Huffington (Issue #85, 01.26.14)

(NOT) RUNNING IN 2016 | MATT DAMON | OUTRAGE FATIGUE

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TH E H U FF

E IN GTO N P O ST M AGA ZI N

JA NUARY 26 , 20 14

MILITARY WINTER How the Muslim Brotherhood Lost Its Grip on Egypt

By Sophia Jones

01.26.14 #85 CONTENTS

Enter POINTERS: Davos 2014... Google Glass Sex JASON LINKINS: Looking Forward in Angst DATA: Where You Can Drink in Public Q&A: Matt Damon

ON THE COVER: CHEF_ANTI/STOCK.XCHNG; THIS PAGE FROM TOP: MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; LANCE KING/GETTY IMAGES

HEADLINES MOVING IMAGE

Voices KATIE HEANEY: I’m in My Mid-Twenties, and I’ve Been Single My Entire Life

EGYPT RESETS “I don’t accept going against the government now.”

BY SOPHIA JONES

KIA MAKARECHI: So You’re Tired of People Being ‘Outraged’?

QUOTED

Exit CULTURE: 30 Books You Need to Read in 2014 THE THIRD METRIC: How Calm People Carry On EAT THIS: Oh, the Mistakes You’re Making With Fried Eggs MUSIC: Dog Ears TFU

THE SENSIBLE REBOUND Alaska has had a string of bad exes. Enter Mark Begich.

BY ELIOT NELSON

FROM THE EDITOR: The Pulse of a Nation ON THE COVER: Photo Illustration

for Huffington by Troy Dunham

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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The Pulse of a Nation N THIS WEEK’S issue, we put the spotlight on Egypt, where things feel disturbingly similar to the way they were before the Arab Spring.

As we launch The WorldPost, our new global initiative in partnership with the Berggruen Institute on Governance, our Cairobased correspondent Sophia Jones checks the pulse of the nation, three years after the revolution that ended the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak. While the Arab Spring raised hopes for a new era of democracy, those expectations have long since dulled in Egypt, with the same generals who held power before the revolution back in charge.

“Much of the Egyptian public seems to have accepted this state of affairs, regardless of the

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democratic ideals that drove the revolution,” Sophia writes. “The once-popular battle cry of ‘bread, freedom, and social justice’ has seemingly been forgotten, trumped by the military-backed regime’s promise to restore security.”

Meanwhile, members of the Muslim Brotherhood — the group that gained popular support during the Arab Spring and elevated the now-ousted Mohammed Morsi to the presidency — find themselves targets, branded as a terrorist organization by Egypt’s new leaders. “[The military has] capitalized

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

on fear, exhaustion and frustration with the Muslim Brotherhood-led government,” Hafsa Halawa, a former employee of the National Democratic Institute, tells Sophia. “In short,” Sophia adds, “public revulsion at the prospect of Islamist rule has been manipulated into tacit acceptance for a crackdown antithetical to democratic rule.”

Elsewhere in the issue, Jason Linkins points out that we now can count more people not running for president in 2016 than people running, despite rampant speculation about potential candidates. California Gov. Jerry Brown recently joined the growing list of those who have officially stated their disinterest, including Democrats Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Deval Patrick, Elizabeth Warren, and Republican Susana Martinez.

“Let us now praise the real heroes of this period of premature frenzy,” Jason writes. “Those men and women who have seen the light of presidential speculation beaming in their direction and have forthrightly declared, ‘You can include me out.’”

In our Voices section, Kia Makarechi explains the problem with

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“outrage fatigue” — AKA, why won’t everyone stop complaining about the lack of roles for black actors and Katy Perry performing in yellowface?

It’s not that we’re “suddenly” seeing people express their dissatisfaction with racial and cultural

While the Arab Spring raised hopes for a new era of democracy, those expectations have long since dulled in Egypt.” inequities, Kia argues. It’s just that we’re hearing more diverse perspectives than we’re used to hearing. And what we’re used to has largely consisted of “every idiosyncratic white male beef with everything that has happened and/or will happen,” Kia writes.

Finally, as part of our ongoing focus on The Third Metric, we look at some of the daily habits that can help you reduce stress and be more present in your life.

ARIANNA

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Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his wife were formally charged Tuesday on 14 counts related to corruption. The couple allegedly accepted lavish gifts — including shopping sprees and private plane rides — in exchange for helping a Richmond-area businessman further his interests. In one exchange detailed in the indictment, McDonnell’s wife allegedly described the couple’s serious credit card debt to the benefactor, a dietary supplement executive. The former governor has apologized and returned more than $120,000 to Williams, but maintained his innocence. He called the corruption allegations “false” and an “unjust overreach of the federal government.”

The scandal may preclude McDonnell from holding another high office.

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MEETING OF MINDS

The 44th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum convened this week in Davos, Switzerland, bringing together more than 2,500 world leaders and at least 40 heads of state. Ahead of the meeting, the WEF released its “Global Risks 2014” report, which lists issues like high unemployment, income polarization, water scarcity and global warming.

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BILLION-DOLLAR BRACKET

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A winning March Madness bracket this year could come with more than the respect of your office pool.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has partnered with online mortgage company Quicken Loans to run a contest offering $1 billion if someone comes up with a perfect bracket for the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The chances of winning are about 9.2 quintillion to 1, and a DePaul University bracket expert told The New York Times he isn’t aware of a perfect bracket ever being documented — but don’t expect that to deter hopeful Americans. The first 10 million people to enter will be eligible for the grand prize.

HOPE FOR SYRIA?

Negotiators came together Wednesday for the start of a peace conference aimed at ending the bloody Syrian civil war. The talks began with tense exchanges — Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem spoke for nearly half an hour during his allotted 10 minutes, accusing the U.S. and its allies of supporting terrorist groups and calling opposition fighters “traitors.” The conflict in Syria has claimed 100,000 lives since 2011, and President Bashar Assad has brutally cracked down on rebels in the country. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the Syrian opposition have called for a transitional government that does not include Assad.

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INEVITABLE

A new app for the yet-to-be-launched Google Glass promises to make sex more interesting by letting people use the wearable computer to record and watch their most intimate moments from their own or their partner’s point of view. According to the app’s website, “With Glance App on Google Glass, just say ‘OK glass, it’s time’ and Glass will stream what you see to each other.” The “Sex With Google Glass” developers already have a website up to promote the app, and plan to launch an iPhone version in early February.

FIRST DEATHS IN UKRAINE

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THAT’S VIRAL THIS WEEK, RICHARD SHERMAN TAUGHT US ABOUT AMERICA...

Four people were killed in clashes with police in Ukraine this week, the first deaths linked to recent civil unrest in the country’s capital of Kiev. The protests started in November when demonstrators came out against the nation’s leaders’ decision to align with Russia by refusing to sign a trade deal with the European Union. Unrest erupted again this week in the wake of governmental efforts to discourage protests, including the passage of legislation that restricts public assemblies. The country’s prime minister has labeled anti-government demonstrators as “terrorists.”

A selection of the week’s most talked-about stories.

HEADLINES TO VIEW FULL STORIES

YOGA PANTS WON THE WORLD...

A MAGAZINE WAS INADVERTENTLY RACIST...

SEX TOYS WENT TO THE NEXT, TOTALLY NSFW, LEVEL...

AND WINNIE THE POOH REMINDED US HE’S ADORABLE.

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LOOKING FORWARD IN ANGST

JASON LINKINS

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MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2016 T IS 2014 at the moment, but since there isn’t any kind of massive unemployment problem and it’s totally safe for pregnant women to drink the water, water, everywhere, the media are filling the hole in their lives with only the hottest specu-

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lation about the 2016 presidential election.

For example, last week Time magazine tackled the phenomenon that is Hillary Clinton’s shadow campaign for president, noting that the mere threat of her candidacy is keeping other Democrats out of the race. This is less a “news story” than it is a fun and bouncy ball that is being passed from news organization to news

California Gov. Jerry Brown ruled out a 2016 presidential run last week.

Enter organization. Time all but announced the unoriginality of the idea with its cover, which was created by going to a clip art archive and doing a global search for “women” and “clichés.” As with the story’s trope itself, it’s best examined in the gray light of the afterglow of an afterthought.

Against the 2016 onslaught, and our own contributions to it, let us now praise the real heroes of this period of premature frenzy — those men and women who have seen the light of presidential speculation beaming in their direction and have forthrightly declared, “You can include me out.”

Last week’s award for Valor In The Face Of People Wondering If You’ll Run For President goes to California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who is not running for president: Speaking at a Tuesday news conference in Riverside, Calif., Brown scuttled speculation about his presidential prospects when a reporter asked if he planned to throw his hat in the ring for a fourth time.

“No, that’s not in the cards.

Unfortunately,” Brown said, according to the Los Angeles

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Times. “Actually, California is a lot more governable.”

Supporters of Brown — who ran for the Democratic nomination in 1976, 1980 and 1992 — had hoped the popular governor would enter the 2016 race.

Brown stoked speculation by

Let us now praise the real heroes of this period of premature frenzy — those men and women who have seen the light of presidential speculation beaming in their direction and have forthrightly declared, ‘You can include me out.’” not explicitly ruling out the possibility, although in May the 75-year-old noted that “time is kind of running out on that.”

You are forgiven if you weren’t aware that “Jerry Brown 2016” was even a thing about which people were even talking. It was an idea that had a share of anonymous supporters, but only just enough news coverage to warrant an inclusion on Wikipedia’s list of

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potential 2016 candidates.

