Almost Infamous

In my new Stranger feature, I read my first autopsy report and look at the life and death of William F. Ball—the man who didn't kill Shannon Harps.

(Illustration by Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch)

Dalai Lama to Journalists: "My Hope is That You're Also Part of Humanity"

I don't know if all of his press conferences are like this, but the early-morning media availability that the Dalai Lama held in Seattle on Sunday (I was there, randomly, as the invisible hand of AFP) ended up being quite a remarkable deviation from every other presser I've attended. The Dalai Lama opened with this:

Good morning, everybody. I have nothing to say.

He then spent about five minutes talking to the assembled journalists about the ways in which we might live more successful, happy lives—also unusual, but rather apropos given the state of our industry.

"Anger, hatred, jealousy, brings inner sense of insecurity," the Dalai Lama was saying.

I was thinking: Have you ever worked in a newsroom?

"Compassion open our heart..."

I thought: Good luck with this crowd.

He continued with his version of Journalistic Humanity 101:

In modern time, particularly in modern country, media people are very, very important. Now, in democratic country, people are the real democracy. Leadership very important—but ultimately people are the most important. Everything depend on the people.

Therefore, fuller knowledge of every event by the public is very essential. So media people have very, very important role to inform the people. For that reason, usually I make a habit of telling media people: You should have long nose, something like elephant nose, and smell everywhere—front, and side, and also behind. That’s I think very important.

For writing you should be objective and unbiased but then tell me, make clear, what’s going on—good thing or bad thing? I think that’s very important. So that the public knows: What’s going on? What’s the reality? Then the public can judge. I think that’s very important.

So my request and my hope is that you’re also part of humanity, the promotion of human values, and the promotion of harmony. I think, in these things, you also have responsibility. So, keep in your mind, that’s all.

I was stuck on his hope that media types might—just might!—also be part of humanity. I guess even the Dalai Lama wonders whether we have it in us to be human. Nice to know he's still holding out hope, though.

"Now," he said, "questions."

Death By Blogging

At long last, a story that makes me feel good about the slow pace of this blog.

Chris Crocker on South Park

It's still unclear whether the real Chris Crocker will ever have his own reality show, but the cartoon Chris Crocker got a few minutes on the recent "Canada on Strike" episode of South Park. Watch it here.

"Governor Spitzer!"

Really, what good is a blog if it can't play host to that video of your friend being lovingly assaulted (or, rather, just plain old salted) by a drag-queen-of-size at a New York brunch place over the weekend? Exactly. And there's even some political content (at the beginning). Therefore:



Confidential to the Seattle soccer boys: You're welcome.

The Sub-Prime Mess Explained by Stick Figures

Finally!

Sypmathy for the ELFers

I have a piece up on Time.com about the suspected eco-terrorism near Maltby, Washington, and the fact that the destroyed "Street of Dreams" was not exactly a cherished local landmark.

Here's a quote that I was surprised to get for my story. It comes from FBI special agent Frederick Gutt:

A lot of people in the Northwest, on the west coast, and in the U.S. and in the world today are environmentalists, have concerns about the earth and mother nature, myself included... A lot of people up here may be more sympathetic to the objective. It's a social objective many people can share.

Surprising because law enforcement officials are not always so thoughtful and personally forthcoming in their remarks about crimes such as this. Lest you think him an ELF sympathizer, however, here's what else Gutt said:

I don't think it makes the methods any more acceptable. There are ways to effect real change without resorting to crimes of violence.

Hello 'Conversation' Listeners

As you heard on today's show, I have this here personal blog in addition to my blogging over at The Slog.

For obvious reasons, I haven't had a lot of time lately to keep this personal blog churning. But since you've arrived here, and are probably looking for political content, why not click on over to the writing page and check out my political profiles and my reporting from Iowa?

Or, if that doesn't do it for you, how about a nice video of a puppy?

Hillary Clinton's Seattle Speech

Greetings Slog readers. Here's a digital audio recording of Hillary Clinton's speech at Pier 30 in Seattle this evening.

