February 29, 2008
My rookie try at covering the Supreme Court
I run into Robert Dillon, with whom I worked briefly in Anchorage in 2004, on the Mall in Washington. Dillon was covering the Supreme Court for the Fairbanks News-Miner, me for the Cordova Times. We both worked earlier for Alaska Newspapers, me as a designer, he as the editor of the Tundra Drums.It's certainly a jolt to go from being in a home office in Baltimore to joining the press corps at the Supreme Court.
I usually spend my weekends copyediting six rural newspapers in Alaska. The dress code for this job is relaxed, at best. I interpret it to allow me to wear, as a sampling at the low end, a paint-splattered University of Maryland sweatshirt, grey Lee jeans and Timberlands with caulk on them.
With any luck, I remember to wear a bandana while doing home improvement projects sandwiched around the editing, so maybe my hair isn't paint splattered as well ... maybe not.
I fit in fairly well with our idiosyncratic Upper Fells Point neighborhood with its mix of arty types, immigrants, blue-collar workers and casually dressed professionals.
Not so well in go-go, busy, hyperaffluent Washington, D.C., the 21st century's answer to the glory of Rome at its height.
So when the Cordova, Alaska, editor of the Cordova Times, Joy Landaluce, suggested I cover the Supreme Court hearing on the Exxon Valdez oil spill on Wednesday and file a story, a major cleanup was in order before I could be presented to the public.
Help came from many quarters. My neighbor Blaire cleaned her Wal-Mart briefcase of cat hair and lent it to me for my notebook, wallet, pens and camera.
She suggested buying black tights at Walgreens -- warmer than stockings, she said -- and wearing some light makeup. While at Walgreens, I also grabbed a box of L'Oreal hair color to address my roots.
My sister Maureen sold me and shipped to Baltimore her wonderful Canon G2 Powershot to take pictures of many Alaska events surrounding the Supreme Court hearing.
My boss in Alaska, editor Randall Howell, and administrative editor Tammy Judd sent a request for press credentials to the nice staff at the Supreme Court information office.
The Supreme Court deputy information officer approved my request and noted a dress code: business jacket mandatory even for female Scotus reporters. And nothing but pens and a notebook would be allowed into the actual courtroom.
I had never owned a business suit in my life. Mindful of my laughable hourly rate working for Alaska Newspapers, I drove to Value Village in Highlandtown and perused the racks of various blue pinstripe numbers. I found a lovely brown suit for $9.98, a new belt for 99 cents and a Liz Claiborne black blouse for $2.98.
To quote the president, mission accomplished.
My sister Sharon and her husband Rob offered lodging a few Metro stops from the court. Rob lent me his aging but servicable Toshiba laptop and Sharon lent her cell phone.
It become obvious that not only did I need a wardrobe for this event, but that I lagged technology by not even having a cell phone, laptop or a professional-grade digital camera. My home office is fairly up to date but I didn't have what I needed to cover a major story without family support, for which I am eternally grateful.
Lamont watched the pets and bought the car down for my use after the court hearing.
And, a family friend, Lee Arnold, counsel to a Republican member of the House of Representatives, who is a fine legal mind, checked my stories for errors, and Eric Caplan of Caplan Communications, publicist for the Cordova-based activists, snared me a career-saving cubicle at the National Press Club to work at on deadline for my preview story the night before the court arguments.
So, all spiffed up, I got the court Wednesday morning about 90 minutes early, and met the Alaskans who were thawing out in the hallway after spending a frigid night outdoors in sleeping bags.
In the press room, in strode Pete Williams, the court reporter for NBC News, Joan Biskupic of USA Today, Bob Barnes of the Washington Post, and all the "bigs" of the Supremes' court media.
Then an elderly gentleman with a cane came in, smiled, and introduced himself. "Hello," he said. "I'm covering this for the Cordova Times." (!)
I was more than a little territorial, proud to be representing the tiny ground-central town most affected by the oil spill.
"I'm covering the case for the Cordova Times," I said. "Who are you?"
He was the husband of a former Times editor, it turned out. The court staff was kind to let him in, as he ostentiously lacked pen, notebook or other accoutrements of a working reporter. He ended up essentially in a hallway behind the working press.
Around 9:20 a.m., 40 minutes before the court would convene, the "bigs" were escorted out first to sit in the permanent press corps section to the right of the justices' bench.
