craft/kraft night

today felt like the first day of spring.

for whatever reason, i have been waking up very early recently, which has been real great. just this morning, i even had time to work on my @$&#$* paper, go pick up groceries, and get ready for the day. all before noon. unheard of.

so anyways, on this first evening of the first day that feels like it could be spring, we had our first craft night. with kraft dinner (yah that’s right, we went there).

walking over to laur’s place, i bumped into a friend who is working on her ph.d. at massey college. with heels, smart skirt, and a date, she was off to the symphony. “where are you off to, may?”

“erhm, craft night? with kraft dinner!”

we cooked up five whole boxes of kd (mmmmmmmm) and just so our mothers wouldn’t scold us for not eating our greens, i tossed up a bowl of salad with freezé (is that how you spell it i am not sure) and some resplendent looking beets. lauryn and i drank the water that we’d boiled the beets in (“beet juice!”) which totally creeped all the other kids out, but we were undetered in our hunt for the great vitamin c, our lord and saviour.

i’d written about the need to cook more here, and figured nothing could go wrong with good company, cheap wine, and everyone’s secret favourite comfort meal.

the evening did get slightly not-kosher when we decided to go on chatroulette. i had warned the first timers that at least one out of seven “strangers” will be with not much clothes. and of course, the first two connections we get were of masturbating men. in quick succession, there was screaming, pushing away of poor mac whose only fault was having a built-in cam, and down right outrage at being violated in such a personal, but primal way.

but i digress.

and while we’re at it, let me tell you something here. these girls i have come to know through environmental-y initiatives/events/activism/lobby/mobilization/classes/you name it. and they are all incredibly wholesome, and witty, super talented. and they are also all super attractive. they are the type who will grow bee hives on rooftops, plan hiking trips, devour books on Things That Matter, do remarkable things (like painting their bike helmets to resemble UN helmets cough) read the newspaper, and hold your hand if you gently ask. they are all prurient, irreverent, and ebullient. did i mention they practically glow?

and so, despite my original plans of gracing a million other engagements (well, actually only three), i ended my evening where i begin. unknowingly, i had gotten drunk adn easy off of cheap wine (why not wednesday?), and despite the truck load of work that awaits me, i retire to bed happy, well-fed, and feeling lucky to have these kindred souls close at bay.

sex, lies, and investigative journalism

paul steiger is the new black.

after listening to him speak at a samara lecture the other day, i am convinced.

having spent over 25 years in what he playfully calls “legacy media” (wall street journal), this sixty something man has chosen to set sailing out into that brave, new media world with his ngo, propublica.

funded by a private family trust ($10 million guaranteed for the foreseeable future, steiger explains), propublica is his way at filling in the yawning voids in investigative reporting that conventional newspapers have left behind in recent decline.

it has been wildly successful, forging partnerships with the likes of times, post, large to mid-sized newspapers all across these united states.

when he mentioned the over 1400 resumes he had received for 17 reporting positions, i had to cringe. i vaguely remember naively submitting a resume once. i had a chance to cringe once more when he mentioned that of the reporters hired, 8 of them were pulitzer prize winning reporters.

right. (it is straight up badform to apply for a job that you are that horrendously unqualified for. but in my defense, i had no idea.)

so propublica. they do good stuff. they hunt down cases with abuse of power, cases where an institution has failed to uphold the public interest. and when they develop the story, in an egalitarian move unheard of in hte cut-throat journalism industry, they willingly hand over the finished form to an existing platform for exposure.

steiger argues that this is by far more effective than containing the story exclusively on the propublica website. he gives us an example of a case in california, where they found that the state government had been taking over 3 years to revoke the licenses of nurses who had been caught stealing their patient’s drugs. after what amounted to a year of research, the propublica team banded with the los angeles times to publish this as a major feature on a sunday in july. on the monday, two thirds of the board had been fired. these tales are the stuff of reporter’s wet dreams.

listening to steiger’s success stories, i got to thinking about investigative reporting, and how it is among the most expensive businesses to run – next only to overseas reporting. and in today’s rampant budget cuts and editorial compromises, i wonder whether watergate could have happened today? and the terrifying thought: that indeed watergates are myriads, they just dissipate unaccounted for.

and as night follows day, i had to pose a question. i don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was something to the effect of: whether any of his stories had benefited from social or new media such as crowdsourcing on twitter.

steiger was on top of his game and a.) not only knew what i was talking about; b.) but gave an extensive and comprehensive answer that actually answered my question, a rare occassion at these q&a sessions.

throughout the talk he, of course, had his share of wall street journal jokes.

while knee deep in tete-a-tete with latimes:
los angeles times: we have a bit of an idiosyncratic style….
paul steiger: i come from the wall street journal. we invented the idiosyncratic style.
los angeles times: …….

paul steiger: back at the journal, we used to call it “two newspapers for the price of one. we have our far-right editorials, and our cut through the middle news sections….

well anyways. after the talk i over wined myself and antagonized john godfrey, without meaning to, or knowing who he was.

so that was a good evening. n.b. never to run for office? check.