More (Real) Music for Obama

There seems to be some sort of surge in music-making for Obama lately. The Grateful Dead are reuniting to play a get-out-the-vote rally for him in San Francisco. In Seattle, a bunch of musicians just recorded this... uh... funk for Obama:



And now everyone's sending around this link to an Obama anthem produced by a member of the Black Eyed Peas. Here's the YouTube version:

Music for Obama

There's an item in The New York Post this morning saying that Barack Obama entered his Des Moines victory party to the sounds of Jay-Z's "99 Problems." As in, "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one."

That would be provocative moment, if true. But I was at the Obama victory rally in Des Moines and heard no Jay-Z. My digital audio recording of his speech that night has Obama entering to U2's "City of Blinding Lights" and exiting to Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."

Here's the audio, Part 1 and Part 2.

Left Behind

I just returned from a week in Iowa, where I rode with the John Edwards bus tour, watched Barack Obama give his history-making Iowa caucus victory speech, and then, once it was all over... Stayed put.

Des Moines is a lonely place when you're the only out-of-town writer left in town. Here's the story I wrote about the experience.

The Anxiety of Hope

As you might have guessed from the below, I've just finished a feature on Barack Obama.

Barack Obama's Seattle Speech

Welcome back, once again, Slog readers. Barack Obama was in Seattle tonight for a "Generation Obama" event. As promised...

Here's the audio of his speech.

Barack Obama's Speech in Des Moines

Hello again Slog readers. Here's my digital audio recording of Barack Obama's speech yesterday in Des Moines. It's longer than Oprah's (about 30 minutes) and, like I said, not quite as good. But if you're an Obama fanatic, or just someone who's wondering what all the fuss is about, it's really something you should check out.

Click here to listen.

Oprah Winfrey's Speech in Des Moines

Hello Slog readers. Here's my digital audio recording of this afternoon's Oprah-Obama event in Des Moines. You'll hear Michelle Obama first, giving a brief introduction for Oprah. Then you'll hear (very briefly) some reporters jockeying for the best view spot. And then you'll hear Oprah's speech. It's about 20 minutes long.

Click here to listen.

And Now, the Chris Crocker Nude Pictures "Scandal"

Perhaps it was inevitable that Chris Crocker, a young man whose exhibitionist impulses have brought him internet stardom and talk of a TV deal, would have an exhibitionist past that includes the posting of nude pictures online. Crocker certainly seems to suggest inevitability in a MySpace blog entry he just put up, writing: "I had a lot of alone time in the last half of my teen years, [I was home schooled] and when you're young self-discovery..happens."

The self-discovery to which he is referring, and which prompted tonight's mea culpa, could be found on this blog last week. (But it's not there anymore. Crocker has been trying to get people to take the pictures down, saying they're illegal to possess. He called me tonight to say: "Everybody's talking about, 'Oh I saw Chris Crocker naked.' It's nothing to brag about. I'm a minor [in those pictures]. Everyone who's saving it to computers: It's child porn.")

The full Crocker mea culpa, sure to become a document of his generation (or at least of the next 24 hours), follows:

In regards to my "nudes"..

For days now I have been bombarded with messages about the nude photo scandal. The truth is, I was young and stupid when I took those pictures. So young in fact that I was 17 at the time.

I do not condone anyone underage or OF age to post nudes, but in my own personal defense- I had a lot of alone time in the last half of my teen years, [I was home schooled] and when you're young self-discovery..happens.

I did in fact upload the nudes of myself to the internet when I was 17. Again, I do NOT condone anyone to do this. On the contrary- I encourage everyone to NOT upload nudes of themselves.

I obviously did this behind my parents backs and I am truly embarressed for myself and my family at this time, but I just wanted to clear the air and let anyone and everyone know, that has saved these pictures that it is illegal seeing as though I was 17 at the time, so when you brag that you "saw Chris Crocker naked!!!"..what you're really bragging that you saw a 17 year old me naked.

