2000
Presidential Recount - Home for the Holidays (... or "How
the Florida Recount Became a Family Happening"). A very humorous
insider's look at the 2000 Florida Recount. By amusing coincidence,
Ron's own mother was one of the three people who served on the
Broward Canvassing Board -- so he just about the only reporter
with nearly unfettered access to everything. And, FYI, the CloseUp
Foundation subsequently excerpted parts of this essay in their
recently published high
school textbook of first-person accounts of American history.
(This article was also excerpted in the book Ordinary
Americans: U.S. History Through the Eyes of Everyday People,
published by the Close Up Foundation in 2003, with an intro by
acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns).
Playing
Soldier for a Week(2001) - "The
Department of Defense calls it the 'Joint Civilian Orientation
Conference' (JCOC) -- but I think of it as more of a military
fantasy camp for civilians. Envision some aging accountant shelling
out big bucks to spend a week shagging fly balls from has-been
baseball stars. Now substitute soldiers for the ball players,
weapons for the baseballs -- throw in some cool explosions and
lots of travel -- and you'll get the idea. For a little over week
in April, I and 54 other rather lucky civilians participated in
JCOC-64 ..." Written in April 2001, but it remains both informative
and funny in our post 9/11 world.
German
Sex & Politics (2002) - Back from a recent visit to
Europe, Ron gives his very offbeat observations on Germany's national
elections, German sex lives, a drag oompah band, half-naked lesbians,
and more. Did we mention half-naked lesbians (warning: adult humor
... and half-naked lesbians!!).
Storming
La Fiesta (2003)- "There were seven Democratic
Presidential candidates, three thousand delegates, one thousand
additional guests, one thousand Dean supporters bused in to pack
the hall, and dozens of journalists at the Florida Democratic
Party (FDP) State Democratic Convention. The only problem: there
wasn't anything newsworthy going on. That's right. Nada. Nothing.
Zippo. Zilch. It looked important, but it was all for show ..."
Thus begins Ron's savagely funny and alcohol-soaked account of
the convo weekend, much of it spent tagging along with a liberal
Kucinich activist named Storm. The Kucinich state chair actually
wrote a letter complaining that Ron ... well, ummm ... accurately
reported what he saw.
2003
NHL All-Star Game - Something different. Ron -- who is
also a big hockey fan -- takes a stab at being a photojournalist
at the 2003 NHL All Star Game. No essays, just some decent pix.
Also some good pix of the music acts: The B-52s, Sheryl Crow,
and the Goo Goo Dolls.
For
those who would like to track Politics1 with a newsreader, we
publish a RSS feed:
