Why I Read Lileks - Reason #328
Category: Navel Gazing...
Posted Friday, October 17, 2003 at 07:51 AM [GMT-6]

I don't have James Lileks in my blogroll. I figure he doesn't need the link to affirm his near universal appeal. But the real reason is that I have his site included in a series of links in my Personal Toolbar Folder (a Netscapian feature for you IE'ers), in a group of tabs labeled "Daily," and I click that icon every morning after bootup. If I could build a link to him directly into my OS, I'd do that. (Note to Apple: Let it be written; let it be done.)

Why do I find his writing irresistible? Gems like this one, from today's column that touches tangentially on the importance of the copydesk in a newspaper's hierarchy (while managing to emphatically whack with a velvet hammer a Left Coast paper who's lost track of this element of journalistic integrity):

The moment a writer ceases to respect the [copy]desk is the moment he starts to screw his head into his own navel. Rule of the business: The worse the writing, the more untouchable the writer.

Only a writer imbued with equal parts of confidence and humility would serve up such a paragraph. His confidence allows him to perceive the truth; his humility allows him to admit that he is not above it.

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Comments

I, too, am an avid Lileks reader and your perception about his persona is right on.

Posted by: julie at October 17, 2003 04:59 PM
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