Jeffery Fleishman (Los Angeles Times): Reporting from Cairo — The revolution has not yet come to Milad Zari's bakery.
Cairo is raging in protest. Tanks rumble past buildings aflame. But down an alley, just beyond the city of the dead, where the poor live scattered amid forgotten graves, Zari bakes bread. He works from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., earning less than $90 a month to pay the rent and raise six children.
It has been this way for 20 years, his hands, quick as sparrows, feeding flat dough into an oven.
"How can I go into the street and protest?" he says. "I can barely survive."
-eddie
January 29, 2011
January 28, 2011
Son speaks his wrath
Alexandra Zayas (St. Petersburg Times): The large man in a back row of the courtroom clenched his fist, tapped his foot and stared through wet eyes at the man in the jail uniform. He wanted to stand, but bailiffs had ordered him to sit down.
Even more, he wanted to be alone with the killer.
Michael Mink was here Friday morning because 2,697 days ago, he was supposed to have dinner with his 71-year-old mother, a woman who had just lost her husband, the only man she had loved for more than half a century.
Because it was Michael's turn, as her only son, to take care of her.
Because on that day, Sept. 11, 2003, Michael heard a scream at the other end of the phone coming from his sister Penny, who had just walked into their mother's South Tampa apartment through an open door.
Because when Michael rushed to the scene, he saw what Penny had, their mother nude, broken and lifeless, her golden hair so blood-soaked it was completely red.
-eddie
Even more, he wanted to be alone with the killer.
Michael Mink was here Friday morning because 2,697 days ago, he was supposed to have dinner with his 71-year-old mother, a woman who had just lost her husband, the only man she had loved for more than half a century.
Because it was Michael's turn, as her only son, to take care of her.
Because on that day, Sept. 11, 2003, Michael heard a scream at the other end of the phone coming from his sister Penny, who had just walked into their mother's South Tampa apartment through an open door.
Because when Michael rushed to the scene, he saw what Penny had, their mother nude, broken and lifeless, her golden hair so blood-soaked it was completely red.
-eddie
Can't resist . . . the cone
Eric Athas (Washington Post Story Lab): The man racing across 15th Street NW is in mid-stride, his striped dress shirt is untucked and splattered by sleet and snow. His left fist is clenched and his hair is speckled with snow. The look on his face says it all: focus, determination, pain.
Like a super-hero carrying a child from a burning building, Zach Burroughs clutches an ice cream cone from a pizza shop.
The snowstorm that swept through the Washington region Wednesday evening produced dozens of remarkable images of stranded commuters and downed trees. But the shot of Burroughs and his treat, captured by Washington Post photographer Ricky Carioti, was different from anything else.
Now Burroughs's quest for cream has gone viral. So, what's the story behind the photo?
-eddie
January 27, 2011
In memoriam: John Updike
John Updike ("Oliver's Evolution"/Who died this day in 2009): His parents had not meant to abuse him; they had meant to love him, and they did love him. But Oliver had come late in their little pack of offspring, at a time when the challenge of child rearing was wearing thin, and he proved susceptible to mishaps. He was born with inturned feet and learned to crawl with corrective casts up to his ankles. When they were at last removed, he cried in terror because he thought those heavy plaster boots scraping and bumping along the floor had been part of himself.
-eddie
-eddie
January 26, 2011
'How To Be a Professional Writer'
Chris Jones (Esquire/Son of Bold Venture): I get a lot of emails from young writers asking for career advice. I don’t mind it. As I’ve told people before, I once cornered Richard Hoffer, the excellent boxing writer for Sports Illustrated, in a New York bar until his face registered a bemused kind of alarm. A big part of figuring things out is relying on the wisdom of others, and I think that applies especially to young writers. Growing up is hard to do; growing up in print is even harder.
-eddie
-eddie
Unfit to die
Martha Sherrill (Washington Post): MORRO BAY, CALIF. -- Elaine's driving, and he keeps turning around in the front seat, like a kid, laughing. He's bouncing along in an electric blue jumpsuit, red ascot, cordovan zip-up boots with scuffed toes. Jack LaLanne is 79 now and still emitting inhuman amounts of energy, as if he's hooked up to some higher voltage. He has so much good cheer, it's hard to believe he's French. He's so sunny, you keep thinking you might get a tan standing next to him. He gives and gives, goes and goes -- never needs a sip of anything like coffee or tea.
