If you’ve never worked at a small business that shuts down because it cannot sustain itself, I can tell you this: It catches you like a bad breakup to a good relationship and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. At a homegrown newspaper, there is this feeling: Our work is not yet done. There are stories still to be told.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Gas drilling in Colorado is turning tap water flammable, according to one county report...and the worst fears of citizens and environmentalists. Or maybe it isn't, if you take the word of energy companies and a state regulatory boss. Way back in 2005, we looked into the impacts of oil and gas drilling on Colorado landowners and found environmental and emotional damage to families and their land.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Anyone looking for something to do this Fourth of July and within striking distance of the tiny town of Cuba, New Mexico, should go check out the Rainbow Family at its annual gathering on national forest lands. In 2005, I reported on the Rainbow gathering outside Steamboat Springs for the Colorado Springs Independent, definitely one of the more entertaining assignments I've had.
The Moth Podcast
Weekly installments of first-person stories, told without notes, which frequently bring laughs and/or tears in under 15 minutes
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Baseball:
Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? by Jimmy Breslin
Breslin's book on the '62 Mets, baseball's worst team ever, is clever and cutting, and it sets up the historical backdrop for forlorn Mets fans
The Natural by Bernard Malamud
The scene between Roy and Iris swimming in the lake stands out. A deeper, darker story than Redford's film
Baseball History Podcast
Host Bob Wright is a baseball nerd's nerd, and I've already learned the origin of stadium tailgates, batting gloves and baseball fantasy camps
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TED
"Riveting talks by remarkable people," which are sometimes wonky, but usually enlightening
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Greek food and Ouzo
With much inspiration coming from Susanna Hoffman's The Olive and the Caper, a 2004 narrative cookbook that encourages healthy consumption of fennel, feta and olive oil
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All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
A great nonfiction book integrating Bragg's upbringing in rural Alabama with his experiences and lessons from journalism
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"Bored to Death"
The latest, greatest series from HBO...but it might be a little too close to home
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Mike Birbiglia: "What I Should Have Said Was Nothing"
Self-deprecating humor at its finest, with plenty of sports, family, drugs and wildlife jokes along the way
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Horseshoes
Ready to get my ringer on this summer
© 2009 Joshua Zaffos. Premium Wordpress Themes.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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