Next came the rest of us to be portioned out in alcoves crammed with chairs, behind the "bigs." The chairs were packed like in a really popular comedy club, reminding me of D.C.'s old Cellar Door.
Robert Dillon, a former colleague at Alaska Newspapers stringing for the Fairbanks News-Miner, knew what to expect.
Those of us brand new to this experience -- namely most of the Alaska fishing town journalists, from Kodiak mainly -- quizzed folks from USA Today and the National Law Journal on how to interpret what we saw.
"Can we interpret what the judges think by their questions, or is that a mistake?" I asked two reporters from the National Law Journal.
"Yes, you can interpret," they told me, unless the justices were obviously playing devil's advocate. They said one could start by understanding that justices Scalia and Thomas were resolutely pro-business, and thus likely votes for Exxon, and then study the others' remarks for clues to their leanings.
We less-celestial journalists were rounded into our alcove seats, and our alcove had three Kodiakers, myself, and the suffering-from-a-bad-cold Dahlia Lithwick of Slate.com.
Just before 10 a.m., Toby Sullivan of the Anchorage Press, a former commercial fisherman and plaintiff from Kodiak, and I were inexplicably singled out from everyone else and summoned to rise and follow a brusque female officer of the court.
I worried that we were getting moved from decent seats in front of our alcove to Siberia, farther back near the hallway, alongside my fake Cordova Times counterpart. If I was demoted down to the hallway, where officers signaled which justice was speaking using a number of fingers and a code for each justice, because you couldn't see anything, my reporting was going to suffer even more than it did already from not knowing the court in any great detail.
I was about to protest when we were actually led, not into Siberia, but forward into the chamber proper and shown seats in with the "bigs." The little Cordova Times was about to be seated beside the Washington Post. Though honored that Toby and I were recognized as legit, and that the court officers were kind enough to show courtesy to journalists covering the oral arguments for residents of small-town Alaska, my seat at the end of the row seemed even more claustrophobic than the seat in the alcove.
"Dana, do you want my seat?" I called to Dana Milbank, the Washington Post political reporter superstar, who had arrived late and been shoved into our alcove.
Milbank had no idea who I was yet didn't question why I would know who he was. If you know you are a "big" you are not surprised at being known to strangers. Dana said sure if I was sure.
I was sure I didn't want to be packed in with the bigs. I wanted back with the "smalls." This was a David vs. Goliath case, and I was happier with the Alaskans.
Dana sat down a seat or two away from his Post colleague Bob Barnes, who mockingly asked if he'd bought anything to write with -- color columnists can just sit and listen, he implied -- and I returned to the Official Alaska Alcove to sit by Dahlia Lithwick.
Dahlia actually mentioned the invitation to Toby and me to move at the start of her fabulous column -- fabulous in its writing style, its sympathy to Alaskans and the fact she wrote while fighting a wicked respiratory disorder. Her column is headlined, Oil and Water: The Exxon Valdez case runs aground at the Supreme Court:
The high court is teeming with Alaskans this morning, and the press office has made a superhuman effort to accommodate them all. ... Outside the court, Alaskans hold banners demanding justice. And flanking me in the press section today are reporters from at least four different Alaskan newspapers. One is himself a plaintiff in the Exxon suit. A few moments before argument begins, a passel of them are even moved up to the two front rows reserved for the permanent press corps—sacred ground to which your ordinary beat reporter dare not aspire.Milbank made good use of the seat I had been offered to crane his neck and listen, rarely taking notes but soaking it all in. His column is entitled, At the High Court, Damage Control:
Exxon Mobil, the giant oil corporation appearing before the Supreme Court yesterday, had earned a profit of nearly $40 billion in 2006, the largest ever reported by a U.S. company -- but that's not what bothered Roberts. What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion -- roughly three weeks' worth of profits -- for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history. "So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?" Roberts asked in court.The other major thing I noticed was that NPR's Nina Totenberg, who had the seat very closest to the bench, was wearing a bright, shiny, light brown leather jacket in violation of the dress code that had sent me to Value Village.The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. "Well," he said, "it can hire fit and competent people."
The rare sound of laughter rippled through the august chamber. The chief justice did not look amused.
As I had been temporarily led to a seat in the row behind her, the court officer had told me to "put away my sunglasses," hanging on the front of my blouse. "They're reading glasses," I replied, alarmed that they she might confiscate them, and I might need them.