Dinner, though, did include some sauvignon blanc. A couple of kinds.
-eddie
Dinner, though, did include some sauvignon blanc. A couple of kinds.
-eddie
January 20, 2011
Death of a boyfriend
Litsa Dremousis (Nerve.com): I thought of him this morning when I dusted, knowing I was losing another corporeal part of him, however microscopic. Or rather, I should say, I thought of him more pointedly this morning, because since he died fifteen months ago — with his food in my refrigerator and his things scattered throughout my home — his image and voice have fluttered from my mind in no more than a few scattered instances. And in the early months, when the shock enveloped me like radon, we were as intertwined as ever because I was certain, sometimes literally, that I was dead, too.
-eddie
-eddie
Baby found
Anahad O'Connor and Al Baker (New York Times/via Ethan): It was an abduction that made headlines and stunned the authorities: A 3-week-old infant, taken to a Manhattan hospital in August 1987 for treatment of a fever, was snatched by a woman dressed in nurse’s clothes and never heard from again.
Two decades later, with investigators stumped and the case cold, the parents of the abducted girl refused to give up hope, believing that someday their daughter might return.
Their prayers were answered.
-eddie
Two decades later, with investigators stumped and the case cold, the parents of the abducted girl refused to give up hope, believing that someday their daughter might return.
Their prayers were answered.
-eddie
January 18, 2011
Define 'elite'
A.O. Scott (New York Times): SOME people renounce liquor or sweets. My New Year’s resolution for 2011 was to give up meta: no panels on the State or Future or Death of Criticism; no trolling the Internet looking for fights over first principles; no thumb suckers for the Sunday paper on the history or the essence of the critical profession. Enough of all that! Instead, a renewed commitment to the basics. For 12 months or more phrases like “politique des auteurs,” “Pauline Kael,” “received wisdom,” “reflexively contrarian” and “formalist hack” would not pass my lips or issue from my keyboard, no matter how much I was provoked.
-eddie
-eddie
Elton John: Note to (younger) self
Letters of Note: In 2009, a gaggle of notable personalities were asked to contribute to a book entitled Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self in order to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation; the idea being for each celebrity to write a letter to themselves, aged sixteen. Below is a charming example of such a missive, written by Elton John in March 2009, to himself in 1963.
-eddie
-eddie
January 14, 2011
A recipe with roots
Natasha Gardner (5280 Magazine/thanks, Natasha): During a late-April snowstorm, I found myself in the unlikeliest of places: my garden. As the storm raged, I frantically scooped snow away from my perennial rhubarb plants. Weeks earlier, warm weather had enticed alienlike sprouts to push through the earth, and now the four-inch-long stalks were drooping under the weight of the heavy spring snow. I carefully placed a five-gallon bucket over each plant to trap heat. Inside, I held vigil at my kitchen window for two days. As soon as the snow stopped, I pulled off the buckets to uncover three unperturbed, perfect little rhubarb plants: my legacy.
-eddie
-eddie
January 11, 2011
Lost in communication
Jeremy Roebuck (Philadelphia Inquirer): With a flick of his wrist, the interpreter at the front of the courtroom mimed the bang of a judge's gavel, his other hand pointing to the ceiling.
The crude gestures were meant to convey that the case against Juan Jose Gonzalez Luna would be heard in a higher-level court.
Gonzalez's face, however, remained vacant.
Did the 42-year-old - who is deaf, mute, and illiterate, including no known knowledge of sign language - understand what had just happened?
-eddie
The crude gestures were meant to convey that the case against Juan Jose Gonzalez Luna would be heard in a higher-level court.
Gonzalez's face, however, remained vacant.
Did the 42-year-old - who is deaf, mute, and illiterate, including no known knowledge of sign language - understand what had just happened?
-eddie
January 9, 2011
'It's on like Donkey Kong'
Peter Hartlaub (San Francisco Chronicle/thanks, Amy):
1981: Nintendo's Donkey Kong, an arcade game that features a plumber dodging fireballs and barrels thrown by a giant ape, becomes an overnight sensation.
Nov. 17, 1992: Rapper Ice Cube brings the phrase to the masses on his The Predator album, in the first line of the track "Now I Gotta Wet'cha."
It's on like Donkey Kong ...