That page, by the way, is one of the most hilarious reflections of American politics on the Internet, because it turns out it doesn’t take much to be included. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) ended up there because a St. Louis PostDispatch story speculating on whether Nixon’s future included a turn in the national spotlight led to a Politico story speculating on whether Nixon might not get his turn in the national spotlight because of Hillary Clinton, which led to another St. Louis Post-Dispatch story about the aforemen-

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tioned Politico story, which led to a Washington Post story ... speculating on whether Nixon’s future included a turn in the national spotlight, again.

Meanwhile, outside of Missouri, you have probably never heard of Jay Nixon. But you’re probably aware that Jerry Brown, between his first and latest stint as the Golden State’s governor, ran for president a bunch of times. And so, unsurprisingly, there was always someone on hand to stoke the fires of retro chic. In July 2013, the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported that some of Brown’s “allies” were “starting to talk up a possible 2016 presidential bid,” while another group

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Time magazine tackled Hillary Clinton’s shadow campaign for president earlier this month, noting that the mere threat of her candidacy is keeping other Democrats out of the race.

Enter of Brown’s associates were saying that Brown was going to be “78 [years old] by Election Day 2016,” that he “ran for statewide office only to end [California’s] budget crisis,” and that he was thus “nearly done with politics.”

A month later, Bernie Quigley, writing for The Hill, attempted to coax a Brown candidacy into being with the awesome force of the purplest prose he could muster: California rises again with Brown, and it should come as no surprise. California brings the final destiny of our American journey, the final edge of expectation, the end and then the beginning again, the place and time of our American turning. Steve Jobs put it succinctly at the end: “The spaceship has landed.”

I asked an astute Californian about Brown’s prospects for national office. He said he will be too old in 2016. But Brown, Zen man of contemporary politics, is in a sense timeless.

Yeah... so that was a lot to absorb. The salient point is that Brown, obviously, doesn’t have

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the same opinion of his own timelessness. (Perhaps he finally decided to not run when he failed to regenerate into Peter Capaldi?)

Brown joins a happy confederacy of other men and women who have indicated that everyone can stop wondering if they are going to run for president, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D), San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (D), New Mexico Gov. Susana

You’re probably aware that Jerry Brown, between his first and latest stint as the Golden State’s governor, ran for president a bunch of times.

And so, unsurprisingly, there was always someone on hand to stoke the fires of retro chic.”

Martinez (R), Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D).

Also, Tim Pawlenty is not going to run for president. (I did some digging and found out that this Pawlenty fellow was a former Republican governor of Minnesota who ran for president once before. Who knew? I guess I totally spaced.)

Q&A

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Matt Damon on the Struggle to Engage Americans

“The video of us talking about the water crisis will have like four hits, and two of them will be us. And yet I can do something with Sarah Silverman or something like that and get millions of hits.”

Matt Damon receives a Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 21, for his work as co-founder of Water.org.

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW, VISIT HUFFPOST LIVE

DATA

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Where You Can Drink in Public

Most cities and states across the U.S. have banned street-drinking over the past 40 years. But our analysis uncovered 20 cities that either have no public drinking ban on the books or have specifically permitted public drinking in designated “Entertainment Districts.” — Joe Satran

Hood River, OR

Butte, MT

Sonoma, CA

Indianapolis, IN

Lincoln, NE Kansas City, MO

Las Vegas, NV

Louisville, KY Huntsville, AL Birmingham, AL Montgomery, AL

Fort Worth, TX Memphis, TN Arlington, TX Fredericksburg, TX

LEOSYNAPSE/STOCK.XCHNG; BURY-OSIOL/STOCK.XCHNG

Erie, PA

New Orleans, LA

Gulfport, MS

Savannah, GA

NO STATEWIDE BAN, SOME PARTS OF STATE ALLOW PUBLIC DRINKING

NO STATEWIDE BAN, BUT PROHIBITITED IN MOST OR ALL MUNICIPALITIES

TOWNS THAT ALLOW PUBLIC DRINKING IN MOST OR ALL AREAS

PENDING LAWS WOULD ALLOW PUBLIC DRINKING IN DESIGNATED AREAS

STATEWIDE BAN ON PUBLIC DRINKING WITH NO CONFIRMED EXCEPTIONS

TOWNS THAT ALLOW PUBLIC DRINKING IN SPECIAL ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS

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The Week That Was CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: WIKIMEDIA; AP PHOTO/JULIO CORTEZ; AP PHOTO/KIICHIRO SATO, FILE; BARTON GELLMAN/GETTY IMAGES

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Bergen, Norway 01.17.2014 An offshore gas platform operated by Statoil ASA stands in the Oseberg oil field in the North Sea. Statoil, Norway’s biggest energy company, sees the potential to keep domestic oil and gas output at today’s levels until 2025, and possibly beyond, even as it tightens spending amid rising costs.

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Barcelona, Spain 01.16.2014 A firefighter protests against government cuts outside Catalonia’s parliament.

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Kiev, Ukraine 01.19.2014 Protesters clash with police during an opposition rally, in a show of defiance against strict new curbs on protests. 200,000 protesters expressed frustration over the lack of a clear program from the opposition leaders after almost two months of protests over the government’s ditching of a pact with the EU under Russian pressure.

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Gondar, Ethiopia 01.20.2014 A vendor walks towards the Fasilides’ Baths during the Timkat festival. Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival celebrating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

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Tehran, Iran 01.20.2014 Women walk through an old neighborhood as Iran announced that it would halt production of 20-percent enriched uranium.

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Tapegue, Ivory Coast 01.20.2014 Members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare stand near an elephant in a truck as part of an operation to relocate dozens of elephants in Marahoue National Park in conflict with farmers, who have cleared the land for agricultural purposes.

The elephants have already killed three people and destroyed crops, Ivorian ministers reported.

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Petion Ville, Haiti 01.20.2014 A laborer works at a new office building under construction.

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Calama, Chile 01.14.2014 Mini driver Stephane Peterhansel and co-pilot Jean Paul Cottret, both of France, race through the dunes during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between the cities of Calama and Iquique.

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Zadomlya, Belarus 01.19.2014 A boy reacts after plunging into ice cold water during Orthodox Epiphany celebrations. Thousands of Belarusian Orthodox Church followers dove into icy rivers and ponds across the country to mark Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy for the day.

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Vilnius, Lithuania 01.20.2014 A pedestrian walks along the banks of the Neris River as temperatures dipped to -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Katmandu, Nepal 01.14.2014 Nepalese Muslim boys peek out from a vehicle as they participate in a rally to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the festival that commemorates the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims are a minority in this predominantly Hindu Himalayan nation.

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Wincanton, England 01.16.2014 Brendan Powell falls from racehorse Flaming Charmer at the last in The Higos Insurance Services Street Novices’ Limited Handicap Steeple Chase at Wincanton racecourse.

Tap here for a more extensive look at the week on The Huffington Post.

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Voices

KATIE HEANEY

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I’m in My MidTwenties, and I’ve Been Single My Entire Life I WOULD LIKE to tell you about a theory I’ve developed, in the past two years or so, about a certain brand of people I like to call “lighthouses.” This theory was developed after years spent in the company of one such member of the species, carefully observed in her natural habitat. She was the prototype, basically. Her name is Rylee, and she’s my best friend. You might as well know that now because she’s going to come up a lot.

Rylee, since the time I met her seven years ago, has dated nine

people. This is probably not remarkably high. It could even be average. What do I know? It could be that that number only seems large in comparison to my own figures, which are so low they’re practically negative. But what’s really crazy, what’s really impressive about it, is her lack of time off between boyfriends. When she’s single, Rylee hardly needs to leave

This piece is excerpted from the book Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date

by Katie Heaney.

Copyright © 2014 by Katie Heaney.

Reprinted by permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

Voices the apartment (or, in some of those cases, dormitory building) before anywhere from one to four different guys profess an interest in being her next boyfriend. There is a constant stream there. She’ll make her interests known, of course, but she always has options. She could sit down on the floor, be still, and wait, and I honestly believe that somebody would show up, sooner or later, to ask her out.

This is what I like to call being “a lighthouse.”

Lighthouse people are beacons that call all the sailors in ships back to land, beckoning them in toward the light. Lighthouse people are magnetic and luminescent, so much so that even when one sailor manages to row all the way to land and climbs up into the lighthouse, the rest of the sailors will stay out there on the water, waiting for their chance to come to shore. They will feel that it’s always best to keep an eye on the lighthouse, even if they have to come and go due to other sailorly obligations. The lighthouse might act like it doesn’t know it’s so popular with the sailors, but it does. How could it not? Even if the lighthouse has a special sailor for the moment, its light is always on.

It can’t help it.

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Now, I’ve had it pointed out to me (by a bunch of boys who couldn’t possibly understand the metaphor) that this is not how lighthouses actually “work.” These jerks tried to tell me that lighthouses are actually there to keep sailors away from particularly dangerous shorelines, because otherwise they’d crash into the jagged rocks found there. I mean, fine. If you want to get technical about

Rylee, since the time I met her seven years ago, has dated nine people. This is probably not remarkably high... What do I know?” certain structures’ designated functions, then yes, that is correct, even though I think that’s dumb because people and creatures are drawn toward light and if lighthouses really wanted to keep people away from rocky shores they’d be big audio speakers that played scary ghost sounds. But I still think I’m right, in the metaphorical sense. And the lighthouses of my world are big, sexy, maneaters. They don’t even try to be that way. They just are.