Again, I do not condone or stand by my actions at 17, nor anyone else who is underage exploring themselves in this way.

When he called me, Crocker admitted that at this point he's not going to be able make the nudes disappear. "It's obviously not like I can zap it from the internet," he told me. But, he added: "It's just not something I want out there... I just don't want people to be under the impression that it's me as an adult when it's not." Still, he seemed somewhat resigned to the pictures being viewed online. "If they want to stare at a 17-year-old cock all day, that's their damage."

A TV Show for Chris Crocker?

Variety and DListed are making it sound like Chris Crocker just inked a new deal for a TV show in the wake of his Britney video. That's sort of true, in a limited sense, but they have the chronology wrong and seem to be downplaying the still-nonexistant nature of Crocker's show.

First off, the deal is nothing new. In my Crocker profile back in May, I mentioned the deal:

Over on YouTube, where Chris also posts, the total number of views for his videos long ago passed the one million mark. Among the people far away from Real Bitch Island who are tuning in: Cassie, the R&B star, who has a subscription to the Chris Crocker video stream on her YouTube page; Glenn Meehan, a Los Angeles producer who recently inked a deal with Chris to develop ideas for a TV show; and Matt Sunbulli, MTV's "web correspondent," who has requested a Chris Crocker video for the MTV website.

So there's no new deal since May. Second, there is some distance between having a development deal and actually having a TV show. What Crocker has right now is still only a development deal.

I just spoke to Meehan again, and he confirmed this, saying nothing new had happened. "We've had him under a deal since you were up there with him," Meehan told me. "It's the same one."

But, he added: "There could be news soon."

Welcome, Chris Crocker Fans (and Haters, and Curious Onlookers)

It's been rather amazing to watch the reaction to Chris Crocker's Britney video over the last week—and to watch the hits on this little web site spike as a result of people searching out the profile of Crocker that I wrote back in May.

For me, it's been a lesson in the enduring power of the mainstream media, even in these increasingly web-centric times. Sure, my Crocker profile got some hits in the four months before the Britney video. But that was nothing compared to the traffic the story saw after Crocker's video landed him on CNN, Fox News, Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel, VH1, and so on, which led to tons of people outside the already existing universe of Crocker-watchers suddenly going, "What the...?" and typing his name into their search engines. Which, I'm guessing, is how you got here.

In case you missed it, here's Crocker doing his web-cam interview with Kimmel on ABC, being analyzed on VH1's "Best Week Ever," and getting parodied by Seth Green:







Thanks to all of you who have written over the past few days with nice words, criticism, and other feedback about my profile. A couple of questions keep coming up, and I'll try to answer them here:

1) Where does Chris Crocker live? At Crocker's request, I promised not to reveal the exact location of the home where he makes his videos. He told me he's received death threats in the past, so it seemed a reasonable request. Which means, Crocker-stalkers, that I can only tell you what I wrote in the profile: He lives with his grandparents in a conservative town in the South. Sorry.

2) Is Chris Crocker serious about Britney? Crocker has answered this question himself in the comments attached to his video:

Yes, I was "REALLY" crying, you fucking morons. The one time I'm NOT acting- everyone says I am.

And I can assure you that his love for Britney Spears did not begin last week. Back when I spent a few days with Croker in his town, Britney came up repeatedly. He cited her as one of his heroes and major influences. He was extremely proud of having almost as many MySpace friends as her (now he has about 100,000 more than she does). And when we drove to the next town over to go to a gay bar, well, here's what happened:

On my last night in town, I pick Chris up in his grandparents' driveway and we head to the next town over, which has a gay club, one that people come from all around to attend. We pass a giant car racetrack, and miles of signs advertising chicken strips and the price of gas. I told Chris to bring some CDs, and he's brought Britney Spears (the whole discography). We're listening to In the Zone...

So, do I find it believable that Crocker might be outraged over Britney's treatment after her Video Music Awards performance? Yes. He's like that. As for the tears? I'm sorry, but I can't certify whether they were real or not. Like you, I only have his video and his own words to go on.

