My boss’s boss’s boss at my last newspaper job posted something on Facebook tonight advising us that we should go to Monticello once in our lives. In the meantime, he suggested letting someone I’d never heard of “take you there.” The someone I’d never heard of was Maira Kalman of the New York Times, who — as I noted — I’d never heard of. So I assumed the “take you there” was going to be some mildly interesting travel story. I did not click the link.
An hour or so later, I was reading Meaghan O’Connell’s blog. Re-reading, actually. I’d just come to fetch a link she posted about a new literary magazine that seems to have money, passion, and vision behind it. But I didn’t immediately find the link because Meaghan had posted something new, something about someone I’d never heard of. The someone was Maira Kalman, whose name — if you are more alert than me — you will recognize from earlier in this post when I described my first experience with never having heard of Maira Kalman.
I am not more alert than me. So I was still unawares.
On the blog, there was a picture to go with the link to Maira Kalman. The picture intrigued me. So I clicked the link.
Maira Kalman, as it turned out, was writing and drawing about Monticello.
Monticello …
Monticello …
Why did that seem so familiar?
Ugh. Anyway …
You should really look at what Maira Kalman has done here. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s exhilarating.