I am not a lighthouse.

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Voices The first time I told Rylee that she was a lighthouse, she asked me what that made me. (Lighthouses generally recognize those that are — and aren’t — fellow lighthouses.)

I thought about it for a minute. I said: “The Bermuda Triangle.”

The Bermuda Triangle is so far from sailors’ minds that it isn’t even really on the map. They’d rather not even think about it. Even if a few of them knew, theoretically, that the Bermuda Triangle was out there, they wouldn’t be able to find it if they wanted to. They would become lost, possibly forever. For the most part, though, they don’t want to try. The Bermuda Triangle is scary and confusing. Sailors hear bad things about it. They’d rather just go around it, staying as far away as humanly possible.

I know that sounds like an exaggeration. And sure, to some extent, it probably is. For instance, there isn’t anything about me that is analogous to the Bermuda Triangle’s “rogue wave” phenomenon (at least I hope there isn’t). I don’t capsize sailors, much less entire ships.

I keep myself to myself, you know?

In fact, I think that’s probably what the Bermuda Triangle is up to. It doesn’t mean to do any harm, and it’s actually pretty nice once you get

KATIE HEANEY

to know it. It’s just that Bermuda doesn’t know how to handle itself when somebody sails into its territory, because that hardly ever happens. It hasn’t had much chance to practice, and it’s used to things going a certain way. So if a sailor DOES come around, it gets a little nervous, freaks the fuck out, and creates hurricane-like devastation in every direction around it. And then it gets embarrassed and sad and calls its friends.

I do not present this theory because I feel sorry for myself. It’s just the way things are. Not all of us can be born lighthouses, or nobody would ever get anything done and there would be more sex happening than you could even believe. I just think it’s important that I make my Triangular nature clear up front.

My name is Katie Heaney, and I’m a Bermuda Triangle.

As a result, and possibly as a re-

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Voices sult of other factors like “luck” and “being interested in people who are unavailable and/or terrible for me,” I’ve been single for my entire life.

And I don’t mean that I haven’t had any major long-term relationships, or that I haven’t dated anyone in a really long time, or that I’ve only dated people for a few months at a time. I mean that I have been wholly and totally single for my entire life. Not one boyfriend. Not one short-term dating situation. Not one person with whom I regularly hung out and kissed on the face.

To be honest I don’t even know that I could fairly say that I’ve been on more than one real date. There were a couple of times when I hung out with a boy I liked and he paid for me and we were both single so I think those were dates, but then like a week later he had a girlfriend that wasn’t me and I was cursing his very existence, so it’s hard to say for sure. But more on that later.

People have interesting reactions when you tell them you’ve never had a boyfriend and you’re over the age of 21. Most girls are pretty good at acting like they aren’t shocked, because most of them have at least one friend who doesn’t date as much as the others for whom they’ve learned to be un-

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condescendingly empathetic. When I’m having one of my “something is seriously wrong with me for being alone” phases (which are, thankfully, relatively infrequent), my friends have learned to conjure up relatives/mythical acquaintances/ Grey’s Anatomy characters who have gone even longer than I have without having a boyfriend, so it’s totally not weird at all that I haven’t had one yet. Practically everybody,

I have been wholly single for my entire life. Not one boyfriend... Not one person with whom I regularly hung out and kissed on the face.” except for every last person they can think of at the moment, has been single for as long as I have.

My darling, patient friends tell me that I’m still single only because I’m picky, and because I haven’t met the right person yet. This would feel truer if I hadn’t been shut down by quite so many wrong people that I, despite my allegedly high standards, chased after. In any case, it’s a nice thought.

Sometimes it feels like this is something I should be worried

Voices about. Sometimes, during a couple days every month in particular, I want to spend some time lying on the floor and feeling like there must be something terribly wrong with me. I am at the point in my life where I no longer know another person in my shoes. I could count on my friend Colleen for a long time, but then she had to go and get a pseudo-boyfriend last year. I couldn’t believe that. It was almost like she wasn’t thinking about how her relationship would affect me.

Most of the time it does not upset me to think about my sad, old, decrepit spinster body. Obviously there are about one trillion things that could be worse about my life.

Not having a boyfriend at any given moment bothers me very little. Not having ever had one bothers me only slightly more, only because I want to know that I’ll get to fall in love at least once, for real. Not in the way I’m used to, which involves one-sided daydreaming prolonged over embarrassing lengths of time, projected onto boys and men (and Boyz II Men) who either don’t know me at all, or who know me but don’t exactly like-like me. I’m getting too old for that. At least that’s what I keep trying to tell myself, right after the latest episode of me acting like

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some extra-tall preteen with a Justin Bieber problem has passed.

It makes me feel good to know, though, that I am not alone in every way. Even if I’m the only permanently single person in my group of friends, or the entire world basically, I’m not the only one to have made a royal mess of my love life. (Can you make a mess out of something that doesn’t exist? Yes, actually!) My absolute

My darling, patient friends tell me that I’m still single only because I’m picky, and because I haven’t met the right person yet.” favorite thing to do is sit around a room with my friends and some wine and remind each other of our worst-ever dating stories. We all screw up. We all keep company with weirdos and assholes. We have all taken too long to realize that something that wasn’t even good for us in the first place has ended.

Katie Heaney is the author of NEVER HAVE I EVER: My Life (So Far) Without a Date.

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Voices

KIA MAKARECHI

So You’re Tired of People Being ‘Outraged’?

M

ORE VOICES ARE COMING at us from all directions, and, thanks to emerging media outlets and the social media platforms which amplify them, they’re louder than ever. With these new voices come new learnings, passions and, yes, gripes. For the most part, this is great: An increased diversity of perspectives holds the potential for not only more truths, but a better understandings of the would-be truths that the rest of the media

Singer Katy Perry performs dressed as a geisha during the 2013 American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2013.

Voices has to date held as gospel.

But for others, all this noise is just tiring. People are “tired of outrage.”

Let’s unpack this. We’ll use some commonly heard refrains as a guide.

“Pretty soon everyone will be upset about everything.”

The thing is, people have actually always been upset about the issues that are enraging them now. The only difference is that the person making the above statement is now interacting with perspectives outside their immediate community and is being exposed to what are almost always longstanding grievances of minority communities.

Quite a bit of internet ink was spilled as to whether or not 2013 was “the year of black movies.”

Some more ink will likely be spilled about how the Academy did a pretty horrible job of including movies with black leads in the nominee pool (The Butler, Mandela and Fruitvale Station are not invited to the party). But people aren’t “suddenly” mad that people of color are underrepresented both on screen and at ensuing award shows.

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Another surprise: If your internal “outrage meter” told you that 2013 was the year people started “complaining” about how tacky and offensive it is when celebrities like Katy Perry perform in yellowface, you’re also late to the party! Ask anyone who speaks a foreign language to tell you about a time a sitcom or movie character that was allegedly [insert national-

It’s safe to say that we have and will continue to have heard every idiosyncratic white male beef with everything that has happened and/or will happen.” ity here] spoke gibberish instead of words in [insert corresponding language here], and they’ll be able to rattle off plenty.

“It’s just that every day, there’s some new thing that everyone is mad about.”

This one’s especially fun, because it turns a blind eye to the fact that for decade upon decade, every single major newspaper

TWITTER

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KIA MAKARECHI

and television station has broadcast the perspectives of the most privileged members of American society. Those expressing outrage fatigue scoff at the variety of topics which light up “black Twitter,” but forget that newspaper editorial boards and opinion pages basically remain “white male Twitter” writ-large.

This continues to this day — not only is the old-dude crowd still firmly in power over in America’s newspapers, where the median age of an opinion columnist is 66 and men outnumber women 105 to 38, but we live in a world where a (white, male) Business Insider editor’s annoyance with bathroom attendants in fancy restaurants is cause for their dismissal.

It’s safe to say that we have and will continue to have heard every idiosyncratic white male beef with everything that has happened and/or will happen. We are literally at the point where men are not only recounting how “But who cares, really? smoking weed made them feel Why are people so upset lazy when they were young in the all the time?!” pages of The New York Times but People care because the ismaking policy suggestions based sues that may seem trivial from on their adolescent experiences a more privileged perspective with puffing and passing.

— like whether Selena Gomez wears a bindi — are often coded on the bodies, cultural histories and shared experiences of other

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Twitter users express their outrage fatigue.

Voices communities. In populations for which identity politics is not just the stuff of undergraduate thesis statements, these are issues of life or death. For example, it’s a sign of privilege to not be able to see the discord between a pop star cashing in on culturally specific clothing and a woman of color who faces discrimination and/or violence for authentically wearing that same style of clothing. Discords like that — between appropriations of culture and the realities of life on the ground for said cultures — matter.

Even if we set aside, for a moment, the implications of last year’s George Zimmerman verdict, the murder of Renisha McBride, the countless Americans of Middle-Eastern descent harassed or worse at airports, stop-andfrisk, police brutality toward disenfranchised groups, unemployment insurance, the war on poverty, etc. and only focus on issues like cultural appropriation, there’s no evidence that the inclusion of more diverse voices has cost more historically privileged voices anything. We must remember that, yes, truth matters and social media outrage

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always carries the risk of performativity, but these are problems that deserve critical engagement, not dismissiveness.

