When we launched a new city magazine for San Francisco called 7x7 in 2001, we attracted a wide variety of talented writers to help carry out our mission, which among other things was to differentiate ourselves from the traditional genre as much as possible.
One of those writers was a mysterious and reclusive literary genius called J.T. LeRoy, who penned short essays for us about his secretive adventures in the city.
His backstory was intriguing -- a gay homeless abused kid from West Virginia who ran away to San Francisco, where he became a male prostitute who met various celebrities, closeted or out, in his line of work.
His novels included one called "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," and it and the others had been received with critical acclaim and the endorsement of a number of famous authors.
I *loved* his essays, which captured that certain magic that has always captivated me about our city by the Bay: How almost everybody here comes from somewhere else and how virtually anybody might be somebody else altogether and probably is.
If there were a fantasy land with witches and wizards and strange creatures at the bars, surely it was the old San Francisco I'd gotten to know and love.
As Editor-in-Chief of the new magazine, part of my job was to talk through the first draft of each essay with J.T. but he insisted that had to be done by phone.
Part of his allure, in fact, was that he never showed himself in public, sort of like Thomas Pynchon, which added to a growing speculation about his real identity.
Instead, we would have long rambling conversations on the phone -- his voice was high-pitched with an Appalachian accent -- and those conversations were delightful. He took criticism well and would make any revisions I requested rapidly.
We had an understanding -- that we would eventually meet up in person as part of my fact-checking process -- but he kept putting off that appointment as well.
Eventually a woman he identified as his sister-in-law, Savannah Knoop, started showing up around town pretending to be him, wearing wigs and sunglasses. She was, by all reports, cute and engaging, though I never met her myself.
J.T. told me he felt too crippled by social anxiety to come out himself.
During our conversations, I assumed that J.T. was probably playing me a bit; in that regard I wasn't born yesterday and have met many con artists. But perhaps due to a certain flaw in my character that I really did not care if this was the case.
Because I'd fallen in love with his writing and I wanted him to keep going.
Alas, my bosses at 7x7 weren't in love with his writing and did in fact care if his stories were fake. As the new kids in town they understandably craved credibility and certainly didn't want to be seen as being played for fools.
This eventually became a point of tension between us, and they insisted that I get to the bottom of the matter.
A lot of bigger problems were converging in my world at the time -- the aftermath of 9/11 and subsequent collapse of San Francisco's economy, as well as the implosion of my second marriage and the sudden need to pay off an equity loan I'd taken out on our home in Noe Valley. And then to sell the home itself.
In the process of dealing with all of this, my time ran out at 7x7 (which had been deferring my compensation for the whole time I was there), and my effort to determine who J.T. LeRoy really was.
When I was offered a prestigious visiting professorship at Stanford, I quit the magazine and left the mystery behind.
It was several years later when the mystery of J.T. LeRoy's actual identity blew up and came out in a series of articles in the Houston Press, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine and the New York Times.
In truth, "he" was a San Francisco writer named Laura Albert, and she had gotten some of the details of her fantastic backstory and writings by illegally taping phone calls to a suicide hotline for troubled kids. She came clean in an interview with the Paris Review.
Needless to say, none of this did anything for my reputation as a straight-shooting investigative reporter who always seeking, indeed *demanding* that the truth be told. But now the truth was out, Laura kindly got word to me word that she felt very bad that she had deceived me during our time together at 7x7.
In retrospect, I never could bring myself to resent what she did, even though I was embarrassed about it and I knew it probably had cast a cloud over my own integrity in some people's eyes.
But you know, many great works historically appeared under pseudonyms and I really didn't care all that much what people thought of me anyway. Today, I only remember my dealings with J.T. LeRoy fondly and I'm happy to have played a small role in his grand adventure of deception.
Besides, maybe he was just ahead of his time. After all, every millennial in the City today has their own avatar.
***
I desperately wish I could say that the biggest news story to kick off this week was a similarly lovable hoax. Unfortunately it is also related to the biggest story of the millennium. The U.N. has just released its first comprehensive report on climate change since 2013. <https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/>
The only bigger story I can imagine would be the discovery of alien life. One baby step in that direction is NASA's announcement that it will recruit four people to live in its 1,700-square-foot simulated Martian habitat for a year.
Probably most of us could suggest some candidates for that one. But seriously, I don't know why NASA needs that "Mars Dune Alpha" created by a 3-D printer when there are a couple of great dive bars I could have recommended as a far cheaper alternative.
Come to think on it, some good candidates for that Mars experiment hang out there as well.
