Jason Torchinsky's account of his Amtrak trip is perfect — valuable in practical terms — and exquisite in delivering his larger-than-obvious insights

© 2019 Peter Free

 

26 March 2019

 

 

This site's readers know how much I like displays of . . .

 

. . . intelligence, observational talent, and the gift to elegantly communicate both.

 

 

If you are burdened or graced with the same preferences (as I am)

 

Read this:

 

 

Jason Torchinksy, I Took Amtrak Instead of Flying and It Made Me Want to Die a Little Bit, Jalopnik (25 March 2019)

 

 

No extracts today

 

Torchinsky's piece hangs so perfectly together, that dismembering it would be feloniously soulless.

 

 

Regarding — the article's larger hidden merit

 

Beyond the joy of reading a sane person's account (with photographs) of traveling by train in the United States — someone imbibing "I Took Amtrak Instead of Flying" will be blessed with an overview of:

 

 

why so much of the United States does not work

 

as well as the fact that

 

"we"

 

judging by mounds of evidence vastly accumulated in clear sight

 

do not care

 

(about this)

 

even a little bit.

 

 

An indictment of the American system . . .

 

. . . smolders smokelessly below the surface of Torchinsky's comparatively few, mild words.

 

Readers, who are aware of the psyche-crushing power of suicidally flawed societal systems, should take a gander at what Torchinsky — so seemingly innocuously — wrote.

 

 

The moral? — Writing genius frequently lies in the ability to provide . . .

 

. . . an elating combination of:

 

 

observational acuity

 

plain and concise speech

 

that is

 

rationally

 

and

 

aesthetically organized.

 

 

When it says something sociologically important, as well — literary heaven.