Catharsis also matters. It is cathartic for historically marginalized groups to publish, be read and shared, because there’s something truly maddening about not having been able to publish in mainstream media outlets, to not see semi-accurate

It is cathartic for historically marginalized groups to publish, be read and shared, because there’s something truly maddening about not having been able to publish in mainstream media outlets.” representations of yourself, your friends and family on television and in music videos and movies for so long. It’s not just activism, rhetoric and speaking truth to power. The act of publishing is a celebration.

“Stop talking about privilege!

Every life has its challenges.”

Of course, everyone faces their

Voices own set of challenges. But I’m not that interested in convincing someone who doesn’t believe in privilege as a concept that operates on a sliding scale. That’s too basic, but it’s worth noting that privilege is highly correlated with one’s tolerance level for “outrage.” The amount of privilege that one is born with and accumulates over the course of one’s life seems to be indirectly proportionate to one’s patience for the voiced discomfort, outrage or pain of others. And that’s why grown, educated white men feel comfortable writing the words “race card” in columns published in The Washington Post.

It’s worth noting, of course, that “outrage” itself is a weighted term, one that’s in vogue like “backlash” was when people started having feelings about Lena Dunham and Girls. But unlike “backlash,” which at least allows a cause-and-effect, “outrage” reads more like “hysteria,” a historically efficient way of dismissing valid concerns. The very phrase “I’m tired of people being outraged all the time” requires the assumption that the “outrage” is unwarranted, otherwise the speaker would be admitting a

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troubling lack of empathy.

But how about instead of voicing outrage fatigue, we tried listening? Perhaps it can be tiring to be confronted with a wider array of perspectives. But it should also be exciting! We’re operating in a social media age — if an article has spread across the internet, that’s because enough readers feel something about the content of the story to

Yes, truth matters and social media outrage always carries the risk of performativity, but these are problems that deserve critical engagement, not dismissiveness.” share it along. In other words, people care about it.

Or maybe you just really don’t care. But if you just can’t bring yourself to listen, then at least just look away. It doesn’t cost you anything for someone else’s voice to exist.

Kia Makarechi is the senior editor for mobile and innovations at The Huffington Post.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JOHN MINCHILLO/INVISION/AP; KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES; GETTY IMAGES/BLOOMIMAGE RF; STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

Voices

QUOTED

“ Not even the government trusts the government with our private information!”

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“ More proof as to why the rich can afford to pay more in taxes.”

— HuffPost commenter itshotashell

on “Beyonce, Jay-Z Rent Out Theme Park For Blue Ivy’s Birthday Party”

— Jon Stewart

on Obama’s call to move the NSA’s tapped phone data to a third party agency

“ Some shit is just too ridiculous to engage. Let’s use our energy wisely, 2014.”

— Lena Dunham

on Twitter, in response to Jezebel’s $10,000 bounty for un-retouched photos from Dunham’s Vogue cover shoot

“ I’m too old to give a damn about looking old.”

— HuffPost commenter pennywhite on “10 Things You Do That Make You Look 10 Years Older”

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP; JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; JIN LEE/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES; OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

Voices

QUOTED

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If going to heaven means spending eternity with the likes of #MarkDriscoll, wouldn’t that be sort of like going to hell, too?

— HuffPost commenter Steve_McSwain

on “Pastor Mark Driscoll Tweets That All Non-Christians Are Going To Hell... And Twitter Responds”

“ I love Bill Clinton.”

— Barbara Bush,

during an interview with C-SPAN that aired Monday

“ We’re all having withdrawals.”

“ If you are kind to animals, I can forgive just about anything else you’ve done.”

— HuffPost commenter Ohmyhesgood

— Aaron Paul

on the Breaking Bad cast, while promoting his latest film, Hellion, at the Sundance Film Festival

on “James Guiliani, Former Mafia Man Turned Animal Rescuer, Stars In New TV Series ‘The Diamond Collar’”

MOHAMED HOSSAM/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

01.26.14 #85 FEATURES OPEN SEASON ALASKA IS FLAGGING

OP EN SE ASO N

I N EGY P T, A R A B S P R I N G GIVES WAY TO MILITARY WINTER

PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK

BY SOPHIA JONES

PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK

CAIRO —

PREVIOUS PAGE: PATRICK BAZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Ahmed Ammar figures it is only a matter of time before the Egyptian government comes looking for him. ¶ Three weeks ago, soldiers arrested his 17-year-old brother after they caught him trying to hide a flier supporting deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi as he waited to pass through a military checkpoint. Riot police threw him in a prison cell with other suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the northern city of Kafr elSheikh. There, according to Ammar, they told him: “You will never see life again.”

That same night, riot police arrested his older brother in Cairo’s Nasr City for taking part in an anti-government protest. With both of his brothers now behind bars and tainted by supposed links to the Brotherhood — which has been branded as a terrorist organization by the military generals who preside over Egypt — Ammar is resigned to the seeming inevitability that he may soon join them.

“This government is more oppressive than Mubarak,” Ammar

tells The WorldPost, referring to the dictator who ruled Egypt for three decades. “Anyone can be arrested.”

Three years after the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak and seemingly launched a new era of democracy and rule of law, Egypt has essentially landed back at the beginning. Today, much like before, anyone who dares challenge the government invites swift arrest — suspected Brotherhood members, secular activists, and even journalists.

Before mass protests ended his autocratic rule, Mubarak maintained power — even in the face of economic weakness and social ferment — by relying on a formidable security apparatus to crush any

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hint of opposition. The revolution enabled the Brotherhood to rally popular support, culminating in the elevation of Mohammed Morsi to the presidency. But Morsi’s popularity proved short-lived as he granted himself sweeping powers and drafted a controversial Islamist-dominated constitution.

“Morsi’s mixing of politics and religion doesn’t work with me,” says May Mohamed Kamel, a 59-year-old housewife who protested against Mubarak in the 2011 revolution. “I am religious.

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I went to Mecca. I know my religion. But if I argue with the Muslim Brotherhood, they say I’ll go to hell.”

Today Morsi awaits trial on charges of high treason and incitement of violence, while his Brotherhood followers scramble to evade the same state security apparatus that dominated Egyptian life before the revolution. The generals who propped up Mubarak are again firmly in control, with supreme leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi even saying he may run for president.

Much of the Egyptian public seems to have accepted this

Now-ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood arrives to speak at a press conference on June 13, 2012, in Cairo, Egypt.

AP PHOTO/KHALIL HAMRA

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state of affairs, regardless of the democratic ideals that drove the revolution. The once-popular battle cry of “bread, freedom, and social justice” has seemingly been forgotten, trumped by the military-backed regime’s promise to restore security.

Indeed, a referendum held earlier this month on a new constitution that effectively affirms the military’s dominant role passed with overwhelming support — albeit in an atmosphere of fear and pressure.

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This government is more oppressive than Mubarak.

Anyone can be arrested.”

Many here now credit Gen. Sissi with having “saved Egyptians from befalling to the fate of the Brotherhood-led Islamic state,” says Hafsa Halawa, a former employee of the National Democratic Institute, an advocacy group that was prosecuted by the military regime that ruled after Mubarak’s ouster.

Pro-military propaganda has

Egyptian protesters set tires on fire during clashes between supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood near the group’s headquarters in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

OPEN SEASON

become ubiquitous, broadcast on television and across billboards showing soldiers holding smiling infants.

By Halawa’s account, the military has effectively co-opted the protest movement that ended Morsi’s presidency last June.

They have “capitalized on fear, exhaustion and frustration with the Muslim Brotherhood-led government,” she says. “Through the propaganda, the original message of those protests has been skewed.” In short, public revulsion at the prospect of Islamist rule has been manipulated into tacit acceptance for a crackdown antithetical to democratic rule.

For Ammar, popular support for the military has not stopped him from speaking his mind. Even after security forces took his brothers away, the 22-year-old civil engineer refuses to hide. He is unabashed in acknowledging that he writes news stories for the proMuslim Brotherhood online news website Rassd, which is frequently re-printed on the Brotherhood’s official website. And unlike many critics of the government, he refuses to silence himself. His brothers’ arrests have only deepened Ammar’s commitment to the

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cause, while reinforcing his belief that the generals ruling Egypt have hijacked the revolution.

“The government is planting the seeds for civil war,” he says, scoffing at Egypt’s decision to ban the Brotherhood, and raising

Three years after the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak and seemingly launched a new era of democracy and rule of law, Egypt has essentially landed back at the beginning. his voice defiantly. “The Muslim Brotherhood is all over Egypt!

They are part of society. Are neighbors just supposed to start calling each other terrorists?”

Over the last six months, amid the crackdown overseen by the government and the military, more than 1,000 Brotherhood sympathizers have been killed. Thousands of others have been jailed, according to Human Rights Watch.

Some land in prison merely for raising four fingers — a salute in solidarity with victims of a deadly crackdown in August at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In 2011, Egypt’s Arab Spring toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, ending his 30year rule.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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The same combination of ills that catalyzed the revolution remains — poverty, joblessness, disgust over corruption and anger over human rights violations — yet the public yearning for stability appears to be the paramount concern.

“I don’t accept going against the government now,” says Kamel, the housewife who joined the protests against Mubarak three years ago. “We have to build our constitution. We have to put things in order.”

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She sees the scores of arrests as realities of Egypt’s current tumult.

Rules are rules, she insists, even rules limiting the ability to protest.

“If your house is ruined, you have to build pillars first, and then you hire guards outside your building,” she says, analogizing this to the military’s roadmap for Egypt. “And then things come in order.”

Ammar and his family have become acquainted with the human costs of that order: potentially lengthy imprisonments and uncertainty.

