David McNair is an award-winning reporter and editor based in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was a staff writer for The Hook, which won the state’s top journalism prize from the Virginia Press Association three times, and wrote about world affairs for Takepart.com. He runs the hyper-local news website The DTM, about Charlottesville’s downtown area. His fiction has been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, and other literary journals.
“Dave McNair’s cover story, “Celebrity, Suicide and the Etiquette of Envy” raised the writing standards locally to Pulitzer levels. Insightful, deliberate, poignant, and brutally honest. The title foretold it all and made me want to turn the pages. The article taught me something about the music industry I didn’t know– in a non-judgmental way– and gave us all something to ponder. —author Sally Honenberger
“Good stuff from what seems to be the best news source in Charlottesville.” — Rick Tetzeli, executive editor, Fast Company Magazine.
I’ve read this article several times now and found it not only well written, but soulful and honest. It is simply astounding what the high of fame does to people, the illusion of self-importance makes lives, ruins lives. We witness it in some form or another everyday. Haines sounded like a fascinating man. Your point about extremes in particular captures I think the correlation between all the figures in the article. One would think it shouldn’t be so much work to be around people. Ultimately, you realize that happiness isn’t worth sacrificing for the temporary triviality of being recognized in this short life. I really appreciated your honesty in this writing. Thank you.
Brendan,
You’re not going to believe this, but I’m reading your comment for the first time…I really don’t check my own website very much, I guess. Anyway, thank you very much for your kind words and for reading.
All the best..
Dave