On running second
As you can tell from the homemade tile with which I’ve replaced my Dieterian “Gates” photo, this humble blog has pulled off a very curious kind of victory in the 2005 Koufax Awards: I placed second to Firedoglake’s (that is, Jane Hamsher’s and Christy Hardin Smith’s) coverage of the Plame scandal for “Best Series.”
OK, I know I throw “this humble blog” around just to fill out a line of dactylic hexameter here and there (like “Hektor of the shining helm” or “resourceful Odysseus” or “Trojans, breakers of horses"), but this time I really am stunned. The competition in “Best Series” was serious competition devoted to serious stuff: along with Firedoglake on a breach of national security for petty (really petty) partisan gain, there was Josh Marshall’s successful campaign against Social Security privatization, My Left Wing’s Iraq War Grief Daily Witness, Scott Lemieux’s brilliant Supreme Court coverage, eRiposte on the Niger forgeries, Katherine and Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings on the quite-literally-fascist Bingaman/ Graham Amendment, Holden’s obsession with Scotty and the Gannons Gaggle, The Fat Lady’s hair-raisin’ tale of Subic Bay, the Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with George Bush, and of course PZ’s infamous NSFW series on invertebrate sex. Myers, he got all kinds. He got your lobster, he got your octopus, he got your spider Kama Sutra, he got your tentacles, he got your tentacles sequel, he even got your worm porn with real moving worms. There’s just no way I can compete with material like that, you know. Not with a bunch of stories about my younger son and his adventures in living.
In mid-March I had a lengthy email exchange about this with a friend. He likes my writing on Jamie (actually, he considers it my best writing on any subject), but he wondered if my appearance in the Koufax Finals under the “Best Series” heading wasn’t a little bit strange. Set next to many of the other series, which are devoted to explicitly political subjects near and dear to the hearts of liberals everywhere, my series looked something like this: Tonight, we continue our coverage of the United States’ precipitous slide into theoconservative plutocracy! And in other news, a kid with Down syndrome in central Pennsylvania loses his retainers when his addled father tosses them into the trash at a local pizza place! I wrote back to say yeah, I thought of my presence in the K-Finals for best series, best post, most humorous post, and most humorous blog as pleasant little asides, and that I was rooting for the Jamie stuff in the first two (while rooting for other people in the other two) despite my sense that I was the George Mason of the bunch. Best Writing, however, that’s another matter. I care about that one simply because writing is what I do: even when I screw up and drop seven paragraphs from a recycled post (cough, cough, hack), I devote most of my failing energies to the actual writing and polishing of these posts, and I tend to think of myself (that is, in terms of my being-in-the-world) as a writer. Of course, where the Koufaxes are concerned this is all vanity, vanity, because going up against the formidable Digby for Best Writing is like taking the ice against the Montreal Canadiens of the late 1950s or late 1970s: it’s a minor triumph just to stay on the same playing surface.
In other words, I hoped to stay close in Best Writing, and never dreamed of coming close in Best Series. And I certainly wasn’t ready for Dwight’s extraordinarily kind words about my Jamie posts, which left me wandering around late yesterday afternoon in a kind of praise-stupor. Yes, I’ve been exceptionally distracted lately, but suddenly I became extra special bonus exceptionally distracted. But at least I remembered to tell Jamie that thousands of people like to read about him on their computers. He took the news in stride, with great aplomb. He knows there’s a book about him, he knows I write and speak about him—he just assumes he’s famous around the world.
A hearty congratulations to Digby (and also to Tristero, the Steve Shutt to Digby’s Guy Lafleur) and to the hard-workin’ and sharp-writin’ Susie Madrak for a fine showing as runnerup. (Hey, I voted for her last year as “Most Deserving of Wider Recognition,” and behold! she won that one and then got wider recognition!) And kudos to Firedoglake of the shining helm, whose series on the Plame affair is most worthy of the Koufax. This humble and genuinely surprised blog salutes all Koufax winners, finalists, and nominees, especially fabulous and unclassifiable comrade Chris Clarke, who may or may not be a feminist, but is very definitely a great soul and a mensch all at once.
Finally, thank you, Dwight, and everyone at Wampum. That post means more to me than an award in any category. And best wishes to everyone in your families from everyone in mine.
How many times did you vote for yourself?