Jan. 4, 2011: In a Board of Supervisors meeting to decide on a new interim mayor, San Francisco supervisor Chris Daly promises revenge against a rival politician who switched a vote, declaring "It's on like Donkey Kong." In a search of close to 300 newspaper and magazine articles and television program transcripts, this appears to be the first time the phrase was used publicly by an American politician.
-eddie
1981: Nintendo's Donkey Kong, an arcade game that features a plumber dodging fireballs and barrels thrown by a giant ape, becomes an overnight sensation.
Nov. 17, 1992: Rapper Ice Cube brings the phrase to the masses on his The Predator album, in the first line of the track "Now I Gotta Wet'cha."
It's on like Donkey Kong ...
Jan. 4, 2011: In a Board of Supervisors meeting to decide on a new interim mayor, San Francisco supervisor Chris Daly promises revenge against a rival politician who switched a vote, declaring "It's on like Donkey Kong." In a search of close to 300 newspaper and magazine articles and television program transcripts, this appears to be the first time the phrase was used publicly by an American politician.
-eddie
Olver's pain
Ben Montgomery (St. Petersburg Times): A year ago yesterday, Michael Olver moved his son's furniture into the garage. He cut out the beige carpet and padding and carried it to his utility trailer for disposal.
There was still blood on the floor. He would have to clean it.
Mikey was his son. He watched the boy's birth, wondering if all babies look weird and beautiful like that. He coached little Mikey in soccer. He watched the boy grow into a man and go to college and have a baby of his own. He was 24.
His son. So he had to clean the floor.
-eddie
There was still blood on the floor. He would have to clean it.
Mikey was his son. He watched the boy's birth, wondering if all babies look weird and beautiful like that. He coached little Mikey in soccer. He watched the boy grow into a man and go to college and have a baby of his own. He was 24.
His son. So he had to clean the floor.
-eddie
January 7, 2011
The Brief Reads of Thomas Lake
We are starting a monthly series of briefreads written by some of the most respected bylines to date. It’s a look at how these reporters got to where they are now — at national magazines, writing novels, winning major awards — because they mastered great stories on deadline. We ask: Can you see the evolution of a journalist?
• • •
We start with Thomas Lake: A senior writer for Sports Illustrated wrote his first article for The (Little Falls, N.Y.) Evening Times at 17, according to Nieman Storyboard. “It was a profile of a subscriber on his paper route.” A decade later, in last month’s issue of Sports Illustrated, Lake wrote the "The Boy Who Died of Football," a story that's received effusive praise ever since it reached newsstands.
We scoured the archives to find some of the newspaper clips that helped Lake become a prolific beat writer. Here are a few:
“Rec. Dept. Hopes New Baseball-Like games is a Blast,” The Salem News, April, 28, 2003
A ball, but no diamond. A bat, but no gloves. No second or third base, for that matter. Just first, and it honks when you step on it.
“Life and Death in the animal ER,” The Florida Times-Union, March 20, 2005
Mindy wails. She has a wide red wound above her broken left hind leg. Two dogs put it there. They pinned her to a cactus and tried to tear her apart.
“The mysterious metamorphosis of Ricky Roberts,” The Florida Times-Union, April 16, 2006
About 30 years ago in a brick house near the Trout River, a tortured boy named Ricky Roberts cried out to God.
“Dismembered again,” St. Petersburg Times, September 2, 2007
How does a town become known as Nub City?
“A math student’s uncommon equation,” St. Petersburg Times, October 19, 2008
Michael Rodeman, a growing boy who has not eaten breakfast, would very much like to harvest the wind.
• • •
Post your favorite Thomas Lake briefreads or tweet us @briefreads. Who else's career should we look back at? (Send us the journalist and the briefreads that made the reporter.)
-eddie
• • •
We start with Thomas Lake: A senior writer for Sports Illustrated wrote his first article for The (Little Falls, N.Y.) Evening Times at 17, according to Nieman Storyboard. “It was a profile of a subscriber on his paper route.” A decade later, in last month’s issue of Sports Illustrated, Lake wrote the "The Boy Who Died of Football," a story that's received effusive praise ever since it reached newsstands.
We scoured the archives to find some of the newspaper clips that helped Lake become a prolific beat writer. Here are a few:
“Rec. Dept. Hopes New Baseball-Like games is a Blast,” The Salem News, April, 28, 2003
A ball, but no diamond. A bat, but no gloves. No second or third base, for that matter. Just first, and it honks when you step on it.
