to eat grass. Others say it was hairless like the Chihuahua. Some say…
(an excerpt) In the fifties I learned to drive a car. I was frequently in love. I had more friends than now. When Khrushchev denounced Stalin my roommate shit blood, turned yellow, and lost most of his hair. I attended the lectures of the excellent E.B. Burgum until Senator McCarthy ended his tenure. I imagined…
By Ryszard Kapuscinski (An excerpt) Herodotus — who lived 2,500 years ago and left us his “History” — was the first reporter. He is the father, master and forerunner of a genre –reportage. Where does reportage come from? It has three sources, of which travel is the first. Not in the sense of a tourist…
