Monday, December 27, 2004
Casino Christmas
Your courageous correspondent was down to his last two chips. The rookie dealer, still sporting a temp tag, came through, fumbling two aces my way. I grit my teeth and doubled down, all my money sitting on the table. Twenty-ones on both hands. It was the beginning of a heroic comeback, in which I went on to win back the $80 I had lost. Then I proceeded to lose $120.
But that's the kind of dedication I have to my readers: anything for the story. As a good Jew, I worked Christmas day so that my Christian brethren could celebrate Jesus' birthday (not that I had much of a choice). And what better way to spend Christmas night, I thought, than on a riverboat casino?
Much to my surprise, the casino was packed. Shitty Christmas pop filled the neon-coated air, though there seemed to be very few Christians in the house. Every Asian in town must have been there, as there aren't many in the area (the cops still refer to "Orietnals" on the scanner) as well as every Indian person as well. Jews go to the movies on Christmas and I guess other non-Christians hit the tables.
At one point in the night I sitting at the table with an Asian guy, a black dude singing along to the Marvin Gaye song and a young Indian couple throwing their money away on every hand (they were splitting threes when the dealer was showing a ten for Christ's sake). Also, I confirmed the answer to a question posed on an episode of Chapelle's Show. Dave Chapelle asked, Why do black people smoke menthols and the correct answer was, I don't know. Always the muckraker, I had to find out for myself, so I bummed a menthol off the Marvin Gaye-singing brother next to me and choked the whole thing down. "I don't know" is definitely the right answer.
All in all, a $120 well spent and a very merry Christmas filled with free drinks and plenty of cheer.
But that's the kind of dedication I have to my readers: anything for the story. As a good Jew, I worked Christmas day so that my Christian brethren could celebrate Jesus' birthday (not that I had much of a choice). And what better way to spend Christmas night, I thought, than on a riverboat casino?
Much to my surprise, the casino was packed. Shitty Christmas pop filled the neon-coated air, though there seemed to be very few Christians in the house. Every Asian in town must have been there, as there aren't many in the area (the cops still refer to "Orietnals" on the scanner) as well as every Indian person as well. Jews go to the movies on Christmas and I guess other non-Christians hit the tables.
At one point in the night I sitting at the table with an Asian guy, a black dude singing along to the Marvin Gaye song and a young Indian couple throwing their money away on every hand (they were splitting threes when the dealer was showing a ten for Christ's sake). Also, I confirmed the answer to a question posed on an episode of Chapelle's Show. Dave Chapelle asked, Why do black people smoke menthols and the correct answer was, I don't know. Always the muckraker, I had to find out for myself, so I bummed a menthol off the Marvin Gaye-singing brother next to me and choked the whole thing down. "I don't know" is definitely the right answer.
All in all, a $120 well spent and a very merry Christmas filled with free drinks and plenty of cheer.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
My job
It's often hard to describe the appeal of my job to people. I deal both with people at their lowest and the lowest sort of people and I enjoy my job. The article I wrote a couple days ago really reflects this dichotomy.
Recently, the police made an arrest in a case that was unusual even for Baton Rouge. Here's the police account of what happened: Three weeks before Halloween a man was robbed at gun point. At about 1 a.m. on Halloween the man pulled up to an intersection, looked over to the car next to him and realized it was the guy who had robbed him. The other guy recognized him too, and he pulled out a gun and started blasting away.
The man he was shooting at drove away and a chase ensued with both men shooting tearing down residential streets and shooting at each other. Finally, the man being chased ran a stop sign and plowed into a Mazda, killing both himself and a woman in the Mazda.
The guy who died was about to get married and had three kids. The woman who died was a single mother of two with a steady job and her mom's only child.
Talking to their families was heartbreaking and that kind of interview always feels a little intrusive. The weirdest part was at the end of one of the interviews the mother of one of the victims kept thanking me. It never ceases to amaze me how forthright people are (usually) when dealing with the sudden, violent death of a loved one, especially when it's as random and pointless as the above case. It reminds me what a privilege it is that they allow me to tell their stories.
Recently, the police made an arrest in a case that was unusual even for Baton Rouge. Here's the police account of what happened: Three weeks before Halloween a man was robbed at gun point. At about 1 a.m. on Halloween the man pulled up to an intersection, looked over to the car next to him and realized it was the guy who had robbed him. The other guy recognized him too, and he pulled out a gun and started blasting away.
The man he was shooting at drove away and a chase ensued with both men shooting tearing down residential streets and shooting at each other. Finally, the man being chased ran a stop sign and plowed into a Mazda, killing both himself and a woman in the Mazda.
The guy who died was about to get married and had three kids. The woman who died was a single mother of two with a steady job and her mom's only child.
Talking to their families was heartbreaking and that kind of interview always feels a little intrusive. The weirdest part was at the end of one of the interviews the mother of one of the victims kept thanking me. It never ceases to amaze me how forthright people are (usually) when dealing with the sudden, violent death of a loved one, especially when it's as random and pointless as the above case. It reminds me what a privilege it is that they allow me to tell their stories.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Your brave correspondent
Capt. Wade
Flying commercial airlines makes me nervous. I tend to think of the worst possible scenario and run with it. For whatever reason, as uncomfortable as I am on big jets, I love small planes and I've been able to snag quite a few flights in my brief journalism career. Yesterday, I covered a training exercise conducted by the Louisiana Civil Air Patrol and got to go up in little single prop Cessna 172 with Capt. Wade.
The point of the flight was to pull close to a Civil Air Patrol plane so a photographer could get a snap of it for the paper. As we were looking in vain for the CAP plane, which was supposedly headed right for us, the pilot had this unsettling habit of saying, "Boy, it's hard to see airplanes in the air. It's really amazing there aren't more collisions." We did eventually find the plane without crashing and headed back to the airport.
On our approach, the tower kept telling Capt. Wade that there was a plane making its approach a couple miles ahead of us - but Wade couldn't see it, so he started talking again about how difficult it is to see planes in the air. After a few minutes of not finding the plane he decided the air controller had our plane confused with another one - and landed anyway.
The above picture was taken in happier times.
The point of the flight was to pull close to a Civil Air Patrol plane so a photographer could get a snap of it for the paper. As we were looking in vain for the CAP plane, which was supposedly headed right for us, the pilot had this unsettling habit of saying, "Boy, it's hard to see airplanes in the air. It's really amazing there aren't more collisions." We did eventually find the plane without crashing and headed back to the airport.
On our approach, the tower kept telling Capt. Wade that there was a plane making its approach a couple miles ahead of us - but Wade couldn't see it, so he started talking again about how difficult it is to see planes in the air. After a few minutes of not finding the plane he decided the air controller had our plane confused with another one - and landed anyway.
The above picture was taken in happier times.
