8212: Re: 8203: Slavin: Honoring David X. Young: Wilentz

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Amy Wilentz <amywile@panix.com>

I saw the ny times obit and thought: there cannot have been two David X
Youngs, and of course I was right, although I knew nothing of him, or
about him and his Jazz loft and his painting, which is quite
distinguished, I now see on the web (www.bluuchip.com). David and I had
a long offlist friendly biting battle over the relative virtues of pre
and post Duvalier Haiti. He was never predictable or reactionary or
intransigent, and although he pointed out frequently that he did not
agree with  anything I wrote, we had a spirited and very illuminating
(to me, not to him) discussion about Haitian culture and about
democracy, and I liked him very much online and now wish I'd known more
about him when I was "conversing" with him. It would have given our
email back-and-forth even more flavor.

To David X Young.
I was pleased, too, to read about his trip to the Thor bordello in the
1950s-- it's so old-fashioned whiteman in Haiti... so Greene, so
unapologetic, as David was.

Amy Wilentz