September 2011
Where Cliches Come From - Photo Gallery - LIFE →
“Lame duck” has come a long, long way to come to mean a politician who’s on his way out of office. Originally, a lame duck was the third animal metaphor in the “bulls and bears” of the stock market (originally just the one in London) — a lame duck was a broker who couldn’t pay his debts. There are a couple possible explanations for why the term “lame...
Best Nudity You Will See All Day →
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“Ethnicity is a somewhat problematic word. The great American anthropologist and...”
– Chinua Achebe, on “Literature and Ethnicity.” (via thesmithian)
Something Sounds SICK →
Lee Field and The Expressions, Mos Def and Steely Chan.
Standing by Tony Bennett →
I did it this summer, in Connecticut. Right now, in a digital sense, I’m doing the same.
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'Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution' →
Click the headline. You won’t be able to unsee what’s happening all around you.
Yet you’ve not seen at all.
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Gen X Navel-Gazing →
And we love it.
Nevermind.
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The Cocaine Chronicles →
My first published fiction is in The Cocaine Chronicles. In December, Akashic will publish a second edition of this 2005 anthology.
My story isn’t especially good. But having contributed here is great. I met wonderful writers like Nina Revoyr and Gary Phillips, who edited The Cocaine Chronicles with my old friend Jervey Tervalon.
I got paid $100 for an appearance at Cal State L.A., a...
From ESPN: The Magazine's debut issue →
I was living in Los Angeles when ESPN invited me to join the staff and do this joint with Shaun Assael. By the conclusion of reporting, I’d be in Manhattan.
Family in tow. A couple of blocks from the World Trade Center, I put this one together.
WatchCRAIG’S LIST RIDESHARE, PT. II: Slalom Through the Mountain Night
We had passed through Ashland a bit after midnight. The four of us got food. (Not, apparently, enough of it organic.) We gassed up. We got ghost.
Into the night. Down past the Oregon border, off I-5 and into the hills of Northern California. We drove 40 miles to the Shasta River. My hippy rideshare partners agreed to go...
It's Goin Down
Right now.
Touré Gave Me a Cool Blurb →
As with Jervey and Dale, like Sarah, Keith, Neal and Eggers, my guy came through. I’m happy for Touré’s success. He’s worked hard.
Trying to Remember What this Was About... →
WatchCRAIG’S LIST RIDESHARE: SE Portland to the Haight
Spoiler Alert: I’ve moved to the front seat by the time a second dog throws up, just on the far side of the Golden Gate bridge.
Images and words to roll in through the week.
"I Ain't Got No Words" →
Click the link above for that classic material, young’uns.
Dig me. 'Like' me. Feel me? →
It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! →
So listen to the great Pittsburgh catcher Manny Sanguillen talk about his favorite pitcher, Dock Ellis.
“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it and...”
– Sylvia Plath (via simplydreamy)
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Stand Up to Financial Abuse →
What happened in New York this weekend can happen at your local financial center. It must happen, or the greedheads will only continue to rape the American economy. Your ass will end up nekkid in the street, hungry, alongside your children.
'The Shame of College Sports' →
Hate to bum you out before the ritual football fun, but:
For all the outrage, the real scandal is not that students are getting illegally paid or recruited, it’s that two of the noble principles on which the NCAA justifies its existence—“amateurism” and the “student-athlete”—are cynical hoaxes, legalistic confections propagated by the universities so they can exploit the skills and fame of young...
The Left Wins Most When Making Art, Not in... →
Kazin’s portraits are often inspiring, but they also highlight why the revolutionary path has long been reserved for the dedicated few. Dreaming big is usually a lonely occupation, especially when the currents of history seem to be flowing in the opposite direction.
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Under New Management
Don’t worry; it’s the same old me. What’s new is that I’ve finally figured out this Tumblr biz.
So, let me tell you what happened.
Back in March I was just about to leave Portland for LA. To save money, I shut down the successful and influential DonnellAlexander.com, then started blogging here. Thing is, I had not a clue what I was doing. For starters I gave the site an...
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Tom Junod on J-Stew →
Wherein the Esquire writer deconstructs an audience Whoooo!
Supporters Rally to Save a Georgia Man on Death... →
As Troy Davis faces his fourth execution date, the machine attempting to save him has become so intense that it rivals campaigns in the most celebrated death row cases in recent history.
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