Rock Stars Envy Me -
nclausing
It’s the kind of story that’s too good to spoil with verification--or even attribution: It’s said that an interviewer once asked Mick Jagger what he’d do if the rock ‘n’ roll thing ever fizzled out. “Well,” he supposedly said, “I guess it would be pretty cool to be a travel writer."
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In Praise of Armchair Travel ()
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September 11, 2007, 12:00 AM
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Next week at this time Pipi and I will be in Shanghai. In contrast to last year’s trip to Asia, where the week before departure saw me in a frenzy of emailing, gift buying, and dog-earing four separate guidebooks, this week I’m going to mostly be sitting on the couch watching soccer. Lots of soccer. Our trip revolves around the women’s World Cup soccer tournament, so our homework is to watch as ma...
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Vanity Pays Off ()
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August 18, 2007, 12:00 AM
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Did you ever Google yourself and find out something you didn’t know? This happened to me today. I typed in my name and about five entries down, under the listings for the only other living American Nicole Clausing I’m aware of (she must be a relation, but it’s hard to believe I share genes with an athlete), was a link to the Christian Science Monitor’s Home Forum page. Turns out something I wrote ...
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Biiiiillions and Biiiiillions of Submissions ()
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August 1, 2007, 12:00 AM
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I got two rejection letters today from the same newspaper, and in the strange universe I live in, where success and failure are not governed by the laws of physics, this qualified as good news. For months now I’ve been sending out fleets of articles to papers all over the country, only to see them fall into the black hole of editorial indifference. The black hole of editorial indifference, of cour...
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Sympathy for the Devil ()
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July 25, 2007, 12:23 AM
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When you think about it, it’s not the weirdest thing in the world to imagine the lead singer of the Rolling Stones as a travel writer. For one thing, he’s been touring for over 40 years--I mean, where hasn’t the guy been? And anyone who could pen the line “I’m Jumping Jack Flash, it’s a gas, gas, gas” obviously knows how to string two words together. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that aside fr...