Though he may be outspoken, he is also inclined to stay on the

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on March 3, 2013. AlSissi is a potential presidential contender in Egypt today.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

OPEN SEASON

right side of jail. Ask him if he or his relatives count themselves among the Brotherhood and he hesitates before saying no.

Of the three brothers, he is known as the diplomatic one, the quiet one, the one who avoids trouble and solves problems.

“They say I’m lucky because good things come to me,” he says.

“Even now, I’m the lucky one.” His voice bears a tinge of guilt.

Ammar does not consider him-

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I am religious. I went to Mecca. I know my religion.

But if I argue with the Muslim Brotherhood, they say I’ll go to hell.” self as religious as his older brother, but he says Islamic, or Shariah law, should be a leading factor in Egyptian politics. It’s the country’s “moral compass,” he adds, maintaining that Islam and de-

An Egyptian Muslim protester during a rally organized by the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010.

MOSA’AB ELSHAMY/FLICKR/GETTY IMAGES

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mocracy easily mesh.

His older brother, Mohamed, a 25-year-old medical equipment engineer, is considered the most traditional of the trio. Always fascinated with politics, he grew up telling people he wanted to be president one day. In college, he threw himself into Brotherhoodaffiliated student groups. And when Morsi came along, Mohamed saw a man he could relate to. He was a leader who combined conservative Islamic beliefs with Egyptian politics. He represented

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a Brotherhood whose members had been driven underground and imprisoned under Mubarak.

Mohamed married right out of college and now has a young son — a child Ammar fears will never know his father.

Mahmoud, the youngest of the three brothers, is known as the fun, rebellious and spontaneous brother.

“He’s more like a westerner than an Egyptian,” Ammar says.

“Sometimes he’s much more religious, other times he’s not into it.

Just like any other kid.”

Mahmoud always told his mother he wanted to be an engineer, but when he hit his teen years, he

A man grieves next to dead bodies laid at Iman mosque, which was turned into a makeshift morgue following the violent dispersal of Rabaa Square and the death of at least 800 civilians at the hands of security forces in Cairo in August 2013.

OPEN SEASON

secretly got his diving license. If he gets out of prison, he hopes to be a diving instructor, teaching and traveling all over the world.

Ammar contemplates these aspirations and fears his brothers will spend their lives in prison. He fears he will land there, too.

“Since Rabaa, all the men in my family have been running away from home,” he says. “My nation is stolen from me.”

This is far from an idle threat.

In the Egypt of the moment, concerned citizens are encouraged to report suspected Brotherhood members by calling into hotlines run by Egypt’s National Security Agency. The numbers are broadcast on television screens across the country. Homes are raided, and many Morsi supporters have gone missing or fled underground.

The Egyptian government has labeled the Brotherhood responsible for a string of attacks on security offices across the country.

Buses full of young conscripts have been hit by roadside bombs, police headquarters blown up, and officers shot to death. Sinai-based militants claimed responsibility for many of the attacks, while the Brotherhood denied involvement.

The government has also ac-

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cused the Brotherhood of violent sectarian attacks following Morsi’s ouster in July, with many Copt’s rallying behind the military, fearful of what lasting Islamist rule could mean for their minority religious group.

Bold letters reading “Islam” have been spray-painted on churches following pro-Morsi rallies. Residences and homes of Coptic families have been torched. In late October, masked gunmen on

If your house is ruined, you have to build pillars first, and then you hire guards outside your building. And then things come in order.” motorcycles gunned down a Coptic wedding in Cairo, killing several people, including an 8-year-old girl. While the government said it arrested Brotherhood members who carried out the attack, the group denied any connection.

When asked about the attacks and political rhetoric targeting Copts, Ammar professes ignorance.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” he says. “Nothing stands out in my mind.”

Reports of violence have only

AP PHOTO/MOHAMED AL SEHETY

OPEN SEASON

fueled more violence. On Jan. 10, editor-in-chief of Daily News Egypt, Maher Hamoud, tweeted: “Old friend in Damietta stabbed, held in intensive care, his company looted for suspicion of being [Muslim Brotherhood]. Whoops, he’s not!”

When Ammar’s brothers first went missing, he feared he would never hear from them again. For five days, their mother took food and water from prison to prison in Kafr el-Sheikh, searching for

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her youngest son. When a lawyer finally tracked Mahmoud down in a riot police camp, the teenager told his mother that he had not been fed or given water for three days, Ammar says.

Mahmoud described unbearable conditions inside the jail: Every day, riot police threw cold water on the inmates while telling them they would never be allowed to return home.

Over the decades, Egypt’s prisons have gained a reputation as places where torture is considered standard procedure.

Anti-riot policemen block the entrance of a polling station in Giza, Egypt, in 2007.

The Muslim Brotherhood accused the government of arresting its members, barring many from polling stations and rigging the vote, as Brotherhood candidates competed for the first time in Shura Council elections.

AFP PHOTO/MOHAMED EL-SHAHED

OPEN SEASON

Mubarak’s regime tortured political opponents, according to human rights advocates and victims. So did the interim military leadership, and so did Morsi’s government, these sources say.

Ammar does not know what is befalling his brothers in prison, but he fears they are the latest in a long line of Egyptian detainees

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to suffer such treatment.

His brothers have yet to be formally charged, Ammar says. On Jan. 11, the youngest, Mahmoud, received a renewed detention of 15 days pending investigation, and his family was informed he would be moved to a juvenile facility with only one or two family visits allowed every month.

Landing in prison without charges places Mahmoud in crowded company. Leading revo-

A protestor shows four fingers, symbolizing the Rabaa al-Adawyia mosque sit-in during clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and security forces in Cairo last August.

Today, one can get arrested for making the fourfinger salute.

OPEN SEASON

lutionary secular activists like Alaa Abd El Fattah and Ahmed Maher, as well journalists like the Al Jazeera crew of Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, have recently captured headlines for such imprisonments.

Abd El Fattah and Maher — both heavily instrumental in the 2011 revolution — have been in prison for more than two months after breaking the protest law instituted in late November that requires police approval of protests. The three Al Jazeera journalists have not been charged, though the prosecutor general accuses them of terrorism.

Under the terms of the new military-backed constitution that Egyptians approved in mid-January, detainees must be interrogated within 24 hours of their arrest, and a lawyer must be present. If a week passes without gaining the right to appeal their detention, detainees are supposed to be freed.

Actual conditions in Egypt stand in stark contrast to such principles, as the constitutional referendum itself underscored: Many of those who urged Egyptians to vote “no” — challenging the government’s aggressive campaign for

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“yes” votes — were rounded up and detained, have not been formally charged and are routinely denied access to lawyers.

Ammar fears joining that group, yet he cannot bring himself to stay underground.

After his brothers were taken to jail, his mother pleaded with him

Today, much like before, anyone who dares challenge the government invites swift arrest — suspected Brotherhood members, secular activists, and even journalists. to cease his own protesting. He made no promises, he says. He is half ashamed and half intent.

“The people in prison will never see daylight again,” he says, “unless we make noise for them.”

Sophia Jones is a Cairo-based Middle East correspondent for The Huffington Post.

The WorldPost is a new partnership between The Huffington Post and the Berggruen Institute on Governance.

Alaska IS Flagging

Can Mark Begich Keep It From Falling Apart?

By Eliot Nelson

ANCHORAGE, Alaska —

PREVIOUS PAGE: ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

On a balmy day last August, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) stood at a makeshift kitchen in the Alaska Native Medical Center and gleefully watched a chef whisk a bowl of reindeer fat. ¶ “I’d rather have this than Jell-O!” the first-term lawmaker gushed, watching his instructor beat away at the bowl of rapidly congealing triglycerides. “It’d make a great dip.”

Begich was filming a PSA on nutritious ways to prepare indigenous Alaskan dishes, and his enthusiasm contrasted sharply with the sanitized meeting room where the video was being shot, not to mention the gutted and cleaned remains of a creature best known as Santa’s chauffeur.

Grinding Rudolph into snack food might upset Americans in the lower 48. But in Alaska, where native peoples comprise a whopping 20 percent of the state’s population, the optics are fabulous — particularly for Begich, who doesn’t exactly fit the mold of rugged Alaskan outdoorsman.

Friends describe the 51-year-old lawmaker as a “city kid,” who’s more at home wearing pleated

pants and reading economic briefs than decked out in Thinsulate scaling a glacier. By most accounts, his ideal lunch involves a soggy, Saran-wrapped cheese sandwich, a folder of documents to review and a car ferrying him to his next constituent meeting.

Yet here was this champion of the Kraft Single, extolling the gastronomic virtues of reindeer flesh.

Just as politicians in the heartland are all too eager to nosh on fried butter at state fairs, Alaska’s lawmakers never miss an opportunity to honor local customs.

And with Begich’s first reelection campaign looming, there aren’t enough hours in the day or cuddly arctic animals to pulverize.

“This counts as your aerobics for the day!” declared Begich, really putting his back into the operation.

The PSA served another pur-

Previous page: Sen. Mark Begich speaks during a hearing titled “One Year Later: Examining the Ongoing Recovery from Hurricane Sandy,” on Nov. 6, 2013, on Capitol Hill.

ELIOT NELSON

ALASKA IS FLAGGING

pose, too. Acting as Begich’s sous chef was Sen. Maria Cantwell (DWash.), who had recently been named chairwoman of the Indian Affairs Committee — a comparatively low-profile assignment within the Beltway, but one of tremendous significance to Alaska’s natives.

