Scroll of Shame

Why writers need editors

Edward R. Murrow came to us in a dream, his collar turned up against the mist, his face dour, yet kind. In one hand, he nursed a cigarette, in the other.. .this month's Scroll of Shame.

Grandma, what big moans you have.

When I was researching my book, The Eternal Garden: Seasons of Our Sexuality (Times Books), I interviewed "Mae" and "Donald" (not their real names), who had been off-andon lovers for more than 50 years. Donald called her "two-a-minute McGuire." The week before we spoke, Mae, age 77, had experienced 103 orgasms during a 45-minute lovemaking session.

The count seemed high to me, but if Mae perceived each of these moments as an orgasm, who was I to dispute her word? The exciting aspect of hearing about Mae was the recognition that such sexual enjoyment can persist well into old age. I can hardly wait to reach my seventies.

—Letter from Sally Wendkos Olds, in Ms.

You wish.

She moves over and I get in [bed] beside her....

And then she says, "I've never met anyone like you before."

I want to think she means it, and I want to tell her that the feeling is mutual, but I don't. Instead, I say, "I'm just a writer."

She says, "More than that." And from then on, everything is delicious.

—Bruce Weber, in Mademoiselle

The plucking continues.

From among the incoming freshmen, somehow Ted had picked me out as someone worth knowing, like a connoisseur looking over a Whitman's Sampler and sensing which one, underneath the chocolate coating, would have the liqueur cherry. —Mary McCarthy, in

The New Yorker —James Wolcott