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Don
or Don Quixote?
Of
all the characters I've put on paper, Lou Marracci is perhaps
my favorite. By the time we met, he was already well-known
at the Contra Costa Times (and to the San Francisco Bay Area
at large) for his passionate, rambling letters to the editor.
When
I suggested to my editor that I cover Marracci's latest crusade
to bring bocce ball to Lafayette, Calif. she broke out
in a warm smile. "Sure," she said. "Go
ahead."
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Art
of the Repulsive
There's
something both horrifying and human about John Slepian's fleshy
blobs. When I met him, Slepian was fresh off an obscenity
controversy at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
and on the verge of artistic celebrity in New York, facts
which made him ripe for a profile.
Presented
here: a look at the artist and some of his best work.
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Catch Ilan Stavans If You Can
My alma mater, Amherst College, approached me and asked if I would write a book review for the alumni magazine. The book: "El Iluminado," a graphic novel by Ilan Stavans and illustrator Steve Sheinkin.
An acclaimed novelist and literary critic, Stavans is an Amherst professor of Latino culture and has remained a mentor and friend since my graduation in 2001. Readers might remember him from our 2010 Huffington Post interview following the publication of his long-awaited "Norton Anthology of Latino Literature." "El Iluminado" points Stavans in a radically new direction, placing him on the page, in cartoon form, as a savvy detective intent on solving a mysterious murder.
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Sirena
Selena
No
doubt the strangest book I ever read, Mayra
Santos-Febres's "Sirena Selena" dips into the murky
backstreets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, following the lives of
transvestites, transsexuals and the poor.
This
review was written for Hopscotch, the nation's preeminent
Latino culture magazine. |
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Alien
at the Office
If
ever anyone explored the terrain between genius and banality,
it was Lars Tunbjörk. Tunbjörk's
photos take a while to "get," but look at these
pics of empty office cubicles long enough, and there
is something there.
His
photos had won several prizes and captured the attention of
Soloarte, a prominent London-based art magazine, when the
publication asked me to produce this profile of Tunbjörk
for its October 2004 issue. |
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Red
Corner
The
troubles in Tibet were already all over the news when Brad
Pitt released the terrible "Seven Years in Tibet,"
which was followed shortly by the laughably earnest, jaw-droppingly
incompetent Richard Gere vehicle "Red Corner."
Here:
a quick review of "Red Corner," a small bit of fun
at Richard Gere's expense. |
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Evoking
the Spirit of Wood
Larry
Nielson has made a lasting impression on the Utah art scene
with his hauntingly beautiful wildlife paintings all painted
directly on wood.
This
article is a look at his best work and the reactions of museumgoers,
young and old, to Nielson's cheetahs, cougars and grizzly
bears. |
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Adding
Maturity to Talent
Ben
Lindquist was a great story — the high school superstar who
was going to make it, then didn't, then eventually did.
I interviewed Lindquist as he and the Oregon Ducks were climbing
the Division I ranks, pushing him from Utah's attention into
the ESPN spotlight.
This
article on Lindquist's ascension ran on the front page of
The Spectrum's sports section. |
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The
Ice Cream Man Returns
For
all its attempts to be hip and modern, there were still facets
of Utah straight out of Pleasantville. And the look
of delight on the faces of the children of St. George when
the ice cream man rolled around was no doubt one of those
things.
A
light, joyful piece, this ride-along with the ice cream man sparked
a warm reaction from readers. |
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Makin'
Noise
Utah
isn't the first place most people turn for unrelenting rock
'n' roll. But this batch of jack Mormons were looking
to push past those stereotypes and establish themselves with
some hard, country-tinged jams.
The
Trigger Locks sought to solidify that reputation with this,
their sophomore release, "Gold @ Anything." |
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Las Lomas Grad Makes His Mark
Awards are nice, but the greatest recognition always comes from home. In 2008, after my military reporting began making waves in Washington, I won the prestigious George Polk Award and was named a finalist for Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Soon after reporter Theresa Harrington
of Walnut Creek, California's Contra Costa Times wrote this piece about my work, essentially a "Local Boy Makes Good" article. Having grown up in Walnut Creek, attended Las Lomas High School and reported for the Times following graduate school, it was an especially meaningful tribute. |
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