She was one in a long line of senators, cabinet secretaries, FCC commissioners and agency directors invited up to the 49th State to witness its idiosyncrasies firsthand. Costs are higher here — transporting goods and services

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Just as politicians in the heartland are all too eager to nosh on fried butter at state fairs, Alaska’s lawmakers never miss an opportunity to honor local customs. to towns without road access isn’t easy — and federal regulations can run afoul of local customs, particularly native ones.

Committee chairs like Cantwell have helped Begich craft some of his biggest legislative achievements, like securing automatic reauthorization of the Indian

Sens. Maria Cantwell (left) and Begich (center) speak to constituents at a fishing camp on the outskirts of Galena.

ANNIE GOWEN/THE WASHINGTON POST

ALASKA IS FLAGGING

Health Care Act and expanding mental health services for veterans. Today, Begich’s goal was far more modest: to revise federal law to accommodate Native Alaskans’ diets by allowing public facilities like hospitals to serve traditional Alaskan dishes.

As Begich and Cantwell made small talk about the leanness of caribou and the tenderness of seal ribs, about a dozen hospital administrators anxiously stood off-camera. The visit wasn’t only about securing Begich’s future, but theirs as well. Nowhere is the procurement of federal resources more central to a state’s survival

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than in Alaska, where Washington props up about one-third of the state’s economy and a similar percentage of its jobs.

Already that day, Begich and Cantwell had been given a breathless tour of the medical center, accompanied by the standard cadre of harried aides making sure the senators kept to their schedule, and grant-hungry administrators, making sure they didn’t.

Out of earshot, hospital staff groused about sequestration’s effects on preventive health initiatives, and worried whether Congress’ frugality would undermine their ability to medevac patients from the remote towns that dot the landscape.

For decades, Alaska was de-

The streets of Homer, a “quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem.”

ALASKA IS FLAGGING

fined by politicians like the late Sen. Ted Stevens, whom Begich defeated in 2008, and Rep. Don Young. Cheered on by Alaska’s close-knit political class, the two Republicans brazenly exploited their positions atop key congressional committees to steer billions of dollars to America’s largest and least-developed state.

“If he’s the chief porker, I’m upset,” Young once quipped about Stevens’ renown for procuring federal earmarks. “I’d like to be a little oinker, myself.”

But with oil production declining, its future in natural gas undercut by finds in the lower 48 and Congress gripped by austerity fever, Alaska’s position has rarely been so tenuous. As the effects of the 2009 stimulus wear off — which, along with high oil prices, helped shield Alaska from the ravages of the Great Recession — residents fret with increasing alarm about the state’s long-term prospects.

To make matters worse, Congress has put the kibosh on earmarks, which were crucial to Alaska’s modernization in the second half of the 20th century. And so, officials from all corners of the state are scrambling to procure what they can from their congres-

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sional delegation.

Begich’s allies say his understated style and diplomatic approach are well-suited to a Congress marked by partisanship and extreme fiscal austerity.

“Sen. Stevens and others had to roll up their sleeves and start swinging,” said Bill Popp, a longtime Begich confidante who is

Begich’s campaign won’t shy away from Palin, whose standing with the public couldn’t be worse if she proposed opening up Mount McKinley to mountaintop removal mining. currently president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. “They had to be very blunt, they had to be very aggressive. Now, it’s a little more diplomatic.”

Begich agrees, saying he tries to use such aggressive tactics sparingly.

“It’s great media, people like to cover that, but that’s not really results-oriented,” he says, adding that excessive posturing can lead to eye rolls from colleagues and observers.

ELIOT NELSON

Begich deplanes in Galena after the town’s flooding disaster.

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“It’s not ‘Oh, jeez, here he goes again with another rant.’ They know I’m serious.”

THE SPECTER OF ‘FOR SALE’ SIGNS If Ted Stevens was most responsible for building today’s Alaska, it may be up to Mark Begich to keep it from falling apart.

Alaska’s economy has fared well during Begich’s term in the Senate, and his work on the 2009 stimulus package quickly established him as a viable successor to Stevens in the role of the state’s chief appropriator. Per capita, Alaska benefited more from the Recovery Act than any other state.

Now, as Begich travels around the state with an eye toward his reelection campaign, he is quick to point out his rapid ascension in Senate seniority and his seat on the Appropriations Committee.

Still, he’s faced with a far more tightfisted Congress than his predecessors were, and a state economy that is flirting with catastrophe.

Washington spending and the oil industry are responsible for a combined two-thirds of Alaska’s economy and jobs, and in some communities 71 percent of personal income derives from government funding. A dramatic

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change in the status quo could be disastrous, transforming Alaska from one of the country’s most economically crucial states — one where each resident receives an annual dividend check from the state’s oil revenue — to something amounting to a glorified territory.

Gregg Erickson, an economist who has worked extensively

“ At the end of the day, Alaskans are worried about what the economy is doing. Will they still have a job, is the military going to be here, is the oil and gas flowing?” on state issues, predicted that Alaska’s declining fortunes could cause an economic downturn that would eclipse the one visited upon Michigan after the auto industry’s collapse.

“The specter of ‘For Sale’ signs looms large,” Erickson told HuffPost.

“Think Appalachia with seven months of winter,” Alaska-based journalists Amanda Coyne and Tony Hopfinger wrote, rather bluntly, in their book Crude Awakening.

With earmarks, it was easier for lawmakers to address specific con-

AP PHOTO/AL GRILLO

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stituent needs — and for them to do so much more brazenly. Now, finesse and creativity are musts.

Begich cited his efforts to court Republicans and committee chairs like Cantwell in order to secure long-term funding for as many crucial programs as possible, like the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Act. He also placed a hold on a three-star general’s promotion to keep a squadron of F-16s stationed in Fairbanks.

“I love earmarks, I’d love them back, but I’m focused on language and legislation that ensures sustainability and permanency,” Begich said.

He’s bullish about the state’s future and anticipates growth in

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mining, tourism and shipping, thanks — in one of the global economy’s more bittersweet developments — to expanded Arctic sea lanes created by global warming.

He also speaks of possible growth in oil and gas production stemming from increased energy exploration, and another military buildup, as the Obama administration shifts the country’s military and diplomatic focus to East Asia.

Begich comes to such optimism naturally. But pointing to a future full of growth and prosperity doesn’t hurt in an election year, if only because predictions of economic malaise and crushed dreams make for lousy bumper stickers.

Democrats want Begich to remain upbeat. Their Senate majority depends in no small part on his reelection, and Republicans are

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), left, listens to Senate candidate Begich, on screen, answer a question during a congressional debate in Anchorage on Oct. 30, 2008.

ANDREW BURTON/GETTY IMAGES

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planning to target him with every weapon in their arsenal.

History suggests that Begich’s seat should be an easy get for the GOP in 2014. Alaska has traditionally hewed conservative, and Begich was elected by the thinnest of margins in 2008. He won only after Stevens was found guilty on corruption charges eight days before Election Day. (The conviction was later overturned.)

On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has already announced his candidacy, as has former Alaska Attorney General Dan

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Sullivan. Joe Miller, who beat out Sen. Lisa Murkowski to become the GOP nominee in 2010, only to lose to her write-in campaign, is also running again.

And because nothing gets cable news hosts and web editors as hot and bothered, questions about a Sarah Palin candidacy refuse to die, despite lukewarm interest from the former governor and vice presidential candidate.

Begich’s campaign won’t shy away from Palin, whose standing with the public couldn’t be worse if she proposed opening up Mount McKinley to mountaintop removal mining.

“I’m not even sure if she still

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, speaks during a press conference to announce an operation that seized the largest number of illegal guns in the city’s history in August 2013.

Bloomberg has criticized Begich, who takes a more conservative position on guns, for his vote against expanded background checks.

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lives in the state,” Begich said.

“She would be a formidable opponent in the Republican [primary], but I have no worry or fear of her,” he added. “I think she is so disconnected from Alaska now that I’m not sure she even knows what’s going on.”

Begich, who was born in Anchorage, will likely highlight his Alaskan roots to draw a contrast with the eventual Republican nominee. All three major announced candidates were born and raised out of state.

Still, he is keenly aware of the state’s political leanings, and so he’s broken with his party on a number of matters — most notably his vote against expanding background checks on gun purchasers and his support for expanded oil and gas exploration.

The botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, the federal portal to health insurance exchanges in Alaska and 35 other states, has forced Begich to distance himself from both President Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Begich voted for the health care law, which remains unpopular among Alaskans.

“I’ve always said it’s not a perfect bill,” Begich said. “I did vote for it,

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but I never said it was perfect, and I’ve recommended changes.”

In one recent Oval Office meeting, Begich excoriated the president for the website’s failed launch. Afterwards, Begich’s office quickly released a statement decrying the administration’s “mismanagement” of the law’s implementation. More recently

Alaska has suffered a string of bad exes. Enter Mark Begich, whose appearance, demeanor and outlook are those of the sensible rebound. he introduced a proposal to add “copper” health plans to Obamacare’s health exchanges, which would feature lower premiums but higher out-of-pocket costs.

The GOP won’t let Begich off so easily, aiming to align him so closely with Obamacare that voters would be forgiven for thinking their junior senator had programmed HealthCare.gov himself.

“Mark Begich was the deciding vote for Obamacare, which most Alaskans would like dismantled,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Brook Hougesen. “The fact is that without Mark Begich in the Sen-

TOM WILLIAMS/CQ ROLL CALL

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ate, Obamacare wouldn’t exist.”