More questions? Bring 'em on.

Running on Angry

I have a feature out in this week's Stranger about the surprising popularity of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.



Paul has a large and growing group of supporters here in Washington State, largely because of his antiwar stance. These supporters are trying to get him to come to Hempfest (Paul has been a critic of federal drug laws). They're making calls to Iowa in an effort to boost Paul's chances in this weekend's Iowa Straw Poll (with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain not participating in the poll, some observers have predicted Paul will place second, behind only Mitt Romney). And they're signing on to his local Meetup groups in droves.

One of Paul's local supporters, who's featured in my story, is an employee at the Google office in Kirkland who, like me, flew down to the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, in early July so that he could see Paul's Candidates@Google appearance. This local Paul supporter dropped $400 on plane fare, donated the maximum $2,300 to Paul while in California, and gushed on camera (gushing begins at around 42:00) about how excited Paul has made him about this presidential race.

For me, all of this support for Paul in liberal/libertarian Washington raises a question: Do Paul's local followers really understand his political philosophy, beyond his unique (for a Republican) opposition to the Iraq war?

In my piece, I suggest that Paul's views, and his political philosophy, really don't mesh with those of a lot of his new followers—especially on issues like global warming (he doesn't believe in it), abortion (not a fan), gun control (he thinks guns in the hands of airline passengers would have prevented 9/11), and how to catch Osama bin Laden (he wants to issue retro "letters of marque and reprisal").

I happen to love Paul's "letters of marque and reprisal" idea, just because it's pure Paul and is so 1800s it makes me smile. But here's something that really caused me to do a double-take: Paul's stance on global warming. From my story:

Perhaps the best [example of] how radical Paul's positions can be relative to the more mainstream people who are now starting to support him: Paul is still a global-warming skeptic, calling fears about the problem "overblown" at a time when even Bush has recognized the reality of climate change.

Paul's solution to all environmental problems is essentially to do nothing and hope the market works everything out. Schrage, the Google executive, sounded skeptical of this approach and pointed out that market forces created the global-warming problem in the first place. "Climate change seems like something that wouldn't, indeed hasn't, been an issue that's been well addressed by market forces today," Schrage told Paul. "Seems like the perfect example of a market failure—that the external costs of pollution don't get absorbed by companies—and thus a natural place where some sort of collective action, government intervention, might be appropriate."

Paul disagreed, and suggested that a greater respect for private property in America, and a greater appreciation for how what one person does on his or her private property affects the environment on another person's private property, could somehow reverse environmental problems. When Schrage pointed out the international nature of the climate-change problem—the fact that factories in America can ultimately affect the weather in India—Paul answered: "If there is manmade pollution..."

Which was one rather big if.

He continued: "If there is man-made pollution, it might be in China and I know I'm not willing to tax you or send troops over there to close down plants."

To read the whole piece, click here.

Chris Crocker: The Stranger Profile

In this week's Stranger I write about Chris Crocker, a 19-year-old gay kid who, using little more than a digital video camera and an internet connection, has managed to channel his small-town frustrations into national online fame.



This was one of the most fun and heartbreaking stories I've ever had the chance to write for The Stranger, and I have a number of "Crocker out-takes" to post on Slog over the next few days—things I couldn't fit in the story, but that shouldn't be kept from the world. Look for them starting tomorrow.

I Loved L.A.

I'd never been to Los Angeles until last week, and when I first found out I would be going down there I didn't expect to like it much.

Growing up in Seattle, almost everything I'd heard about L.A. was negative—especially during the 90s, when this city was gripped by nativist resentment and something close to cultural hysteria about all the L.A. people who were moving up here.

The complaint, at the time, was that L.A. people didn't drive like Seattleites, didn't talk like Seattleites, didn't expect housing to be as cheap as Seattleites, and didn't have the crunchy-earthy-earnest Seattle ethos. Back then, people in Seattle talked about L.A. transplants the way some locals now talk about the condo boom—a sign that Seattle is being transformed, and not for the better, into a place the old-timers and professional gripers don't recognize.

