Rodent Derrieres

The latest for The Brooklyn Paper:

Ridgites show they give a 'rat's a--' about gay marriage*

*Warning: Some instances of PG-rated language.

This is a little different from the way I handled this issue for The Daily Universe, wouldn't you say? But I think this shows one of my strengths. Even though my editorials in The Daily Universe were closer to my personal opinion (they are editorials, after all), I can still see where both sides are coming from. In Utah I had one audience, in Brooklyn I have another audience. I can switch between the two and understand both points of view, and write accordingly and still be fair.

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Also, this week's police reports from the 78th Precinct:

Strongman muscles Gorilla!

It's not every day you have an email conversation with a white supremacist.

This is by far the most intense story I've done in terms of its subject. I mean, I guess BYU sports vs. Utah sports can be a touchy subject. But I think it pales in comparison to racism.

I was assigned to gather quotes from some Greenpoint residents about a flier being distributed around their neighborhood. This wasn't a flier for the upcoming block party or PTA potluck. It was to recruit members for The Creativity Movement, a group inviting white people to "awake!" and advance their race. As you would expect, everybody I talked to in the neighborhood was shocked and disgusted.

Instead of just giving the quotes to one of the regular reporters, I ended up being assigned the story. I combined what the regular reporter did with what I got from the neighborhood, and came up with a story on Friday.

When it was being edited over the weekend, my editor gave me a few more things to add, including at least an effort to reach out to this group for a comment. So, I found an email address (I hope nobody looks too much into my recent Googling history) and sent one along, without really expecting a response.

But I got one. And not just a quick one either - a long paragraph to answer each of my questions. So I gave some excerpts from it to my editor and he put together an updated version of the story yesterday with a few more updates today.

Racist white supremacist speaks! And he speaks to us! (Updated article)

White time, wrong place as bigot leaves racist fliers on Greenpoint cars (Original article)

*Warning - The paper found out about the fliers from a Greenpoint blog that has a PG-13-rated name, just so you know.

**Another warning - The home page to The Brooklyn Paper right now has a story about the recent Rep. Anthony Weiner scandal, with a photo that you might not want someone else to notice on your screen unless you want to answer some questions. (You can avoid the front page if you just click on the links above that go straight to my two articles.)

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I also did the Police Blotter again yesterday, this time for the 78th Precinct.

Thief was in a real Crunch!