I guess this is subjective. But to me, there's a distracting amount of purple prose.
Prose has a function, which is to tap into metaphor in order to help words describe a sensory experience that's otherwise difficult for words to capture.
The article does have that kind of prose. But it also has plenty of prose for prose's sake. Prose for prose's sake – especially in journalism – is self-serving. It obfuscates the point, for the sake of prose (and ultimately, for the author's own satisfaction with himself).
Edit: that being said, I liked the article overall and I think the author did great at choosing an interesting subject and pretty well at writing about it. I certainly couldn't do better.
Prose has a function, which is to tap into metaphor in order to help words describe a sensory experience that's otherwise difficult for words to capture.
The article does have that kind of prose. But it also has plenty of prose for prose's sake. Prose for prose's sake – especially in journalism – is self-serving. It obfuscates the point, for the sake of prose (and ultimately, for the author's own satisfaction with himself).
Edit: that being said, I liked the article overall and I think the author did great at choosing an interesting subject and pretty well at writing about it. I certainly couldn't do better.