Two very cool things in tomorrow's City Paper (which is available online right now): Galleycat Sarah Weinman tackles Philly's greatest unsolved mystery, which is a few weeks from being 50 years old: The Boy in the Box. Being a dad, and having a son who is just about the age of the boy who was unceremoniously beaten to death and left to rot in a cardboard box... well, let's say I was already primed. But Sarah pulls off the neat trick of writing a piece that's full of emotion but never mauldin. See for yourself. It will stomp your heart with a hobnailed boot.
The other cool thing? CP staff designer Evan Lopez's cover illustration for this story (above). I have this unofficial habit of taping my favorite covers to my office door, and this one went up yesterday. It could easily be the cover of a noir novel.
Now this next bit is going to sound like a contradiction, but bear with me. For two weeks now, whenever this story would come up in an edit or art meeting, the SNL "Dick in the Box" thing would pop into my head. Every. Single. Time. It got so bad that I started singing it out loud in meetings. Specifically, the middle break, which I modified to fit the details of Sarah's story:
Step one: Find a bassinet box.
Step two: Stuff that boy in that box...
And then managing editor Brian Hickey chimed in with:
Step three: Have a cop open the box. That's the way you do it...
I mean no disrepect to the boy, or the investigation. It horrifies me that crimes like this happen. But sometimes, my reflex is not to cry. Sometimes, it's the exact opposite. As my creative writing teacher, Justin Cronin, once said: "Duane, you are a jelly doughnut just like the rest of us. You have a sentimental center, which you generally keep in check when you write—you bodycheck it into submission, actually.”
Anyway, enjoy Sarah's piece and Evan's artwork. And if you have a spare moment, pray for my soul.
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