Chat with Tim Rogers

3:07 PM Tim: Sorry. I've spent about 10 days on the DL with a degenerative disc problem that has caused my foot to feel like it's on fire. Now coming out of hydrocodone haze, and I've gotten some sleep. Not quite better yet, but upright and functional.

3:12 PM I like what you have to say about the Russan "smuggler" (media criticism, etc), but that would all be a delicious sauce to accompany the entree: the woman herself.

3:13 PM Without her, you've got a good blog post (which we can't pay for). But you don't have a magazine article (not for us anyway).

The lawyer won't let you talk to her even if you promise not to discuss the case, just to get a sense of who she is and how she was been spending her time in Plano?

me: that's fine, the story isn't really my thing anyway, and her lawyer made clear that he didn't want her talking to any press at the moment

3:15 PM otherwise, still interested in a piece on Uptown or, better yet, a more fleshed-out query on Mark Davis?

3:16 PM Tim: Mark Davis, yes? Give me a flesh-out query: is he the biggest conservative voice in Dallas? Is it because he fills in for Rush? Why does he deserve our attention, and what is it that you think you want to say? What sorts of things would you plan to ask him about? Yes.

3:18 PM Now. Uptown: give me your theme. Sure, the place you'll describe is Uptown. But what is it you want to say about it? Give me a rough sense of how you'd structure this circa 1,200-word essay about your new neighborhood. What makes it unique (in your eyes)?

3:19 PM me: Okay. I had been thinking more of a critical piece and giving him the opportunity to respond to things I note about his nonsense in the article, but I wasn't clear on if that sort of thing works for D

3:20 PM I was thinking of doing it in the same sort of vein as my Vanity Fair pieces

3:21 PM Tim: Critical is fine, for sure. But think of it more as a profile. I want you to introduce me to this guy, tell me something about him. That's going to involve gathering material for a scene or two. But I definitely want a point a view, your take on him. I mean, it can be 60 percent your take on him. But 40 percent is you putting flesh on the bones, making him a real person.

3:22 PM me: as for Uptown, my original thought was to compare it to New York from the standpoint of a Dallasite who's just gotten back from New York to find this little enclave in which people are acting stereotypically Manhattany, and then to look further into what these people do, if we can expect any real cultural bonus to come out of this area

I can definitely do it like that, would make about half background in every sense and the other half a critical examination of what he's telling Dallas

3:23 PM Tim: I like "intellectually honest hatchet job." But I think that hatchet job will feel like "armchair thinky" and more compelling if, for instance, you observed him today at that "Freedom Rally" he's staging at Hillcrest High School in response to Obama's visit. Then interview him. Then get out your hatchet.

3:25 PM Tim: From Davis' twitter feed: As Obama attends Dallas fundraiser, I will MC a Freedom Rally up the road at Hillcrest High School, 6 pm. All are welcome, arrive early

Tim: More I think about it, that's a perfect scene to begin a story about Davis.