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Article: Penh and pencil
- Article from:
- The Village Voice
- Article date:
- April 9, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Village Voice Apr 9, 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Cambodia smelled funny. In the most general sense it was the faint smell of burning wood, but within that was some kind of spice that was profoundly foreign, and my first disorienting hours in the country were spent sniffing the air suspiciously like some nervous animal.
I landed in Cambodia in the spirit of someone going out for Halloween. I was dressed, somewhat far-fetchedly, as a serious journalist (surely, I thought, if it's in Cambodia it must be serious). My previous experience in the realm of nonfiction was writing Talk of the Town pieces for The New Yorker, where I had spent a year on staff. The cat show was my beat, the peanut vendors at Shea Stadium. From these pastoral fields I ...