Month: January 2003

reason dot com

Whether you’re a libertarian or a unreformed Trotskyite, there’s now an excellent reason to be reading Reason.com, the web site of libertarian micromag Reason. The web site is now being run by Tim Cavanaugh, genius ex-editor of genius ex-web site Suck.com.
Cavanaugh’s brought along some of his fellow ex-Sucksters, many of them certainly desparate for freelance work: Joey Anuff, Chris Bray, Ana Marie Cox, etc. Cavanaugh sums up the Suck philosophy as “a rallying call that says, ‘This is the end of rallying calls.'” Well put.
The web site’s something of a contrast to the magazine, which can be a bit dry. (I used to subscribe, probably 10-12 years ago.) Not dry in a bad way, really — just dry in the same way The New Republic, National Review, and other wonk mags are dry. They’re all about Social Security reform, for heaven’s sake! Just try to make that sexy!
(Note: Dallas blogger Virginia Postrel is Reason’s former editor.)

chanda and esa reunion

Much sadness: Chanda lost to Myskina. Damned Russians. She and Kournikova (naked photos! Kournikova nude porn! Hello, Google!) lost in doubles too.
Now I just have to track her down so she can come to our high school reunion in May. Having drawn the proverbial short straw, I have to organize the damned thing. So my question, to loyal crabwalk readers: anyone have any suggestions? Any great reunion experiences you’ve had that might be worth replicating? Great ideas are always welcome. (One note: our alma mater was a very small rural school in south Louisiana, so we had only 43 graduates. So even if we get a high attendance rate, we’re still talking about a small gathering.)

swappingtons

Swappingtons. “Inside, you will find all sorts of books, CDs and DVDs that other folks own, but wish to swap away. The way it works is simple: You list items that you don’t want, and someone will swap you for those items. When they swap you, they transfer swap points to your account, and you mail them the item in question. Once you have the points, you can go and spend them on other items that other folks list on the site. In short, Swappingtons is a great way to get rid of any books, CDs or DVDs that you don’t want anymore, and get other items in return for them.”
Go sign up and give my name as the person who referred you (username: jbenton), so I can get me some point mojo.

chanda at aussie open

Longtime readers remember that crabwalk.com’s favorite tennis player is Chanda Rubin, primarily because I went to high school with her. Well, Chanda‘s rocking again, this time at the Australian Open. (The Aussie is where Chanda’s had her top grand slam performances — winning the whole thing in doubles in 1996, the same year she got to the semifinals in singles.)
This year, she’s made it to the fourth round in singles, disposing of Barbara Schwartz, Mary Pierce, and Melinda Czink. Up next: Anastasia Myskina, the eighth seed. In doubles, she’s paired again with Anna Kournikova and is in the third round. And unlike the U.S. Open, she and Anna are on the opposite side of the draw from the Williams sisters, so a spot in the finals is entirely possible.
Everyone say it with me: Go Chanda!

bush quotes me

Another unexplained week-long absence — could Josh have been kidnapped by aliens?
No such luck — just a combination of slacktitude and a work trip to Austin and San Antonio.
As an aside, I just realized that President Bush quoted one of my stories in a speech a couple weeks ago. On December 2, I wrote a piece on Del Valle High School in El Paso. In it was this quote from the principal, J.R. Guinn:
“You have to make the expectation of success part of your belief system,” Mr. Guinn said. “Whether it’s athletics, academic competitions, band

pat conroy, wuss

On NPR the other day, I heard an interview with Pat Conroy, a novelist whose entire career has essentially been spent repeating one theme over and over again: “My dad was an asshole.” The interview seemed a little too pat. As he told stories about how mean his dad was, he seemed a little too pleased with himself. Really, he didn’t seem very likeable.
Now he’s written a non-fiction memoir about (surprise!) how mean his dad was. A central scene involves his dad beating him up during the annual athletic banquet at his D.C. high school, Gonzaga. In the book, Dad punches his son on the jaw; when his classmates see him get socked, “a free-for-all began” as all the other fathers come to his defense.
“They had no idea who my father was and did not care,” Conroy writes. “They saw a stranger knock a Gonzaga boy to his knees and came roaring to my defense.”
(As one Gonzaga official said about the book: “Everything he writes, his dad beats him up