Literary Heroes: Gene Weingarten

While living in Washington D.C., I became familiar with the city magazine the Washingtonian and it was there that I discovered the journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Gene Weingarten. As an intern at Where Magazine I was writing and editing tiny pieces about museums and restaurants in a windowless office with a staff of three, besides me. The day I found Weingarten's articles, I was in tears after reading several of his most well known pieces, sublimely touched by the brilliance and craft of his story telling ability. It was inspiring how he seemed to work his way through people, weaving carefully through observation and conversation to reveal this deep, human emotion to their life and character. My favorite piece was and remains "The Peekaboo Paradox" about The Great Zucchini, a birthday party child entertainer. If you have ever dreamt of becoming a famous writer, as I have... you must read this piece. And, if you remember hearing about Joshua Bell performing in the metro station as an experiment to see if art and beauty would transcend the mundanity of the morning commute, Weingarten wrote that and won the Pulitzer for it. It's entitled "Pearls Before Breakfast."