Notebook

Quote of the Day

“Without notice, my parents put my childhood house up for sale the other day. They’re moving to Florida, and they didn’t invite me…. That’s OK, though. I’d never be able to find myself in Naples anyway, surrounded by people who aren’t interested in transformative experiences….

I’ve decided to travel to some country in the East to write a memoir about traveling to some country in the East. After doing minimal research, I think I’m going to Bangkok. The city, for one, permits many puns I can use for a title. I don’t know much about Thailand, but most importantly, from what I can gather, I have the highest chance of witnessing a revolution. I hope this future coup, which apparently occurs every five years or so, will allow me to see and write about my parents’ abandonment in a different light. I have no chance of figuring out things here, especially considering I won’t have anywhere to stay. And besides, I can’t sit idly in the state of my birth. Just like Hemingway needed Paris and Spain and Italy, and Orwell needed Catalonia and India and some other place to make this clause have the same rhythm as the last one, I need my inspirational haven abroad.”

– Alex Norcia in the excellent “I’m Traveling to Some Country in the East to Write a Memoir About Traveling to Some Country in the East

And a bonus: my other recent favorite McSweeney’s post: “Fake Massachusetts Towns.”

Leave Reply