Begich responded to the attack with a chuckle. “There are sixty 60th votes!” he said.

Outside money will also play a major role in the race. In November, Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group financed by the Koch brothers, ran an ad criticizing Begich for his Obamacare vote. The ad was panned for featuring a Maryland-based actress and, more conspicuously, for being set in a decidedly un-Alaskan Provençal-style kitchen.

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“Did you see that Maryland actress?” Begich asked. “I know Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers will like to play onto one issue, but voters in Alaska like to look at the whole package.”

Left-leaning advocates have also targeted Begich for his more moderate and conservative positions.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group co-chaired by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has already pilloried him for his vote against expanded background checks. Begich, who briefly belonged to the group when he was mayor of Anchorage, all but encourages such attacks from his left

Begich speaks with reporters after a vote in the Senate that broke a filibuster and allowed debate on gun control legislation.

Begich and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., were the two Democrats to vote to continue the filibuster.

AP PHOTO/MARK THIESSEN

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flank, believing they help brand him as a political maverick.

“It’s not difficult for me!” Begich said about whether his vote has become a political liability. “You press people think it’s difficult.”

Nonetheless, it will be a tough needle for Begich to thread.

Alaska’s often contradictory politics — solidly Republican yet strongly receptive to government money — will require him to cast himself as both politically independent and connected enough to his party apparatus to secure

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federal funds for the state.

So far, at least, he seems to be succeeding. Polling shows Begich defeating all of the declared Republican candidates in 2014, a fact the senator attributes to his focus on Alaskan issues.

“At the end of the day, Alaskans are worried about what the economy is doing,” he said. “Will they still have a job, is the military going to be here, is the oil and gas flowing?”

A BREAK WITH TRADITION For much of Alaska’s history, such essentials were rarely in question. And so, emboldened by

Dan Sullivan, right, smiles while announcing a U.S. Senate bid in Anchorage, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2013.

Sullivan, a former natural resources commissioner and Alaska attorney general, is seeking the Republican nomination.

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skyrocketing oil revenues and a Washington all too happy to dole out earmarks, Alaskans focused on far-fetched ideas and lavish projects instead.

Alaska’s governing elite sought federal dollars to build things like an $8 billion dam that would provide 20 times the state’s electricity needs. There were also failed attempts to cultivate a thriving agricultural sector, despite a prohibitively short growing season.

In the 1970s, Sen. Mike Gravel, a Democrat, vigorously lobbied for the construction of “Denali City,” a domed city that would draw tourists from the world over.

Alaska became defined by egos and personalities as large as the state itself. Not a year went by without stories of corruption, favoritism, nepotism and pie-inthe-sky idealism. Take Bill Allen, former CEO of energy contractor VECO Corporation and arguably Alaska’s most powerful businessman. When Allen wasn’t going on fishing trips with his good friend Ted Stevens, or setting up shop in the Juneau hotel where federal prosecutors say he bribed state lawmakers, he was spending time with one of his closest companions, a teenage runaway named Bambi.

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Or Wally Hickel, a onetime governor and interior secretary under Richard Nixon. Hickel ran for governor again in 1990 as the nominee of the Alaska Independence Party, which was founded for the express purpose of seceding from the union. He won.

And, of course, Sarah Palin, whose rollout as a national poli-

“ He’s just a regular guy.

He’s easy to talk to.” tician was such a disaster that within weeks of her debut as John McCain’s running mate, Saturday Night Live writers were blockquoting her in lieu of an original script.

Alaska’s two most effective legislators, Stevens and Young, could be notoriously tone-deaf. Stevens once complained that Alaskans didn’t fully appreciate the sacrifices he made for them, grousing, “I could go out and make $1 million a year without any question” instead of serving in the Senate.

Young, meanwhile, drew condemnations from both sides of the aisle recently when he referred to Mexican laborers as “wetbacks.”

Put another way, Alaska has suffered a string of bad exes. Enter Mark Begich, whose appearance, demeanor and outlook are those of the sensible rebound. He

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Begich questions Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf during a full committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Nov. 15, 2011. Elmendorf presented the committee with the CBO’s fiscal and legislative policy options for increasing economic growth and employment, including increased aid to the unemployed, tax credits to lower and middle income households and reducing employees’ payroll taxes.

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might well provide Alaska’s jilted electorate the measure of stability it has sorely lacked.

With his upbeat but somewhat bland personality, and his standard-issue Trent Lott haircut brushed sideways into a neatly contained mass, Begich appears fresh off the senatorial assembly line. And whereas the often surly Young and Stevens cut their teeth in remote and rough frontiers, like Fairbanks and Fort Yukon, Begich was raised in Anchorage’s relative comfort and urbanity.

“He’s just a regular guy,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one of Begich’s closest friends in the Senate. “He’s easy to talk to.”

That amiability aided Begich in his earliest professional pursuits.

By the time he graduated high school, he was already a thriving businessman. At 18, he had obtained a business license to sell jewelry and was helping his mother manage a number of real estate properties. So abundant were his opportunities in Anchorage that he opted to skip college. Today Begich is the only member of the Senate — and his family — without a college degree.

“It was a pretty optimistic time in Alaska,” said Bill Popp. “The

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pipeline had just wrapped up and the money was starting to flow.

There were a lot of opportunities, especially for kids.”

Begich’s most impressive adolescent undertaking was an 18-and-under club called The Motherlode. Many other teenagers, finding themselves young, free and owning a profitable nightclub

Today Begich is the only member of the Senate — and his family — without a college degree. in the disco era, might have descended into a hedonistic spiral, like some kind of subarctic Steve Rubell. But Begich was methodical, going to great lengths to keep alcohol and drugs off the premises and, characteristically, spending far more time with the club’s books than on its dance floor.

“He ran The Motherlode with very high standards,” said Popp, who also DJed at the club. “They had high-quality bouncers at the front door. It was the talk of the town.”

Politics was the last thing on Begich’s mind, thanks in no small part to his late father, Nick Begich, who had served as Alaska’s at-large representative to Con-

MARC LESTER/ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS/MCT/GETTY IMAGES

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gress. When Begich was 10, his father was killed when the twin engine Cessna 310 carrying him and House Majority Leader Hale Boggs crashed in the Gulf of Alaska.

“Why would I do something that took my dad away at 10 years old?”

Begich said, recalling how his father’s death affected him. “Politics was not of interest to me.”

That all changed when The Motherlode’s landlord canceled its lease to make way for a strip club.

Begich tried desperately to keep his

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establishment open. In his view, the decision would not only shutter a safe haven for Anchorage’s entertainment-starved youth, but would bring yet another adults-only establishment to a boomtown already teeming with vice.

“He had every right to cancel the lease,” Begich said of the landlord, “but he was destroying not just a business, but a pretty important thing for the community.”

Begich and his business partner petitioned the neighborhood about blocking the strip club, later taking their grievances to the city council — a move that

Joe Miller, who beat out Sen. Lisa Murkowski to become the GOP nominee in 2010, only to lose to her write-in campaign, is running again on the Republican side.

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ultimately delayed the establishment’s opening.

“That was the first time I had ever seen something like that happen,” Begich said of his introduction to governance. “I got interested in being involved.”

Begich was well-positioned. In the ever-changing landscape of Alaska society — awash with oil speculators, seasonal employees and cultural refugees from the lower 48 — the Begiches were the closest thing to nobility that Anchorage had.

“Everybody knew the Begich family,” Popp said.

Begich’s mother, Pegge, ran the family’s real estate company and remained active in politics, serving on a number of local boards and task forces. She would later stage two unsuccessful runs for her late husband’s congressional seat. Begich is the fourth of six children, and his oldest brother, Nick Jr., ultimately became president of the Alaska Federation of Teachers.

“Mark was a networker. He never had a problem talking to anybody,” Popp said.

Begich brought the same hyperambitious approach to politics that he had to business, and his ascent was a speedy one. At 19, he

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landed a job in the city’s health department and later became the driver for Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles, who would go on to serve two terms as governor.

In 1988, at 26, Begich won a spot on the Anchorage Assembly and was eventually elevated to the role of Assembly chair. In 2003, after two unsuccessful attempts, he was elected mayor of Anchorage, the first Democrat to serve in that role since Knowles.

All the while, Begich helped expand and manage his family’s real estate holdings, while starting a vending machine company on the side.

“He has a different energy level than normal people,” said Mike Abbott, chief operating officer of the Anchorage school district and city manager during Begich’s term as mayor. “He just has a big motor.”

That motor will have Begich and his team crisscrossing Alaska’s wild and wooly environs for the next year. They’ll make their case in lonesome villages on the edge of the Arctic tundra and huddled beside North Slope oil workers in below-zero conditions.

They’ll travel on rickety fishing boats in the Kenai Peninsula and aboard turbulence-rattled prop planes, many departing from Ted Stevens International Airport, an imposing 4,500-acre reminder of

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AP PHOTO/MARK THIESSEN

what Begich has to live up to.

‘DON’T YOU WANT TO MOVE?’ Despite Begich’s pragmatic outlook, there are signs that Alaska’s status quo isn’t changing without a fight. Much of the state’s power structure remains intact — the so-called “good old boys” whom Palin relentlessly attacked during her populist campaign for governor. Old habits, like the legislature’s cozy relationship with big oil, are dying hard.

At one point during their tour of

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the medical center, Begich and his aides were accosted by representatives of one of Alaska’s village corporations, which are tasked with managing tribal resources.

