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Journalistic Cliché
How many times have you read a journalistic statement like this:
“The first thing you notice about Ushr Okushma is her laugh. It begins in her belly, rumbles up to her shoulders, and then erupts with a hee-haw that fills the room with joy.”Okinawans, National Geographic, November 2005.
Whatever.
How often do you meet some one, where the first thing you encounter is them keeling over for a full belly laugh?
Perhaps you met them at a Robin Williams performance, circa 1987.
Or perhaps you were being introduced when a neighbour took a football directly in the junk.
Other than those exceedingly rare circumstances, it is unlikely that the truly first encouter you’ve had with anyone is them laughing like a 60-year old at a Cosby Show re-union.
In truth, your reaction is more likely to be one of staid appreciation of their shoes, or an aversion to their breath. Minutæ. This paragraph is truthfully just a National Geographic journalist trying to set a scene.
If I could rewrite that National Geographic article? Here’s my introduction:
What shone through Ushr Okushma’s eyes was that particular strain of madness that comes from living through two pointless world wars, the Americanization of her country’s constitution, the rise and rebuttal of the communists, the death of modernism, and not—in 103 years—having once watched a hockey game.
Okay, not any more truthful, but more insightful. Funnier. Better.
Evan Spence
March 27, 2007
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