30.7.08

Seattle Critical Mass Incident

A quick mention of an incident last Friday up in Seattle that is beginning to hit the national wires.

Seattle, Wash. - A group of Seattle Critical Mass riders were involved in the assault of a driver that put the man in the hospital and caused $1,500 in damage to the vehicle.

The incident on Capitol Hill has led to a reopening of the car versus bicycle debate, with some - including one of the nation's largest bicycling clubs - calling for the contentious Seattle Critical Mass program to be disbanded.

Two of the riders have been charged in the attack, and police are searching for a third man who is alleged to have struck the victim in the head with a bike lock.

While it will take some time for the issue to fully develop and play out, online forums and blogs are already deeply embroiled in the debate.

Some supporters of the Critical Mass dispute the police version of the events, saying that the driver initiated the attack. Their opponents contend that this is evidence that Critical Mass is mere hooliganism.

Link to more media coverage

19.7.08

Flesh and Blood Defense

Washington Monthly recently published a fascinating article written by Kevin Carey, the research and policy manager of Education Sector, an independent think tank in Washington, DC.

"Too Weird for The Wire," the article is titled, "How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds."

Upon finding it I quickly found myself engrossed in the extensive article, but when I tried to tell people about the article, it was difficult to relay my fascination. Detailing the history of a legal defense, it reads less like a documentary and more like a mystery novel.

"I am not a defendant,” Mitchell declared. “I do not have attorneys.” The court “lacks territorial jurisdiction over me,” he argued, to the amazement of his lawyers. To support these contentions, he cited decades-old acts of Congress involving the abandonment of the gold standard and the creation of the Federal Reserve. Judge Davis, a Baltimore-born African American in his late fifties, tried to interrupt. “I object,” Mitchell repeated robotically. Shelly Martin and Shelton Harris followed Mitchell to the microphone, giving the same speech verbatim. Their attorneys tried to intervene, but when Harris’s lawyer leaned over to speak to him, Harris shoved him away.

Judge Davis ordered the three defendants to be removed from the court, and turned to Gardner, who had, until then, remained quiet. But Gardner, too, intoned the same strange speech. “I am Shawn Earl Gardner, live man, flesh and blood,” he proclaimed. Every time the judge referred to him as “the defendant” or “Mr. Gardner,” Gardner automatically interrupted: “My name is Shawn Earl Gardner, sir.” Davis tried to explain to Gardner that his behavior was putting his chances of acquittal or leniency at risk. “Don’t throw your life away,” Davis pleaded. But Gardner wouldn’t stop. Judge Davis concluded the hearing, determined to find out what was going on.


Link via The Washington Monthly

9.7.08

Jesse Helms Epitaph

While my 28.8k dial-up AOL childhood scars usually make me shun America Online like the Black Death, this AOL News feature obituary made my heart sing a little.

The controversial Senator Jesse Helms died this Fourth of July, and blogger Ken Layne wrote an amazing obit piece. I have practiced writing them in college, but the examples never read like this:

Jesse Helms died today, 25 years too late, but the stench of his rotten career will always linger in the Senate, and over the South.

He was a hero to bigots and the cigarette corporations, a menace to the poor and downtrodden, and a mean little troll whose heart was so wrecked by wickedness that doctors had to patch it up with coronary valves from a pig.

It was a far better summary of the man's life than I heard on NPR, which featured an infuriating apologist in lieu of worthy journalism.

8.7.08

Oregon Electric Station



I was recently published as a freelance photographer, again for the Oregon Daily Emerald, the campus newspaper for the University of Oregon. This time I was shooting a local posh restaurant and bar, the Oregon Electric Station, in downtown Eugene.

It was a good assignment, though I did find myself hurting for a good flash that was nowhere to be found. Oh well.

My only real complaint was that one of the photos was published incorrectly, because it was highly pixelated (probably a mistake in the re-sizing of the photo).

2.7.08

Eugene City Brewery

It's been about a week or so since I've posted, mainly because I've been busy either working or watching the West Wing, but I did have time to get hired on as a freelancer at the Oregon Daily Emerald, the college newspaper of the University of Oregon.

The Olympic Trials are going on here in town right now, and I wrote an article published 30 JUN 08 that was about a local brewery owned by Rogue Ales that is going all out to support the Trials.

This is the original form of the article, as the published version had some editing:

Many of the bars and restaurants around Eugene have become Track Town-flavored during the two weeks of the Olympic Trials here at Hayward Field. Posters of track and field stars and televisions tuned to sports channels seem commonplace.

But the downtown Rogue Ales Eugene City Brewery is pulling out all the stops in its support of the event. Apart from a $10,000 donation to the Olympic Trials, the brewery kicked off the Trials with a Eugene celebration at all of the Rogue pubs.

“Track Town is about a town, not just Hayward Field,” said Jack Joyce, a founder of the Rogue River Brewing Co. He said he has supported track since he was a student at the University of Oregon in 1960, and the Track Town events at the brewery a way of showing that support.

In an effort to become Track Town Central for locals as well as the many visitors here for the trials, the pub house has opened up its doors round the clock and offered a breakfast menu including duck eggs.

The Eugene City Brewery has also started a shuttle service to Hayward Field, as well as pizza and beer delivery service and has put all of their award-winning Track Town Ales on draft.

People seem to appreciate the service. Though the first days were slower than expected, by early evening Saturday the building is filled with patrons parched by the hot day. Servers push past with trays laden with food and drink, while customers at tables talk and laugh together.

In one area of the brew house, an Adidas representative has set up a Wii console and a man and woman excitedly play the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games videogame.

At a table outside, a group of people visiting for the Trials sit and enjoy the evening. Tom and Faith Miller, of Pittsburg, Penn., are the parents of Fawn “Deloma” Miller, a high-school sophomore pole-vaulter competing in the Olympic Trials. They are accompanied by her high-school coach Grey Slatcoff, and her NCAA coach Mark Hannay.

This is the second time they have come to the Eugene City Brewery, after finding out about the place from a pamphlet at their hotel, and all seem to be enjoying themselves.

“We’re doing just fine,” Faith Miller said. They are all fans of Northwest microbrews. The four had ordered tasters of some of the 34 varieties of beer on draft, and they were picking out favorites. Hannay called the large number of choices “kind of overwhelming.”

The Raspberry Mead was Faith’s favorite, while her husband liked the Hazelnut Brown Nectar. The Track Town Triple Jump pale ale was also well liked.

“There has not been one beer that I haven’t enjoyed,” Tom Miller said.

There was one beer that was a point of contention. The Oregon Golden wheat ale seemed to strike the wrong chord with Slatcoff.

“You can quote me on this,” Slatcoff said with a grin, “this is the worst beer I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

To each their own.