“Life and Death in the animal ER,” The Florida Times-Union, March 20, 2005
Mindy wails. She has a wide red wound above her broken left hind leg. Two dogs put it there. They pinned her to a cactus and tried to tear her apart.
“The mysterious metamorphosis of Ricky Roberts,” The Florida Times-Union, April 16, 2006
About 30 years ago in a brick house near the Trout River, a tortured boy named Ricky Roberts cried out to God.
“Dismembered again,” St. Petersburg Times, September 2, 2007
How does a town become known as Nub City?
“A math student’s uncommon equation,” St. Petersburg Times, October 19, 2008
Michael Rodeman, a growing boy who has not eaten breakfast, would very much like to harvest the wind.
• • •
Post your favorite Thomas Lake briefreads or tweet us @briefreads. Who else's career should we look back at? (Send us the journalist and the briefreads that made the reporter.)
-eddie
January 5, 2011
Listen closely
Kevin Joy (The Columbus Dispatch): That voice.
The smooth baritone of Ted Williams became an Internet sensation today when a Dispatch.com video compelled millions of viewers to take a closer look (and listen) at a homeless panhandler who sometimes works the Hudson Street ramp off northbound I-71.
Carrying a hand-scrawled cardboard sign touting his "God-given gift of voice," an otherwise ragged Williams was recorded last month offering up his radiant pipes to an idle commuter for spare change.
When you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to Magic 98.9!
That voice delivered.
-eddie
The smooth baritone of Ted Williams became an Internet sensation today when a Dispatch.com video compelled millions of viewers to take a closer look (and listen) at a homeless panhandler who sometimes works the Hudson Street ramp off northbound I-71.
Carrying a hand-scrawled cardboard sign touting his "God-given gift of voice," an otherwise ragged Williams was recorded last month offering up his radiant pipes to an idle commuter for spare change.
When you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to Magic 98.9!
That voice delivered.
-eddie
January 4, 2011
Look back: Richard Lake's 2010 brief reads
Here's a look back at our top brief reads lists of 2010!
Richard Lake
"A little girl's signature kept by time," by Lane DeGregory
"Loving Wyatt to the end," by Rick Ruggles
"My son is gay," from Nerdy Apple Bottom
"My Opponent Knows Where Washington Is On A map; I Don't, And I Never Will," from The Onion
"For Jessica," by Jennifer Lawler
-matt
Richard Lake
"A little girl's signature kept by time," by Lane DeGregory
"Loving Wyatt to the end," by Rick Ruggles
"My son is gay," from Nerdy Apple Bottom
"My Opponent Knows Where Washington Is On A map; I Don't, And I Never Will," from The Onion
"For Jessica," by Jennifer Lawler
-matt
Look back: Michael Kruse's 2010 brief reads
Here's a look back at our top brief reads lists of 2010!
Michael Kruse
"Hit-and-run victim was quiet and dependable, co-workers say," by Andy Meacham, St. Petersburg Times, Sept. 29
Tears in my eyes while reading in my kitchen on the morning it ran.
"Glenn Beck's rally recap is one way to fill an hour," by Hank Stuever, Washington Post, Aug. 31
Hank had me at the bulletproof vest.
"The sadness of seeing Ali like this," by Wright Thompson, ESPN.com, Sept. 24
My favorite thing Wright wrote all year, and Wright wrote a lot of really good things.
"War rages on after medic returns from Iraq," by Jeb Phillips, Columbus Dispatch, May 3
The gun rattled against his teeth in the second sentence of the story. I'm reading on.
"Love lands ... and moves quickly," by Tommy Tomlinson, Charlotte Observer, Dec. 17
A story so simple, told so well.
"'Get the fuck down!'" by C.J. Chivers, NYTimes.com, April 21
Is a video a read? I don't even care. It's a story, and you can't not watch this.
-matt
Michael Kruse
"Hit-and-run victim was quiet and dependable, co-workers say," by Andy Meacham, St. Petersburg Times, Sept. 29
Tears in my eyes while reading in my kitchen on the morning it ran.
"Glenn Beck's rally recap is one way to fill an hour," by Hank Stuever, Washington Post, Aug. 31
Hank had me at the bulletproof vest.
"The sadness of seeing Ali like this," by Wright Thompson, ESPN.com, Sept. 24
My favorite thing Wright wrote all year, and Wright wrote a lot of really good things.