Posted by on 04/04 at 01:25 PMThe 2005 awards data, and especially the kindest of humble praise for your writing, and that of your frequently visiting commenter Meister Clarke, makes one feel not at all humble, regarding one’s reading choices, when so many people reward these choices with serious acknowledgement. Your work is more than qualified for the accolades. Congratulations.
hey, this is the third time i have had the same captcha word: “simple” oh dear me
Posted by on 04/04 at 01:27 PMHow many times did you vote for yourself?
I used the Illinois system for the semifinals and the Ohio system for the finals.
Posted by on 04/04 at 01:29 PMSo you’re the one who voted in the comments AND in the regular submissions, right? You also went to Kinkos in Durham, I bet.
Posted by on 04/04 at 01:32 PMUm, no. I voted in a handful of categories for the semis (some in which I was nominated, some in which I wasn’t), and I sent MB an email for the finals. Sorry to hear that you actually sound serious. But please feel free to check with the local Kinko’s in Durham, wherever it may be.
Posted by Michael on 04/04 at 01:50 PMMichael - Thanks so much for the mention. I’ve enjoyed the entire Koufax process - most especially the opportunity to discover writers (such as yourself) that I may not have bumped into before. Congrats on being runner-up. Everyone’s work was so different; picking a winner was like comparing apples to oranges. I have to say I found yours to be special, however. Anyway - thanks once again for including me in your article.
Posted by The Fat Lady Sings on 04/04 at 01:53 PMCongrats on your well-deserved finish for an excellent series of interesting Jamie posts. My series actually peaked in 2004; I’m looking forward to the “creative Tom DeLay insult” series to get some play in the 2009 awards, assuming we haven’t all evolved into globs of pure energy by then.
Posted by norbizness on 04/04 at 02:13 PMNicely done Michael. Congratulations on the excellent showing. Welcome back. You missed nothing of the Rangers during the month of March. Nothing at all. Don’t even look. All you need to know is that they are in first place in the East.
Posted by on 04/04 at 02:32 PMThe Rangers are in first place? I didn’t even know that. And I didn’t know about tonight’s game at 7 against the Flyers, or about Jagr breaking Ratelle’s scoring record and bidding to become the first Ranger to lead the league in scoring since Martin “Pip” Gershowitz in 1927-28. Of all this I am completely ignorant, thank goodness. But I did see the Canes beat the Lightning 2-1 in Raleigh, and they look like a formidable defensive team. No odd-man rushes for the Bolts all night, and the one goal (a redirection by Martin St. Louis, who must have logged 35 minutes of ice time) came on a five-on-three. Ah, I feel a hockey post coming on.
TFLS, thanks for your remarkable narratives—about Subic Bay, scary stalkers, and so much else. And Norbiz, I think it was Bush who peaked in 2004. Notice that he didn’t even make the Koufax semis this year.
Posted by Michael on 04/04 at 02:51 PMI looked at many of the nominees and fell into a fit of indecision, so I refrained from voting at all. I devoutly (hah! Irony!) hope many Republicans do the same this fall.
The Jamie posts are wonderful because they’re from the heart. Many of the political ones are written from a sense of outrage or dismay, which has its place, and I’ve written many of those myself, but they often just cause me to nod in agreement. The Jamie posts do more; they cause me to imagine.
Re dactylic hexameter: Where’s “rosy-fingered dawn?”
Posted by Linkmeister on 04/04 at 03:16 PMCongratulations Michael! Your Jamie posts are magnificent and your second place in an outstanding group of series is well-deserved. It was a hard choice because the other series were so serious and political, but in the end I voted with my heart and (dare I say it?) for the pure aesthetic pleasure I get from your writing.
Confession—I’m glad you are away from that bike if you are still “extra special bonus exceptionally distracted.”
Bravo, bravo, bravissimo!! and a special “Ciao” to Jamie (who *is* famous all over the Internets).
Posted by on 04/04 at 03:26 PMWhere’s “rosy-fingered dawn?”
In that little room behind the curtain at Ancient Greek Videos.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 04/04 at 03:31 PMAnd Michael, you are too kind by half. It’s a good thing that - due to the cube-square law - my ego is already as big as it can possibly get.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 04/04 at 03:32 PMAnd I certainly wasn’t ready for Dwight’s extraordinarily kind words about my Jamie posts, which left me wandering around late yesterday afternoon in a kind of praise-stupor.