"Well put them away," she repeated, and I complied, though they didn't have a fraction of the shine and potential of Nina's leather jacket to distract the Supremes from their Very Important Work.
Oh, here's a link to my curtainraiser story, Cordovans vs. Exxon: Spill victims plead passionate case as high court hears appeal, and a scan of this week's Cordova Times with my story appears below.
My story on the Supreme Court's oral arguments is here online: "Supreme Court weighs case to cut oil-spill award."
And thus have I covered my biggest story in my 35-year career while working for my littlest newspaper, the Cordova Times, circulation 1,000.
UPDATE: My curtainraiser story was mentioned in the Anchorage Daily News Newsreader, image here:
Click above
My second front-page, with a story I wrote, my photo of lead attorney Jeffrey Fisher, and a graphic I helped to put together:
Click above to read full-size version.
February 14, 2008
Peyton Manning's hilarious United Way spoof
Don't know why football is such a ripe area for satire, as I blogged on twice recently -- Cute football videos and Ask Michael Wilbon? Not! -- but here's another classic from Saturday Night Live:
I think this video captures why Peyton Manning is all over the airways and Tom Brady is not ... Manning has a great Q (likeability) rating, Brady for all his ostensible humility and team-first attitude seems to be a guy all about supermodel girlfriends and getting off stage as quickly as possible after a game.
I missed until now that The Onion has been having a field day with anti-Patriots sentiment:
Patriots Proud Of Defeating Whoever That Last Team Was
FOXBOROUGH, MA—Patriots quarterback Tom Brady diplomatically emphasized that defeating whoever it was they had just played gave him and his teammates a great sense of accomplishment during his post-game press conference Sunday. "It's always very satisfying to get out there and get a win against…against those guys," Brady said, adding that it was a mistake to take those other guys for granted as they were capable of making a few plays. "They definitely had some sort of game plan, and they were running around fairly fast out there. We overcame a lot to triumph over, uh, you know, them." According to Brady, the Patriots still need to correct a number of mistakes during the week's practices, execute better, and prepare for that one team they have to defeat next.
And here's a classic:
Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation
FOXBOROUGH, MA—As the once-invincible, still-insufferable Patriots attempt to come to grips with their 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the death of their dream to go undefeated, and the possible end of their dynasty, almost every other person in America is reveling in what they consider the perfect ending to New England's season."I just couldn't imagine a better ending to the Patriots odyssey," said Simon Williams, a Kansas City-area football fan who usually watches the college game but found himself caught up in the Patriots' sheer loathsomeness during the season. "The utter lack of humility they displayed alongside an equal lack of any joy in the game, that toad of a coach, and that cologne-ad quarterback… If they have to act that badly while playing that well, you really want to see them fail in the biggest way possible. Thank God almighty, that's what we got."
- posted by jbelliveau at 8:48 AM in Parodies
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February 7, 2008
The shelf life of books, including my first
Calvin Trillin once noted that books "have a shelf life somewhere between milk and yogurt."
By this yardstick, my first book, An Amateur's Guide to the Planet
But somehow "Amateur" keeps rolling along, not fragile like yoghurt, maybe more like the hamburger in "Supersize Me" that refused to grow moldy after weeks in the open air ... well on second thought, that may not be the best comparison.
"Amateur" came out in 1996, and I've wanted for a while to overhaul it. It would be neat to update and freshen up some of its information and data, and also convert each of its 12 chapters into expanded, individual e-books packed with new color scans of my photos of the places visited, from China and Madagascar to Borneo and Greece.
One of the big drawbacks of the original was a Photoshop error I made in calibrating for print such that close to all the interior photos came out too dark. New color photos would bring out the full potential of the chapters.
This would take a lot of time away from progressing on new projects, so I haven't assayed this idea yet.
Given the fact that a 12-year-old book should be roughly 11.9 years past retirement, with some shock I filled a bunch of orders in December by Amazon.com.
Then "Amateur" temporarily cracked the top 80,000 ... which is kind of a bigger deal than it sounds, since the competition for any sales is fierce given a glut of 150,000 new books per year ... granted it only takes a few sales to pull out of ranking in the 700,000 to 1 million range.
The Amazon.com ranking of 'An Amateur's Guide to the Planet' circa late December.
The burst seems to have been triggered by the addition of a professor at another college using "Amateur" as required reading for geography course work.