"War rages on after medic returns from Iraq," by Jeb Phillips, Columbus Dispatch, May 3
The gun rattled against his teeth in the second sentence of the story. I'm reading on.
"Love lands ... and moves quickly," by Tommy Tomlinson, Charlotte Observer, Dec. 17
A story so simple, told so well.
"'Get the fuck down!'" by C.J. Chivers, NYTimes.com, April 21
Is a video a read? I don't even care. It's a story, and you can't not watch this.
-matt
Look back: Zach Schonbrun's 2010 brief reads
Here's a look back at our top brief reads lists of 2010!
Zach Schonbrun
"A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web," by David Segal
"The Hangover: Roethlisberger," by Jack McCallum
"Pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his major league debut for Washington Nationals," by Dave Sheinin
"Andy Reid's ordeals and triumphs," by Ashley Fox
-matt
Zach Schonbrun
Dan Barry's great story on the domino effect of the Gulf oil spill on fishermen
"Pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his major league debut for Washington Nationals," by Dave Sheinin
"Andy Reid's ordeals and triumphs," by Ashley Fox
-matt
Look back: Andy McCullough's 2010 brief reads
Here's a look back at our top brief reads lists of 2010!
Andy McCullough
"Still Going Strong," by Joe Posnanski on Jim Thome
"Roy Halladay no-hitter lifts Phillies past Reds in Game 1," by Dave Sheinin
"The Boy Who Died of Football," by Thomas Lake
"Lionel Messi: The World At His Feet," by S.L. Price
"Roger Ebert: The Essential Man," by Chris Jones
-matt
Andy McCullough
"Still Going Strong," by Joe Posnanski on Jim Thome
"Roy Halladay no-hitter lifts Phillies past Reds in Game 1," by Dave Sheinin
"The Boy Who Died of Football," by Thomas Lake
"Lionel Messi: The World At His Feet," by S.L. Price
"Roger Ebert: The Essential Man," by Chris Jones
-matt
Look back: Briefreads' 2010 brief reads
Here's a look back at our top brief reads lists of 2010!
Matt
"Dear Mr. President," by Eli Saslow, Washington Post, March 31
Clocking in at just under 3000 words (in other words just brief enough to be a brief read),Eli Saslow writes about Jennifer Cline who writes a letter to President Obama and receives a reply. The story weaves in a narratives about the 20,000 letters and emails Obama receives per day and the channels they must go through for somebody to receive a reply. Saslow is the best feature/politics writer you've never heard of.
"The last of Leeville: Chances grow slim for a wide spot in the road in La." by Dan Zak, Washington Post, June 18
Dan Zak several excellent stories detailing the way the oil spill ruined businesses and lives. He owned that beat. His final piece de resistance, a feature on the dying coastal town of Leesville, La., captured best the frustrations and sorrows brought on by the Deepwater Horizon leak.
"Lonely, stressed and frustrated: inside the mind of the Pinellas monkey," by Michael Kruse, St. Pete Times, May 16
There's an absurd amount of excellent narrative storytelling in the St. Pete Times, but I went with this monkey-on-the-run story due to its unique subject matter and the way Kruse tells part of the monkey's tale through the monkey's point of view: Scared, alone and freaked out. This could easily have been a kooky offbeat story about a goofy monkey stirring up trouble, but Kruse adds depth to the story.
"A love of story was my Dad's gift to me," by Roy Wenzl, Wichita Eagle, June 20
Sad, sad story that also makes you so appreciative for journalism and superb narrative storytelling."
"A Facebook story: A mother's joy and a family's sorrow," by Ian Shapira, Washington Post, Dec. 9
For its innovation alone this story deserves to be commended. Ian Shapira tells a story through a woman's facebook updates. And - just as Facebook itself is prone to do - this story sucks you in right up until the heartwrenching final post.
"The meaning of family, alternative Thanksgivings and all," by Chris Jones, Esquire, Nov. 24
If you're going to read Chris Jones, of course don't skimp on the his longform (The Things That Carried Him, The Essential Man, etc.), but Jones' new Esquire blog, which muses on just about anything, already seems to have its own cult following. This blog first went viral with a moving post on people-watching and Thanksgiving.
• • •
Eddie
"Oil spill sloshes over spirits at waterside Mississippi restaurant" by Dan Zak
"A little girl's signature kept by time," by Lane DeGregory
"The Chilean miners," by Tommy Tomlinson
"'Playboy' wasn't in Woody's playbook," by Mike Harden
I met Mike Harden once, this summer. Although he was retired, he wrote columns until he died in October. I only said, "Thank you," for a lunch meeting. Thanks for everything else.
