Once again it's been a while since I've updated this whole business. I'd say it's because I charge for my best material, but that would be a lie.
First things first, I need to shout out my boy BTB for his first piece of published (as in printed, not just strewn up on the internet) journalism. Even if you might not have too much vested interest in the Seattle City Council race, I suggest you give it a read. I admit to some obvious bias in reading most anything Bryan writes, but don't let that influence you.
Now I am traditionally pretty aloof and a non-follower of news and contemporary non-fictional journalism, but thanks to Facebook I saw that my old Freshman-year roommate had produced this story on the effect of drug cartels on migrant workers filtering in from Mexico. I am fairly certain this is not Sacha's first piece to reach print, but it's the first thing of his I've read since he asked me to read one of his Latin American History class papers eight years ago. Jesus how the time flies. I remember thinking there was a certain alluring flair to his language then and I'd say it holds up now but who cares what I think, go read for yourself. The story is bolstered by the fact that it isn't your conventional rush-to-press type headline and had a good quantity of research put into it, but I think this is all about what good journalism is and why, I hope, people continue to realize that sometimes we have to pay for news. The internet is great for quick breaking news, and print can't really keep up because I can post to my damn blog/twitter/facebook faster than the New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, etc can get anything through the presses but, at least for me, it's as much how the story is told as it simply being told.
With so much emphasis on being the first to report, a lot of research is sloppy, and the real depth and full story behind each story can be rather decidedly lacking. This is not a groundbreaking observation. Thousands if not millions of people have been realizing this for a while now. What are we going to do to maintain "quality" journalism? Well, I don't really know, so it's a good thing I'm not in charge.
But enough of that brief tirade, I'd like to pay some brief homage to my not namesake Jeremy Roenick, who will be announcing his retirement from the NHL in the coming day(s)/hours. The puckdaddy blog sums things up pretty well for the uninitiated on what made Roenick so special. He was and is accessible and a character and not in the circus-type depressing way Starbury seems to be sadly drooping to. With Joe Sakic having retired as well it's truly marking the end of the era of hockey players I followed in yesteryear. I still enjoy hockey yet, somehow, with the information more readily at my fingertips than ever, I just haven't managed to follow it like I did a decade and more ago. Regardless I tip the hat I don't wear to Roenick and a little late to Sakic as well, another recent retiree.
Roenick's retirement got me thinking about my favorite current athlete, regardless of sport. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with just one. My allegiances are generally bizarrely developed, based entirely on a vibe and gut feeling I get about someone. It makes it difficult to articulate why I like certain athletes, but at least fairly stolid in supporting them (there is a better word than the dry and boring "stolid," but it escapes me). So rather than a list of my favorite athletes, where I would be sure to accidentally leave off a few names, I will instead present to you my new favorite name in sports: Dudi Sela. "Oh man, are you playing with Dudi tomorrow?" Makes me think of Dudi's alliterative cousin, "Poop Purveyor." Yes, oh yes, may my love of potty humor never die...
