James Williford is a curious fellow. He’s a member of the new crop of interns that started here this week. James just got a master’s degree in English from Georgetown, where he carried a 4.0 GPA and wrote a thesis titled “The Adultery of Delicate Objects,” which, according to his CV, was “a study of medieval art, objecthood, and ekphrasis.” He’s that kind of guy. Only way I know how to deal with interns that smart is to beat them down with time-wasting tasks in the hopes that they’ll give up their silly dreams of ever making a living in journalism and move on to investment banking. Or ekphrasis.
Anyway, after I saw this week’s cover the Dallas Observer, a profile of Victoria Jackson, I asked James to wade through the paper’s archives and tell me how many of the Dallas Observer‘s cover stories in the past year have had nothing to do with Dallas. Including the Jackson story, it looks like 10 (see list, below). I suppose this only bothers me. And, now, James.
Feb 24, 2011 – Pomplamoose, California-based band
Mar 24, 2011 – Flawed sex trafficking study
May 12, 2011 – Sonya Fitzpatrick, British pet psychic
May 19, 2011 – Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips
Jun 9, 2011 – Austin
Jun 30, 2011 – Ashton Kutcher and sex trafficking
Nov 3, 2011 – Underage sex workers (mentions Dallas but isn’t locally focused)
Nov 17, 2011 – Drugs in Lufkin
Dec 15, 2011 – The College Bowl System
Jan 26, 2012 – Victoria Jackson
Update (3:24) — It has come to my attention that the Flaming Lips story was set entirely in Dallas. For this error, James will pay dearly.