"Politics devolves into blood sport in Philippines," by Chico Harlan
And what didn't make the paper: ("So let's start with the facts, blameless and final.")
-matt
Matt
"Dear Mr. President," by Eli Saslow, Washington Post, March 31
Clocking in at just under 3000 words (in other words just brief enough to be a brief read),Eli Saslow writes about Jennifer Cline who writes a letter to President Obama and receives a reply. The story weaves in a narratives about the 20,000 letters and emails Obama receives per day and the channels they must go through for somebody to receive a reply. Saslow is the best feature/politics writer you've never heard of.
"The last of Leeville: Chances grow slim for a wide spot in the road in La." by Dan Zak, Washington Post, June 18
Dan Zak several excellent stories detailing the way the oil spill ruined businesses and lives. He owned that beat. His final piece de resistance, a feature on the dying coastal town of Leesville, La., captured best the frustrations and sorrows brought on by the Deepwater Horizon leak.
"Lonely, stressed and frustrated: inside the mind of the Pinellas monkey," by Michael Kruse, St. Pete Times, May 16
There's an absurd amount of excellent narrative storytelling in the St. Pete Times, but I went with this monkey-on-the-run story due to its unique subject matter and the way Kruse tells part of the monkey's tale through the monkey's point of view: Scared, alone and freaked out. This could easily have been a kooky offbeat story about a goofy monkey stirring up trouble, but Kruse adds depth to the story.
"A love of story was my Dad's gift to me," by Roy Wenzl, Wichita Eagle, June 20
Sad, sad story that also makes you so appreciative for journalism and superb narrative storytelling."
"A Facebook story: A mother's joy and a family's sorrow," by Ian Shapira, Washington Post, Dec. 9
For its innovation alone this story deserves to be commended. Ian Shapira tells a story through a woman's facebook updates. And - just as Facebook itself is prone to do - this story sucks you in right up until the heartwrenching final post.
"The meaning of family, alternative Thanksgivings and all," by Chris Jones, Esquire, Nov. 24
If you're going to read Chris Jones, of course don't skimp on the his longform (The Things That Carried Him, The Essential Man, etc.), but Jones' new Esquire blog, which muses on just about anything, already seems to have its own cult following. This blog first went viral with a moving post on people-watching and Thanksgiving.
• • •
Eddie
"Oil spill sloshes over spirits at waterside Mississippi restaurant" by Dan Zak
"A little girl's signature kept by time," by Lane DeGregory
"The Chilean miners," by Tommy Tomlinson
"'Playboy' wasn't in Woody's playbook," by Mike Harden
I met Mike Harden once, this summer. Although he was retired, he wrote columns until he died in October. I only said, "Thank you," for a lunch meeting. Thanks for everything else.
"Politics devolves into blood sport in Philippines," by Chico Harlan
And what didn't make the paper: ("So let's start with the facts, blameless and final.")
-matt
January 3, 2011
Honey buns behind bars
Drew Harwell (St. Petersburg Times): The honey buns enter lockup the same way anyone else does: bound, escorted through halls and sally ports, and secluded in small boxes solely opened from the outside. From there the honey buns languish for days, maybe longer, until they're gone.
They are a lowly, sturdy food designed for desperate cravings and vending machine convenience. They can endure weeks of neglect and even a mild mashing in a coat pocket or backpack. They are, it should come as no surprise, especially beloved by a similarly hardy but disrespected population: Florida's prison inmates.
Inmates in the Florida prison system buy 270,000 honey buns a month. Across the state, they sell more than tobacco, envelopes and cans of Coke. And they're just as popular among Tampa Bay's county jails. In Pasco's Land O'Lakes Detention Center, they're outsold only by freeze-dried coffee and ramen noodles.
Not only that, these honey buns — so puffy! — have taken on lives of their own among the criminal class: as currency for trades, as bribes for favors, as relievers for stress and substitutes for addiction. They've become birthday cakes, hooch wines, last meals — even ingredients in a massive tax fraud.
So what is it about these little golden glazed snacks? Is it that they're cheap, which is big, since the prisoners rely on cash from friends and family? That their sugary denseness could stop a speeding bullet? That they're easy, their mise en place just the unwrapping of plastic? What gives?
-eddie