Sure enough, in December I received significant orders from two colleges, explaining the surge.
I want to thank professor Conrad Nicoll at Cal State-Fullerton, who has begun using "Amateur" for his Global Geography course, and to Corban College in Oregon for the latest in a series of orders using "Amateur" to teach intercultural communication to its missions students.
Cal State-Fullerton brings the total to about 31 colleges and universities that have used "Amateur" to teach students (adoptions list here). It is a big wow as an author to be not only read but studied by others.
And it remains an astonishment to me that my first book is taught in colleges. I never expected this ... You always think your readers are going to be people like yourself ... in my case, Northeasterners who travel to exotic places.
Boy was I wrong. "Amateur" has proved strongest in terms of lay readers in Seattle, the Bay Area and the Colorado Front Range ... crunchy granola territory. It also did well in Madison, Wisc., Chapel Hill, N.C., and other college towns.
Nor did I have any notion I had an offbeat college course book on my hands.
"Amateur's" college adoptions list is kind of amazing, an eclectic (to say the least) mix of state universities, independent religious schools, Pacific Northwest colleges and Bible Belt academies with a focus on mission work.
The religious and Bible Belt categories arise from "Amateur's" third chapter on mission work in Borneo, I think, or maybe a later chapter on Bali and how we view Heaven. I reread the Borneo chapter recently and really enjoyed it as a reader ... one can say that as a writer because after many years, you become quite objective about something you wrote. When I reread the Burma chapter for example, I wish it went in a clearer direction as to Burma's impact on me as a tourist.
My accidental career as the author of a cultural geography/intercultural communication book began circa 1998 with a visit to the public radio show at WYSO at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I was about to speak that night at Books and Co. in nearby Dayton, Ohio.
I had gotten over much of my public speaking phobia after numerous media appearances and about 50 bookstore talks. Further, I was playing the writing eccentric a bit, breezing into the station with my sheltie ... I can't remember where we put him ... and being further relaxed by meeting Vick Mickunas, an amiable fellow with long, wavy dark blond hair and if memory serves, a Fu Manchu. From this photo on the Web, he is now clean shaven.
I got into Vick's comfortable studio. He puts visitors at ease and asks fantastic questions, which I answered in a light-hearted manner, and during the breaks whirled in circles on my guest's swivel chair, finally in some kind of relaxed rhythm with this whole idea of being on the radio.
I think later misplaced the tape he gave me of one of my best interviews, drag! It helps the interview so much when someone actually reads and enjoys your book.
Listening to our conversation was communications professor Mike Lopez at nearby Cedarville College. When I got back home to Maryland, an e-mail awaited asking for something called a desk copy of "Amateur" so that he could use it as a possible text for his classes. I wish I remembered what I said about intercultural communication during my radio interview,but it must have been something that sounded intriguing.
From then I got the idea from Mike to get a mailing list to communications professors and sent them a flier about my book, and a related idea from my friend Jill Yesko to similarly mail fliers to cultural geography professors, and the rest is a little bit of travel book history.
Complimentary copies of "Amateur" were also used to reward more than $6,000 in donations to help tsunami victims (see my earlier blog entry, "Book aids tsunami relief"). With its cover photograph of the lovely Thai island of Ko Racha Yai, devastated by the tsunami, its description of a Thai sailing trip, and focus on additional Indian Ocean destinations, "Amateur" was an appropriate vehicle to help charitable organizations solicit help for Thailand's Phangnga Bay.
In restrospect, it all seems so obvious that I had packed my first book with almost too much information -- words, graphics, photos, large format, bibliography -- for someone to cozy into a chair with it, but it was useful for actually teaching information. Professors seemed to like most that "Amateur" was not a traditional textbook. It's organized the way a journalist would organize a newspaper article, 1, 2, 3, and jargon free ... and that is it's selling point, according to professor testimonials.
It's a blessing to see one's book have legs.
February 6, 2008
Cute football videos
Thanks to Cousin Laura in Bosstown for this one, which football historians will enjoy, on the Reebok site: click here.
My favorite moments are at 0:25, 0:53, 1:40-1:50 and 3:08. And I won't spoil them!
February 4, 2008
NFC East rules! best Super Bowl ever
Congratulations to the Giants for their gutsy win in the Super Bowl last night.