***
THE HEADLINES:
* A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up to Us. -- Some devastating impacts of global warming are now unavoidable, a major new scientific report finds. But there is still a short window to stop things from getting even worse. (NYT)
* U.N. climate report warns of a grim future carved in stone -- The report details how humans have altered the environment at an “unprecedented” pace and cautions that the world risks increasingly catastrophic effects in the absence of rapid greenhouse gas reductions. (WP)
* United Nations report reaffirms that humans have caused climate change and that it will continue to get worse, with the window to avert catastrophic warming with existing tools rapidly closing. The lengthy document — authored by 234 scientists from 66 countries and citing more than 14,000 scientific papers — is the first major update since 2013. [HuffPost]
* U.N. sounds 'deafening' warning on climate change (Reuters)z
* ‘This Is Really Scary’: Kids Struggle With Long Covid -- Lingering physical, mental and neurological symptoms are affecting children as well as adults, including many who had mild reactions to the initial coronavirus infection. (NYT)
*South Carolina hospital’s pediatric ICU ‘beyond capacity’ with COVID and ‘winter viruses’ (WCSC)
* ‘Goldilocks virus’: Delta vanquishes all variant rivals as scientists race to understand its tricks (WP)
* National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said vaccine mandates would make a difference in the fight against COVID-19. “That’s obviously a hot topic,” Collins said. “For me, as a nonpolitical person, as a physician, as a scientist, the compelling case for vaccines for everybody is right there in front of you. Just look at the data.” [HuffPost]
* Coffee and croissant in a French cafe? You'll need a COVID pass for that (Reuters)
* After previous studies suggested that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be vulnerable to the Delta variant, preliminary data from a South African clinical trial show people who have received the single shot are highly protected from severe illness from Delta and most likely don’t need a booster shot. (California Today)
* Anti-Vax Insanity -- There are Americans who are determined to prove that they are right, even if it puts them on the wrong side of a eulogy. (NYT)
* Why Reports Of Menstrual Changes After COVID Vaccine Are Tough To Study (NPR)
* Florida church reeling after six members die within 10 days amid spike in cases (WP)
* FDA approval of the Covid-19 vaccine could mean more people will get vaccinated (CNN)
* Coronavirus vaccine requirements seem to be relatively popular, but there are plenty of high-profile leaders in the Republican Party who oppose them. But requirements to get inoculations have been around since the very first days of the republic, claiming broad conservative support and withstanding legal challenges, writes Jonathan Cohn. [HuffPost]
* Covid killed her husband. Now it’s taking the only home her kids have ever known. -- The death of Lisa Grim’s 37-year-old husband not only devastated her and her two sons emotionally, it has broken them financially. (WP)
* As Afghan Cities Fall to Taliban, Brutal New Chapter Unfolds -- “This is now a different kind of war, reminiscent of Syria.” The seizure of five capitals has amplified fears about Afghanistan’s future after the U.S. withdrawal. (NYT)
* Taliban capture sixth Afghan provincial capital as U.S. troops withdraw (Reuters)
* The Taliban took control of two more provincial capitals in Afghanistan on Monday, officials said. Their fall marked the latest development in a weekslong, relentless Taliban offensive as American and NATO forces finalize their pullout from the war-torn country. (AP)
* As Taliban Capture Cities, U.S. Says Afghan Forces Must Fend for Themselves -- The muted American response to the Taliban siege shows in no uncertain terms that the U.S. war in Afghanistan is over. (NYT)
* How U.S. leaders deliberately misled the public about America’s longest war (WP)
* Nagasaki marks 76th anniversary of atomic bombing (AP)
* How Schools Are Rewriting the Rules on Class Time for Students—and Even Ditching Grade Levels -- Educators are testing competency-based education, a form of personalized learning that emphasizes mastery of skills over hours spent in a classroom. (WSJ)
* Mystery Attacks on Diplomats Leave Scores of Victims but Still Little Evidence -- While the leading theory in the “Havana syndrome” cases is directed microwave attacks, a classified session for senior government officials said months of investigation were inconclusive. (NYT)
* Trump’s coup attempt grows even more worrisome as new details emerge (WP)
* New revelations expose future threat Trump poses (CNN)
* NASA’s New Telescope Will Show Us the Infancy of the Universe -- The James Webb Space Telescope will enable scientists to see deeper into the past than ever before. (New Yorker)
* To prepare for eventually sending astronauts to Mars, NASA began taking applications for four people to live for a year in Mars Dune Alpha. That’s a 1,700-square-foot Martian habitat, created by a 3D-printer, and inside a building at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA is planning three of these experiments with the first one starting in the fall next year. [HuffPost]
* For first time, average pay for supermarket and restaurant workers tops $15 an hour (WP)
* Media Company Looking For Ways To Get Rid Of Veteran 24-Year-Old Employee (The Onion)
***
"Same Mistakes"
Songwriters: Jake Rabinbach / Shannon Esper
I make the same mistakes
Feels like I never learn
Always give way too much
For little in return
I haven't changed a bit
I'm still not over it
I make the same mistakes
I make the same mistakes
-30-
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