The Bleeding Building

by Peter Wortsman

I was seated with Dan Rather on the rooftop of a bleeding building: I believe I’ll report this to the building authority, I said. Oh no you don’t, said Dan. But the building is bleeding, I said, it needs a transfusion. Not on your life, said Dan, nobody scoops Dan Rather. You mean, I said, you’d let it bleed to death? Listen, son, he said, as long as Dan Rather’s sitting on top of a story it’s still alive and kicking.

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Peter Wortsman - author of a book of short fiction (A Modern Way to Die, 1991), plays (The Tattooed Man Tells All, 2000; Burning Words, 2004), and travel pieces (The Best Travel Writing 2008 & 2009) - is still fond of brevity.