C-Notes

Years ago at a glossy magazine, a colleague had the bright idea of sending out several letters to notables asking them to contribute their work. Years ago at a glossy magazine, a colleague had the bright idea of sending out several letters to notables asking them to contribute their work. Enclosed with the letter was a $100 bill, to be considered as payment for services rendered. Everyone on his list responded, though they all could command fees in the thousands just for making an appearance. One contributor wrote one hundred words, a dollar a word. There is something about the highest denomination in American currency that sets the heart aflutter, from Ice Cube's seminal work, "All About the Benjamins," to the payoffs for debutantes attending dying nightclubs. Further afield, in south east Asia or in Cuba, the C-note can be a life changing force of magic (in my limited experience). Recently a dumb study was made that concluded that people are less likely to spend their $100 bills, they prefer to hold on to them; once the hundred is broken though, you can't get rid of the 20's, 10's, 5's and pathetic 1's fast enough. (The 50's still hold a little allure.) At my most broke, I've always managed to hold on to at least one of these bills, that tiny piece of paper that suggests there is still a little ways to go before complete oblivion. Girls like them too. I never did understand the C-note thing though.