So Susan Orlean has a pretty fancy summer home in the Hudson Valley, and she told the NY Times all about it. She even did voice-over for the slideshow, talking about how her home is sort of like a story. Nice, right? Timothy Noah didn't think so: "I don't begrudge Orlean her delight in her new abode. But what possessed her to broadcast it to millions of New York Times readers? Yes, dozens of idiots do it in the Times "Home" section every year, but, perhaps naively, I've always expected journalists to show less inclination to flaunt privilege, especially when the privilege exists on this scale." While his argument -- "The main thing, though, is that an inclination to state forthrightly, "I have a gorgeous multimillion-dollar house in the country and you don't," calls severely into question the journalist's ability to identify with the ordinary people about whom one is called upon, at least once in a while, to write" -- holds water, I think if you write like her, you should be allowed to live in a palace with walls made of caviar and boast about it nonstop. But I'm biased. By the way, if our summer homes say something about how well we write, my cozy colonial nestled on the banks of the Hudson, a short drive from the city and the ski resorts, must mean ... something. It's still on the market, if anyone's looking.
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