That’s understandalbe; it was quite a tribute—well deserved for both of you. Congratulations and thanks for all the great writing.
Posted by on 04/04 at 03:37 PMNever mind the cube-square law, Chris. It’s irrelevant here. If you’ve lost 25 pounds this year, then your ego can get ten percent bigger thanks to the Law of Conservation of Ego Mass. I, however, have somehow managed to gain weight this year, and have had to cut back on the self-aggrandizement accordingly.
As for the dawn of the rosy fingers: what, are some of you reading my first drafts now? I substituted “Trojans, breakers of horses” at the last second.
Linkmeister, Fiorentina, Ed, thanks so much.
Posted by Michael on 04/04 at 03:38 PMI care about that one simply because writing is what I do: even when I screw up and drop seven paragraphs from a recycled post (cough, cough, hack), I devote most of my failing energies to the actual writing and polishing of these posts, and I tend to think of myself (that is, in terms of my being-in-the-world) as a writer.
Michael, I’m pretty sure all those of us who return with any frequency to your “web” “log” recognize what a talented writer you are. The evidence for that keeps accumulating on a nearly daily basis, and as one who must habitually feed the need to read good writing, I thank you for contributing to my minimum daily requirement over the years. I truly appreciate the time and effort you expend in keeping this site rolling along.
(Even yesterday’s ellipsis of a few paragraphs in the science project post, which might have struck you as a case of failed narrative, was no impediment at all to its enjoyment at the time, since the crucial question, “How did the ball bearing get in the kitchen drain, again?” was in fact answerable with trivial ease by any reader familiar with some analagous question supplied from personal experience such as, “How did the goddam toothpick bridge get glued to the kitchen table?” or the like. Science is the answer, of course, as it so often is in our age)
Posted by on 04/04 at 03:40 PMOnly 20 pounds lost this year so far, Michael. Check back with me after my next desert trip.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 04/04 at 03:50 PMThanks, Peter. All I was trying to say—or to write—is that because I don’t do any original reporting on this site, I’m not much use on the news front, and because (as Linkmeister rightly points out) my political posts are not terribly different from other people’s sense of dismay and outrage, I’m not very distinctive on that front either. (That’s why I was so puzzled that someone wanted me to comment on the Duke lacrosse scandal: I have no special insight into that one, just horror and outrage, together with an abiding sense that Rush Limbaugh is something other than human, such that he cannot be “humanized” even by being made to experience something similar to what that NC Central student went through that night.) But when I saw the “writing” category last year, I said, “hey, I are that!” and vested my hopes accordingly.
Posted by Michael on 04/04 at 03:56 PMNot to join the unkempt cohort that keeps (singular! singular!) “suggesting” what Michael should write about and/or copyedit, but since the wonderful Jamie posts came so close to winning Best Series, perhaps some kind Borgesian blog administrator would collect them all under the “Jamie” heading in the “Category Archives.”
Definitely, congratulations, Michael. And Chris Clarke. Both y’all are terrific writers and echte mensches ... menschen ... menschi ... ah, the hell with it. Real good people.
Posted by on 04/04 at 04:24 PMThe Jamie posts are beautiful and can’t be too widely recognized. They enlarge our politics as only love can.
The great thing about the Koufaxes, unlike the Oscars, is that all the nominees get to make speeches, and that’s the best part.
Posted by John (unkempt cohort member, retired) on 04/04 at 04:58 PMAmanda, you spotted the missing quotation mark in yesterday’s Tricia Rose hyperlink, and now you’ve reminded me that I actually do have “category archives” on this blog even though I almost never use them. Thank you, and thank you. I’ve now re-filed all the Jamie posts under Jamie, and will get around to the Horowitz, Blogging, Personal, etc. categories sooner or later, probably later. But in the meantime, are there any other technical tasks I should get to? I have come to rely on you, you see.
John, thanks, but I have to say that it was really disconcerting when the orchestra began to drown me out even though I was only halfway through writing this post.
Posted by on 04/04 at 05:18 PMYeah, Michael, that was a drag, but their arrangement of “Bastards of Young” was pretty kickin’.
What I don’t get is how Amanda knows enough to call me unkempt. Now that’s spooky!
