Bad Journalist.

"We fought, first, over the adjectives in his stories — ‘discredited’ was a favorite —..."

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:37:29 -0400

“We fought, first, over the adjectives in his stories — ‘discredited’ was a favorite — and then over his theories, which were typically the opposite of whatever I was hearing from my Washington sources.”

- Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith on Michael Hastings.

I don’t typically like Ben’s work — this quote hints why — but I always enjoyed Michael’s work, even when it occasionally seemed askew. He was a truly gracious person to me personally, and to journos generally. His work always bore a moral core and a genius for devastating takedown lines. I alternately admired and envied him. And I will miss him.

Read more poignant, eloquent tributes from Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone and Dave Weigel at Slate.

I KNEW IT.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:56:14 -0400

I KNEW IT.

According to a secret transcript, members of Cooper...

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:45:00 -0400

According to a secret transcript, members of Cooper Union’s board of trustees joked dismissively about student protesters; Jamshed Bharucha called the students’ demonstrations “performance art”; Stanley Lapidus expressed doubts that the pupils “know what they’re protesting.”

“Welcome to 1968,” trustee Mark Epstein quipped, adding, “Haven’t been tear-gassed in decades,” before dismissing the delegation of trustees for lunch.

More from the transcript—in which the board discusses closing Cooper Union down, screws early decision applicants, declares tenure as good as dead, and tries to avoid scrutiny from the state attorney general—on the Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared blog.

Exciting announcement time: On June 3, I will be joining a...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:21:00 -0400

Exciting announcement time:

On June 3, I will be joining a digital dream team at Fusion, the new lifestyle and news station being launched by ABC and Univision. As Fusion’s homepage editor, I’ll get to work with a bunch of superstars from Huff Post, NewsBeast, Miami Herald, the familiar networks, and more to produce a new flavor of fearless news geared towards English-speaking Hispanics and millennials.

Not familiar with Fusion yet? Check out this terrific Financial Times rundown of the station’s game plan.

Besides getting to live in Miami, staying busy on the social media, and helping to frame some kickass journalism, I’ll also get to work on one of my pet projects, and a major concern for Fusion’s audience: stories about the educated, striving white-collar working poor — the kids of working-class parents and immigrants who wrestle with student loans, health care costs, and child-rearing expenses while trying to fulfill dreams of a better life than their parents had.

You’ll still get to see my occasional byline in a few of the usual places — most notably Mother Jones, Salon, Gawker, and GQ — but Fusion is my main joint. Here’s hoping it’ll be one of yours, too.

"I won’t mention names, but I did have conversations about immigration where increasingly I had to defend the fact that the people most affected were human beings."

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:21:35 -0400

"I won’t mention names, but I did have conversations about immigration where increasingly I had to defend the fact that the people most affected were human beings.":

A year ago, Pablo Pantoja was the GOP’s Latino outreach director in Florida. He stumped for Romney and told the New York Times: “Hispanics in the area are going to realize the Republican Party is where they belong.” Yesterday, he became a Democrat. How does that happen, exactly? I asked him. He had a lot to say.

"When I was brought in here, I was explicitly told that the bloodletting had come to an end. I have..."

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:23:35 -0400

“When I was brought in here, I was explicitly told that the bloodletting had come to an end. I have enormous respect for the staff here and the work they have been doing, and I am not going to preside over further layoffs.”

- Will Bourne, editor of the Village Voice, explaining why he and his deputy, Jessica Lustig, walked off the job today. I had the privilege of meeting both of them recently, and know a few people that work in that newsroom. They struck me as ceaselessly talented, energetic, and positive. They were well on their way to making the Voice great again. I know they’ll be okay. I hope the rest of my friends will be, too.

Roxane Gay is Spelled With One "N": Things You Should Know About Isaac Fitzgerald

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:58:14 -0400

Roxane Gay is Spelled With One "N": Things You Should Know About Isaac Fitzgerald:

roxanegay:

Yesterday, Isaac Fitzgerald announced that on May 1 he is leaving The Rumpus after four years as managing editor, and will be assuming the position of publicity director for McSweeney’s.

This is wonderful news and I couldn’t be happier for him. He deserves all the best things. He will also be…

Fuckin’ ay. Isaac is a wonderful tatted liquored man of letters, and I can’t wait to toss one back with him at the next AWP.

But the real story is not how the news got it...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:23:55 -0400

But the real story is not how the news got it wrong—there’s been plenty of that since Monday. It’s how, mere hours later after telling a bullshit story, the news simply told a new story and expunged the previous one from its memory. Real-time accuracy isn’t always possible in journalism. But no one can call himself a journalist if he can’t acknowledge in the present what he got wrong in the past.

Gawker: Everybody Named the Wrong Boston Suspects Last Night and Promptly Forgot.

(via)

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:19:00 -0400

(via)

Go die now, opportunist vermin. (eBay)

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:54:00 -0400

Go die now, opportunist vermin.

(eBay)

(via)

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:17:07 -0400

(via)

Pray for Boston. (photo: John Tlumacki)

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:11:45 -0400

Pray for Boston.

(photo: John Tlumacki)

"A man in Afghanistan once told me that a third of this planet eats with spoons and forks, and a..."

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:11:40 -0400

“A man in Afghanistan once told me that a third of this planet eats with spoons and forks, and a third of the planet eats with chopsticks, and a third eats with their fingers. And they’re all just as civilized as one another.”

- Rick Steves, Salon, 2009

Tumblr Staff: A year ago, Tumblr did something unprecedented — we created an...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:48:56 -0400

Tumblr Staff: A year ago, Tumblr did something unprecedented — we created an...:

staff:

A year ago, Tumblr did something unprecedented — we created an editorial team of experienced journalists and editors assigned to cover Tumblr as a living, breathing community. The team’s mandate was to tell the stories of Tumblr creators in a truly thoughtful way — focusing on the people, their…

America. Because we know how to reward a smashing success.

Here’s Secret Video of Mitch McConnell on Attacking Ashley...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:24:38 -0400

Here’s Secret Video of Mitch McConnell on Attacking Ashley Judd’s Mental Health

Equally appropriate at ominous interfaith Hamptons weddings and...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:49:52 -0400

Equally appropriate at ominous interfaith Hamptons weddings and Division II football games in Virginia horse country, Pulitzer’s designs were light zephyrs that wafted stately debauchery. They paired well with Veuve Clicquot and anything that fits into a Duke coozie.

— Lilly Pulitzer Dies; WASP Housewives Everywhere Run to Hoard Floral-Pattern Sun Hats

Okay, God, you can take me home now.

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:46:34 -0400

Okay, God, you can take me home now.

"I’ll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew..."

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 01:07:38 -0400

“I’ll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said ‘Dad, I know I’m going to heaven. Why can’t I just die and end this pain?’”

- Megachurch pastor and Christianity franchiser extraordinaire Rick Warren, recalling his 27-year-old son Matthew, who committed suicide Friday at the family’s home.

Yes, we’re supposed to be solemn and respectful at a moment of loss such as this. But judging from the *press statement Warren’s Saddleback Church put out about his son’s suicide and longstanding depression*, and speaking as a past sufferer of existential depression, there seems to be no acknowledgment on Rick’s part that maybe, just maybe, his lifelong evangelism promoting a Christian cosmological narrative of love and everlasting life, juxtaposed with a clear inability to connect with his son on the most basic of loving levels, might have further screwed Matthew up and made self-oblivion seem an attractive choice.

As evinced in the quote above. I hear a troubled young man asking for help squaring his upbringing and dogmatic beliefs with what he feels so acutely and painfully. I’m not sure what Rick feels, but given the context in which he offered this anecdote, it seems less like a mea culpa or an introspective “what-if” than a supremely craven impulse to deny any responsibility: “Oh, you know, he was a tortured soul with a death wish, what can you do, anyway he’s in a better place now.”

This, from a man made millionaire many times over for penning a book titled “The Purpose-Driven Life.”

Rick, I’m truly sorry for your loss. I truly wonder whether *you* are.

Stop. (via)

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:27:07 -0400

Stop.

(via)

No One Can Stop Earth’s Insatiable Hunger for Meat and...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:11:49 -0400

No One Can Stop Earth’s Insatiable Hunger for Meat and Tissues Now

Dieting tips from a recently ousted Vogue editor.