It takes a special type of large-hearted person to write sympathetically yet realistically about small town America. Most reporters can't summon up enough empathy, nor discard enough sophistication, to do it. Valerie Bauerlein is the exception; her work on podunks and jerkwater communities makes them come alive, and then lumber off into the distance chased by peasants with pitchforks and torches.
Which is strange, when you come to think of it, because her birth and background are anything but small town. Born and raised in a penthouse apartment that overlooks Central Park, she is the child of unparalleled luxury. Her great grandfather invented the rubber cookie jar, which laid the foundation for one of the most fabled fortunes in America. She not only grew up with an indoor swimming pool and bowling alley, but had a shooting gallery on the terrace for her friends that featured nothing but Ming vases. As a teenager she spent summers on the Riviera and winters sailing among the majestic fjords of Spitsbergen.
Turning down an invitation to lecture at the Sorbonne, Ms Bauerlein instead attended Duke University and went to work as a cub reporter at the Raleigh News & Observer. Unfortunately, she thought they said 'curb' reporter and spent several unproductive years investigating street gutters. But in 2005 she realized her mistake and joined the Wall Street Journal as their Foam Rubber Futures reporter. From there it was just a hop, skip, and a jump to wandering the highways and byways of small town America, reporting on everything from pothole theme parks to paint drying exhibitions.
Her work has been awarded the Sarah Needleman Trophy for outstanding chirography.
When not reporting on how to make box elder bug cuff links, Sarah likes to relax with a cup of homemade Borax and the latest Margaret Oliphant novel.
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He hasn't got the sense God gave geese!"
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