Lamont's get-together involving cousins and friends to watch the game broke, surprisingly, 5-2 in terms of rooting preferences in favor of the supposed underdog Giants. By game's end, family friend John was kicking himself that he hadn't put $500 on the 12-1/2 point underdogs.
We all agreed the spread was crazy, treating the Giants like no-accounts that had no business being there, even after they had beaten Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay on the road.
I am also picking up from neighbors a unanimous backing of the Giants, for a gamut of reasons, including a feeling the Ravens got jobbed by the zebras in their match vs. the Patriots.
For me, it was NFC East pride, where we hate-but-know the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles, and realize that our teams are battle-tested within their own conference, which sent three (!) out of its four teams into the postseason this year.
The most stunning moment for me was David Tyree's fourth-quarter catch, shown in part below, when he grabbed the ball in the air behind his head and bought it safely pressed against his helmet, cradled carefully above the turf to avoid an incompletion.
Cousin Michael, rooting for the Patriots, shook his head and had to admit, "I think that's the best catch I've ever seen."
This may be the second Immaculate Reception in Super Bowl history.
The catch began with some of the wildest football theater in a long time -- Eli Manning's improbable escape of a certain sack to get free and lob the ball to Tyree.
Just before, unheard-of Giants rookie tight end Kevin Boss (who?) got free for a long reception, and just after, Plaxico Burress, who ate the Packers for dinner two weeks ago, caught the go-ahead touchdown, where he was so wide open the only question was could he get a case of nerves and drop the ball. Fox showed a fabulous piece of tape showing Manning and Burress practicing the exact winning play prior to the game.
Joel Achenbach writes about "The Catch That Replaces The Catch:"
I've wasted a lot of my life watching football and can't recall ever seeing a greater catch. Sure, there have been circus catches before, including receivers catching the ball behind the back of a defender. We've seen one-handed catches galore. But this was on the biggest stage in the final minute of a game wiith his team trailing. And head to head with The Catch, this one was better. Eli Manning had to elude a more violent pass rush than Montana -- Manning almost went under, but tore himself away and managed to toss that prayer downfield. And although both Clark and Tyree had to make leaping grabs, by comparison Clark's catch was schoolyard stuff, something you'd see in flag football. Tyree's practically caught the ball with the back of his neck and his shoulder blades.
And the AP has an entire story on the "New" Catch here.
YouTube has a fantastic clip here: Here's another photo:
It was obvious to Michael and Lamont, rooting for the Pats, that Coach Belicheck erred in the first half going for it on fourth down unsuccessfully -- instead of trying a field goal. Brady had been under pressure all game and it should have been clearer that this was not going to be a Patriots' pointfest.
Lamont feels this coaching error cost the Pats a tie at the end of regulation. "My team won! I just won a dollar from your father. To think that there were two Mannings in two years" (winning as Super Bowl quarterbacks). She mentioned seeing an interview crediting father Archie Manning and brother Peyton with Eli's development. I read today ("Once more, a Manning puts the M in MVP") however that Archie credits his wife with his sons' gridiron prowess: "Manning pulled what Brady used to do in the fourth quarter," Mom continued. How did she rate this Super Bowl? "The most exciting one -- really -- even compared to the ones the Redskins were in." I have to agree, based on the heroics and theater on the final Giants drive. P.S. Lamont considers the Patriots to in truth have had a 17-2 season, considering the Ravens to have beaten them during their controversial visit to Baltimore Dec. 3. Congrats to the no-names on the Giants -- Boss and Tyree and Strahan's less glamorous defensive teammates -- for putting on a rare Super Bowl that is a struggle down to the wire vs. a blowout. Hats off to the Redskins' rivals, whom I cannot recall ever rooting for before, and let's have some respect for has to be the NFL's strongest division in terms of coaching talent. Good for Tom Coughlin righting himself after his rocky finish in Jacksonville and rocky start in New York to sell his players on a vision of success. And watch for the Redskins to make a move on Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spangnuolo for Washington's head coaching vacancy after his brilliant plan that saw pressure roaring down on Brady all night long. PS Update on Michael Wilbon, whom I blogged about here -- he suffered a heart attack, I would guess linked to the stress of the post-Sean Taylor backlash in part, and writes a humble and insightful column on people he's attacked in print have treated him in kindly now that he is in distress: A Life-Changing Turn of Events.
"I give their mother all the credit. I call her the great equalizer. She's calm, she never gets upset, she always makes good decisions. I think that's carried over to them."
