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Great read: New Yorker piece on Kip Litton

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Dick Whitman, Aug 2, 2012.

  1. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I liked the story a great deal. Very entertaining read.

    But let me play Devil's Advocate here and make a point I will very likely be attacked for making. Just try to think about it in a mature, workshop-y way before you answer:

    This story essentially asks two questions about Kip Litton, and it does not answer either: How? Why?

    Obviously Singer is one of the greats, and who am I to question his choices, but -- entertaining as interesting as the story may be -- it's still a narrative mystery that has no conclusion other than its obvious he made it up. Why did do it? How did he do it?

    Not every story needs resolution, but I still have some questions that leave me unsatisfied. Does he really have a sick kid? Is he sick himself?

    Again, it's a really good story, and it contains some excellent writing and thinking and reporting, but I think it does not rise to the level of one of Singer's "great" stories for the reasons I stated.

    How? Why?
     
  2. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    DD,

    Understood, and a valid point. But only one person can answer that, and he wasn't going to do it. At that point, you just put out there what you know.

    I kind of liked that it left it open.
     
  3. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I don't mind open ended stories. I often like them, in fact. I think it's worth a debate though. Think about this too: Singer also altered the story by reporting on it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Obviously that's what you do. But I wonder if there would have been a way to catch Litton in the act somehow at the Boston Marathon, had Singer not tipped his hand. Again, this is just a larger philosophical craft discussion.
     
  4. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    I wasn't trying to shut it down, in any way. I was merely offering my take on it.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Yeah, I was left doubting the sick kid existed -- and that would really piss me off. The fact he made the running geeks go crazy made me laugh.

    Bizarre, fun read. I emailed it to my uncle in Clarkston, Mich., and said "hope this isn't your dentist!"
     
  6. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    I know cursing is an easy out sometimes for a writer. I've used it. Here even. But that "shit" is so fucking perfect.

    Anyway ...

    What stood out to me about this piece were the pacing and clarity, which was tremendous. I was being fed entirely fresh information — I didn't even know that chips were used to time marathons — and never once felt lost. The story moved on and developed before me wonderfully, as so many New Yorker pieces do. It was a New Yorker feature, for sure.

    But I was a bit let down by the conclusion, half agreeing with Double Down's criticism. I don't think the issue was that we didn't get an answer to how or why as much as that Mark Singer drew attention to us not getting an answer to how or why at the end. I would have preferred the ending had he laid out how confounding those photos were without pointing out that the mystery remains unsolved. It drew attention to the feature's lack of resolution, which struck me both as odd and as unlike typical New Yorker features.

    With a little rewriting of that final section and perhaps the removal entirely of the last graf, I think the work stands up better to scrutiny. Sometimes, you don't have the answers, but why point that out?
     
  7. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Mark Singer mentioned multiple times that he had interviewed several of Litton's friends, acquaintances and patients. I was confident the sick son existed. The line about the $20 donation to the cystic fibrosis foundation was a terrific detail, though I would have liked to have known more about how fundraising efforts went. Obviously, he received quite a bit of media attention for a small-town runner even before his scam was known.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Someone raised the same question to me in a PM shortly after I posted the story. A magazine writer, in fact. It's definitely an interesting point to ponder. I floated the comparison to the famous/infamous early Wright Thompson piece about Elvis Grbac, although this isn't exactly the same, because the confrontation does occur here.

    I can't tell whether the writer thought the ambiguity was the right ending for this story. Or whether it was just an attempt to make chicken salad after he was in this deep, and had an otherwise tremendous piece put together. One that he had put a ton of effort and resources into.

    Love the comment about the profanity. I had also singled it out as the perfect break from tone, which has to be so hard to pull off. It's a serious piece, it's a serious piece, it's a serious piece, then, suddenly, the writer lets you know that he's as flabbergasted as you. "He's making shit up!" Perfect.
     
  9. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    With ya on the kid and the "how."
     
  10. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    Pretty sure Mark Singer posts here. This sums up the SportsJournalists.com experience pretty well...

     
  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Trying to think of other stories that have bubbled up from message boards.

    Wasn't there one where a guy on a Springsteen message board faked his own death?

    Any others? Anyone ever trolled (no pun intended) message boards looking for a story.

    While I know sometimes a writer will drop in on a board looking for people to provide info/quotes (have seen it on Flyertalk.com and Starbucksgossip.com), I can't think of too many examples where a writer got a great piece as a result of a message board getting the ball rolling.
     
  12. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Oh, and fun article.

    What's the consensus? Combination of using a bicycle and "taking some wrong turns" to cut short the distances?

    The bike part sounds hard. Did he travel with one? Would he just dash on the course long enough to hit the timing mats, and then back on the bike?
     
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