tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622056920062940292.post650250067698824442..comments2023-06-20T09:41:20.506-05:00Comments on Just Walking This Earth: Sticks & Stones get personalUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622056920062940292.post-78445245743571464332012-01-06T17:20:14.068-06:002012-01-06T17:20:14.068-06:00Becky - Your comments and the entire discussion br...Becky - Your comments and the entire discussion bring me back to my original question - Why? Barring something forthcoming from Bloom to the contrary, I'm left to conclude with the same cynicism I felt originally - he sold out - to sensationalism - to make money. Because either he lied in the Oxford Project book, or he lied in the Atlantic essay. Either way, he cannot be proud of his effort.Carol Bodensteinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07453461142694963564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622056920062940292.post-58990776825019986382012-01-06T10:03:14.092-06:002012-01-06T10:03:14.092-06:00I'm still trying to figure out what changed fo...I'm still trying to figure out what changed for Stephen Bloom. I read through his introduction in The Oxford Project book. He handles the people of Oxford with care and sincerity. (He interviewed 100 of the residents. Peter Feldstein photographed 670 residents the first time around.)<br /><br />He tells of how open and forthcoming his interview subjects were with the stories of their lives.<br /><br />"The language of not just a few was pure poetry," he said.<br /><br />He talks about some of the problems Oxford and rural America face -- almost word for word in some cases -- but he turns it into something positive regarding the "vital assortment of families and individuals" of Oxford. (He didn't say anything about toothless meth addicts and wastoids.)<br /><br />His last paragraph of the introduction says, "Peter's portraits of the residents of Oxford and their own deeply felt words combine to create a national portrait of overlooked triumphs and travails. In the faces and voices of these strangers, we grow to understand ourselves better. They remind us of who we dreamed we would become, and who we turned out to be."<br /><br />I wonder who Bloom dreamed he would become and what he thinks of who he turned out to be.1Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12081407943364179723noreply@blogger.com