Hemingway. Of course.

Although darling Walt was the first man who came to mind for this project, instigated it, even . . . my heart belongs to Hemingway, as most of you would know.

I picked up A Moveable Feast again last night and now I am convinced, I must, I must incorporate something of his style and form in this project. A collection of anecdotes about people and places . . . I like the irony of taking notes from an expatriate while documenting the U.S.

On another note, I have realized that perhaps I should grapple with the overarching issue of perspective before I progress any further with details. A few options:

A) Should I have a narrator as a persona within the film itself, a la Ross McElwee in his personal project Bright Leaves?

Do I want to contextualize this whole journey within my own history and aspirations? This option would be the most cohesive with the Hemingway thread: a first-generation American appropriating a level of orientation from an expatriate. Again, I like irony.

or

B) Strive for a professional tone, and leave the film's drive entirely to the interviews of experts, a la Mondovino?

or

C) Create an engaging persona for narration, yet restrain it to a voice and a wit rather than a context? (Clearly I need to do more research on documentaries if I don't even have an example for this one.)

Leave it to Dena . . .

Of course the darling woman comes up with the best ideas for mixing ambition with sheer pleasure.

She wrote with the suggestion, "If you end up in Missouri to look into Mark Twain et al, this place looks amazing. The oldest botanical garden in the United States and it seems like it would be lovely to walk through and picnic." Quite right.