I'm not "glum," Susan. That's my face. I don't mock your silly, pretentious grey streak.

I'm gonna step in here. Susan, I'm with you, but I have to defend Walter. He's always just had that sort of faraway look in his eyes. It's part of his whole deep-in-thought mystical image. It's all good.

Look, I get the self-important intellectual gaze into the middle distance—Lord knows I rarely smile in my pictures, but you just look depressed. Maybe it's time to drag yourself out of the Bibliotheque Nationale and take a much-needed vacation.

Doesn't matter where I am—as you well know, I was born this way.

I think a nice woman with a good sense of humor and a bit of whimsy would do wonders for you. Did you see the pix I posted of me partying on Montparnasse? That one's a framer.

First, spare me the dating advice. A marriage gone south, a torrid affair with a sculptor. All I can say is: Dames is trouble. And anyway, I've enjoyed solitude since my youth. Sure, I liked to walk the streets of Berlin with Mom. But once I discovered the pleasures of the solitary stroller, the flâneur, I recognized that there was much more to be gotten out of a solo walk. As for your framing remark: Just when photography has enabled us to escape the oppressions of the artistic aura, you have to go to Aaron Brothers' Frame Shop and make a big deal about a photograph.

Well, I think photography is innately aggressive.

Thanks, Susan, we know that. I thought we were discussing my melancholic state? Have you seen my Tumblr site of all of the sad, isolated people walking the streets of Paris? The rag picker? The prostitute? I see sad people.

likes this.

Berty: you know I like pretty much everything you do—as long as you show the bourgeoisie for what they really are!

You know I'm always down with that. Have I ever disappointed?

No—and most importantly, you don't sacrifice good writing just to spout the party line.

So glad we have each other—we're a real dream team.

I'm enthusiastic, too, but would it hurt for you to get a little more on board with my whole "aura" thing?

I am just not as much of a mystic as you are.

Okay, should we agree to disagree?

Word.