Posted by John (unkempt cohort member, retired) on 04/04 at 05:29 PMMichael,
how has your faith helped you in your job?
Posted by on 04/04 at 05:50 PMI agree with you, Michael. I would have sent Norbizness in his best Texas drag to refuse my runner-up award in exchange for such nice accolades from Dwight. Unfortunately for me, you deserve them and I do not.
Hmmm. Kinkos? Why didn’t I think of that?
Posted by Roxanne on 04/04 at 06:32 PMWOW-almost a Koufax! That’s great (I admit I voted for the Jamie series-which often leaves me close to tears, or if not, utterly convinced I have to go out and lobby for the inclusion of the so called disabled).
But really, almost a Koufax-does this make you the Don Drysdale winner? Remember-your team will be one game out of the NL lead coming into the last weekend. Sandy will pitch and win the Saturday game, and you will win Sunday (with less art, but more power and brushback). Then the first day of the World Series will turn out to be Yom Kippur, and you’ll have to step up again on two days rest! And you’ll win another game.
Was it Grover Cleveland Alexander who promised his Mum he would never pitch on a Sunday, and didn’t over a 25 year career?
More Jamie is always welcome, indeed.Posted by on 04/04 at 08:29 PMWait a minute. I wasn’t specifying your political posts in my previous comment. I was attempting to describe your competitors in that bracket.
Posted by Linkmeister on 04/04 at 08:30 PMOK, that’s cool, Linkmeister. But all the same, that’s how I think of my political posts—as being more or less standard left-of-the-dial fare. It wasn’t like I was doing anything singular or important about Katrina or FISA, for example.
how has your faith helped you in your job?
That’s a great question, mathpants, because I just learned today via Technorati that I have a “hatred of hatred of organized religion” that “permeates my teaching literature.”
Posted by Michael on 04/04 at 08:37 PMThank you, Michael, for making the daunting task of compiling the best series post a joy as I sought out ones on Jamie. I do agree on some level that a Jamie category would be nice, but then that would take away the fun of the hunt again next year.
Posted by MB on 04/04 at 09:18 PMInteresting link you just sent us to. Or not. I had no idea you hated the hatred so much. They fail to mention how you also love the love.
I do notice he was very careful to say “according to the book” on every item. As opposed to “according to reality”, points for which would be so much less noteworthy.
Anyway, congrats on the well-deserved awards (or near misses). The Jamie posts are always heartwarming and thought provoking.
Posted by on 04/04 at 09:25 PMMichael,
well played.
What is “teaching literature?” Or did he mean to superslam against your “teaching of literature,” but couldn’t spare the extra letters after his previous orgiastic overuse?There are those who might argue that such poking of nasty of nasty of nasty fun at the miswordery of wingnuttery will not in fact, by itself, bring about a society of dignity for all humans. Wolverines, I say.
(for serious: before linking, I thought your reviewer meant what he wrote, and that you might have one of those nuanced positions on the whole religion debate. I hate those.)
Posted by on 04/04 at 09:48 PMAw, that was a hell of a tribute to Jamie, Michael, and the life lessons they bring us. That Dwight, he maketh me to cry.
Posted by Orange on 04/04 at 11:27 PMMichael -
I don’t have anything new or original to add to what’s already been written, so I’ll simply offer my most heartfelt congratulations.Now, on to the next order of business: The Cobbies.
It appears “We” (The Berube Blog Community) are the favorite in the Worst Community category, so it’s not too early to start working out a nifty acceptance speech.Not to be overly democratic, but since this will be a collective win, I recommend you open up a thread for Your Beloved Community to say what they’d like to have in our Cobb acceptance “speech”. This would serve two purposes:
1. It would be a much needed easy post for you to put out since you are very busy at other tasks at the moment.
2. It would give all the wonderfully talented wits and writers in Your Community the opportunity to show off their stuff. (Or, in my case, being neither a “wit” nor a “writer”, a venue for general venting of all kinds of random hostilities and such).
We’re Number One! We’re Number One!
Posted by on 04/05 at 04:32 AMI do notice he was very careful to say “according to the book” on every item. As opposed to “according to reality”, points for which would be so much less noteworthy.
I hereby initiate a new acronym. We all know that ROTFL is hyperbolic. But we do need GLAD:
Giggling Loudly At Desk.
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