Anyway, I landed in L.A. on Wednesday, ready to hate it, ready to look down, like a good Seattleite, on it's car culture, its fakery, and its self-satisfied sprawl.

It was hot, the light was squint-making, and all that I'd been warned about was there: the cars crawling along the 405, the people always talking like pitchmen, the endless streets, the unapologetic strip malls, the skyline-obscuring haze.

Who knows exactly why one falls in love with a city, but I have a theory about why I proceeded to fall in love with L.A. last week, against all advice and all the long odds of a Seattle native feeling such affection for such a place.

My theory is that L.A. was a huge relief. Maybe I'm more vulnerable to this than most people, because of the nature of my job, but when I landed in L.A. I was completely full up on the hectoring tone of Seattle's gripers, finger-waggers, and utopia-demanders. It's unbelievably grating to live in a city where the dominant civic discourse is one of lament about the absence of the perfect (twined with perpetual disagreement about how to get to the perfect, and achingly slow steps toward that end).

L.A., by contrast, is completely fucked up, completely beyond environmental repair, completely imperfect, and completely designed to give tight-assed Seattle people an aneurysm. Granted, I was only there for three days, but it seemed to me that people in L.A. have a sort of wry satisfaction with their state of affairs. I loved that. I drove 20 minutes to get everywhere. I ate in a strip mall. I had superficial conversations. I drove some more. I stopped worrying about sprawl and sprawled out at the beach. (That's not me below, by the way.)



To ask the hot Seattle question of the moment: Is it sustainable? Would it last, my thrill at life in a city that does everything my home city tells me not to?

I don't know. Probably not.

But man, it was nice for a while. On my last day I went up to the Getty, wandered its other-worldly gardens...



...and looked down on the huge, flat metropolis. The sun was warm, as always. The air was striving for opaque, as always. I couldn't quite see downtown Los Angeles to the east and, looking west, I couldn't quite see where the ocean ended and the land began. It was all blurry, messy, resistant to resolution. Everyone I saw seemed happy with this. I didn't want to leave.

(Photos by Corianton Hale, who was also in L.A. recently.)

Re: My Pigeon

Slog commenters had a lot to say about the plight of my pigeon.

Joe suggested it could be a reincarnated spirit, and pointed me to this lovely New Yorker piece about a pigeon that, for a time, came daily into a Burmese restaurant on the Upper West Side, walked down some stairs to its favorite landing, and took a nap. The Buddhist waiters at the restaurant believed the pigeon might have been the place's former owner.

Tenspeed suggested I enlist the help of a Pelican:



Keshmeshi warned that sometimes well-fed pigeons attract much bigger pigeons.

And Lloyd Clydesdale told me to call PAWS already.

Which I did.

The PAWS people discouraged me from leaving a nonflying pigeon on the streets to fend for itself, which had been one of my plans. They basically suggested that if I abandoned my pigeon (a bird I never asked for, by the way) I would probably become complicit in this poor creature subsequently getting mauled by a dog, hit by a car, scratched by a cat, or tormented by "mean humans." They got to me with those images. Once I could envision the chain of events I might set in motion by releasing an injured rat-with-wings into the wild city, I couldn't live with the thought.

So I agreed to take the bird down to the Seattle Animal Shelter, where the PAWS people swoop through each day and pick up certain animals that they then rehabilitate up at their Lynwood facility (my pigeon, I was told, would be one of the PAWS picks).

The PAWS media representative wrote me:

Thanks for showing compassion toward urban wildlife.

And so I headed home to box up the pigeon and take it down to the animal shelter. But when I arrived the deck was empty again. The pigeon had disappeared, leaving nothing behind but uneaten bread and bird droppings.



Was it just toying with me earlier this morning when it showed me it was unable to fly away? Did it simply require a little more rest? At this point, I like Joe's reincarnated spirit theory best.