“You guys are stalkers!” Begich joked as he and his staff beat a hasty retreat.

The group was hoping to discuss fishing rights, an issue they claimed Begich had promised to address months before. Another, smaller village corporation, they explained, had been granted more fishing rights. Dejected, they made for the exits.

Asked why a smaller village would be given preferential treat-

Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell launches his Senate campaign on Sept.

12, 2013.

Republicans could have a bruising primary in August 2014 ahead of the general election battle with Begich.

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ment, one representative sighed.

His response could have well been the title of a textbook on Alaskan politics.

“Their chief is friends with Don Young.”

Such economic and political uncertainty is beginning to cast a pall over the Last Frontier.

The very same week Begich and Cantwell toured the state, the town council of Ketchikan, population 8,000, voted to expand daily ferry service to its airport and a smattering of homes. Funding for a bridge had failed to materialize in Washington, and residents would have to make do with a less desirable alternative.

The significance was lost on no one. This was the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the infamous road link that had become nationally synonymous with bloated federal budgets. It solidified Alaska’s reputation as one of the country’s deepest money pits.

The expanded ferry service didn’t just herald the demise of a large-scale infrastructure project, but perhaps foreshadowed a more widespread decline in the state’s fortunes. Ted Stevens was dead.

The future of the energy industry, which for decades had provided

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the state with more political and economic leverage than it knew what to do with, was uncertain.

The state that had once wielded more relative influence than any other might soon be struggling to validate its very existence.

“Uncle Ted is no longer with us,” one Ketchikan assembly member lamented.” “The moon and the

The state’s population is mostly composed of people whose historical ties to it are thin. If the energy sector were to shrink, it’s not a stretch to assume that most of its employees would relocate, perhaps to the Dakotas or Texas. stars are no longer in alignment.”

Eleven-hundred miles away, Begich and Cantwell touched down in Galena, another remote Alaskan town learning to temper its expectations. Flooding had devastated the 500-person bush community that spring when the Yukon river jammed with melting ice, causing it to swell up and spill over into the town. Cars were abandoned, residents frantically shepherded

DOUGLAS GRAHAM/CQ ROLL CALL

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onto planes and sled dog teams mushed onto boats.

Begich and his aides had come bearing supplies. In addition to a replacement part for the town’s sanitation truck — a delivery that would have otherwise taken several weeks to arrive — the group had brought fruit and other perishables, veritable luxuries in such an isolated and barren place. The job of Alaskan appropriator, it seemed, never ends.

Galena’s history closely mirrors Alaska’s economic rise and cur-

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rent uncertainty. The town was once home to a military installation, which helped fuel its development and kept it in the good graces of Washington lawmakers.

But in the late 2000s, the facility was slated to be closed, leading to an exodus of residents and, more pressingly, budget shortfalls.

In 2009, with its future uncertain and the Recovery Act being hammered out in Congress, Galena spent $40,000 of its minuscule budget on lobbying. In 2010, it spent $60,000 — more money per capita than any other municipal, county or state government in the United States. (Los Ange-

Begich talks with reporters as he makes his way to the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 17, 2013.

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les, for comparison, also spent $60,000.) Galena received $1.5 million in federal grants in return.

Such a sum would suggest that the town would be bursting at the seams by now with glittering municipal buildings and commercial activity.

But even setting aside the recent flooding, Galena is far from a robust and prosperous community. What buildings remain are faded and drab, and the roads are pockmarked and muddy. The town’s airport consists of a tiny ramshackle building, inside which travelers listen to their flight statuses via an old transistor radio patched into the cockpits of inbound planes. Apart from the gorgeous expanse of rolling hills and wild flowers encircling the town, Galena is not a terribly attractive or vibrant place.

Signs of a recovery were few and far between during Begich and Cantwell’s visit. One local law enforcement official tried to remain upbeat as he sifted through papers in the back of his bangedup pickup truck. His patrol car, the officer explained, was destroyed in the flooding.

After being given a tour of the wreckage, and taking a 30-minute

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trip downriver to a fishing camp, the senators and their staffs assembled in a community center to discuss town business.

There was no talk that day of domed cities or billion-dollar dams. Instead, discussions centered around far more practical concerns, like how red tape had prevented local FEMA officials

“ It’s not ‘Oh, jeez, here he goes again with another rant.’ They know I’m serious.” from responding in a timely manner to the disaster, and how rising temperatures were affecting the annual fishing harvest.

Begich responded with a characteristic mix of technocratic curiosity and political savvy, referring questioners to relevant officials but also touting his own efforts on their behalf.

“We’re trying to show our committees what you know,” he said of his work in Congress, “that it’s more expensive here.”

But earmarks were out of the question, and it was unclear whether Begich’s discussion of his spot on a Commerce subcommittee provided much comfort.

Evacuation planes were initially

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so sparse during the flooding, one elderly woman recalled, that only tribal elders could be speedily removed. The rest of the town — including most of its children — had to wait much longer to leave.

There was a sad kind of poetry to her story. Just as the majority of Galena’s residents were left behind, the majority of Alaska’s native peoples would be the ones to bear the brunt of a major economic collapse.

The state’s population is mostly composed of people whose historical ties to it are thin. If the energy sector were to shrink, it’s not a stretch to assume that most of its employees would relocate, perhaps to the Dakotas or Texas, deep though their love for the Alaska may be. There would be plenty of folks left — working in shipping, tourism and mining, and stationed at any number of military installations — but the most profitable industry would be gone.

But there would be few lifelines for most of the 20 percent of Alaskans whose ancestors were here long before 1867, when Secretary of State William H. Seward paid the Tsar of Russia $7.2 million for 660,000 square miles of untamed real estate at the north-

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western-most corner of the continent. They would be the ones left to scrape together an existence with far less support than they enjoyed in the 20th century, when the oil boom and Alaska’s political dominance brought about unprecedented growth and prosperity.

State trust funds have been set up to ensure oil funds continue to pay dividends for years, but budget shortfalls, declining services and anemic job markets could well become the norm.

Begich remains unflinchingly optimistic about his state’s ability to cobble together a future, but even he’s aware of the economic and political challenges that lie ahead. He may have his finger on the pulse of what Alaskans worry about most, but actually answering the question of how the economy will fare is far more challenging.

“It’s the most frustrating question to figure out here in Alaska,” he said, adding that the rest of the country’s perception of the state and its inhabitants doesn’t help.

“A lot of people from out of state might look at Galena and say, ‘Don’t you want to move?’

Well, the answer is ‘no.’ It’s their home. It’s where they live.”

Eliot Nelson is the editor of HuffPost Hill.

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HUFFINGTON 01.26.14

30 Books You Need to Read in 2014

BY MADELEINE CRUM

GETTY IMAGES/PICTURE PRESS RM

ANOTHER YEAR, another several dozen captivating books to add to your evergrowing reading list. You may still be conquering the mountain of titles you were gifted during the holidays, or the pile of award-winners you picked up

at the end of last year, so anticipating 2014’s heavy hitters may seem overwhelming. Which is exactly why we’ve parsed out a manageable list of what we believe will be the most rewarding reads.

Take a look ahead.

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01

Family Life by Akhil Sharma The heartbreaking story of a boy whose brother suffers brain damage after diving into a swimming pool is told in spare, deliberate language. It’s no wonder it took Sharma 13 years to compose this stunning story about the Indian immigrant experience.

02

Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus Marcus’s acclaimed The Flame Alphabet showcased his ability to write fascinating experimental fiction, and we expect this short story collection to be no different.

The title story, for example, is composed of a single sentence.

03

Perfect by Rachel Joyce Joyce’s novel is both a comingof-age story about a boy who becomes concerned when the British government adds two seconds to the year, and the tale of a man with OCD. The author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry welds the two together seamlessly.

04

Another Great Day at Sea

by Geoff Dyer When Dyer delves into a specific topic, he delves deeply, which is why we’re looking forward to his latest exploration: what life aboard an air-

craft carrier is like. As always, he laces his observations with comedy and captivating storytelling.

05

Orfeo by Richard Powers Powers fuses science and music via his good-guy-turned-fugitive protagonist, Peter Els. His attempt to discover musical patterns in nature raises suspicions.

06

Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball Jesse Ball is the author of this literary crime novel; it’s also the name of the narrator, a journalist attempting to get to the bottom of mysterious disappearances, and the silent man who has turned himself in.

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07

Bark by Lorrie Moore Moore is a master of the short story, and is known for her witty oneliners and pithy observations, especially about domestic relationships in an age when divorce is not uncommon.

08

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell Russell’s novella will be released as digital-only, an interesting move for the Pulitzer-nominated author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Swamplandia! and St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

Her latest work chronicles an insomnia epidemic.

09

Can’t and Won’t by Lydia Davis If any living short story writer pushes the envelope of literary conventions, it’s Lydia Davis, whose stories range from detailed descriptions of ostensibly mundane objects to incredibly short, pithy sentences.

10 Frog Music by Emma Donoghue The author of Room’s latest is set in 19th-century San Francisco, and is based on the unsolved murder of a woman who was no law-abiding citizen herself.

11

The News: A User’s Manual by Alain de Botton De Botton examines excerpts of contemporary news, mixing them with philosophical observations about the impact the news has on us, why we rely on it so heavily, and how it impacts the way in which we see the world.

12

Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole The author of Open City has penned a novel about a Nigerian who returns home after spending years abroad.

13

The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol The National Book Foundation chose Molly Antopol

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as one of their 5 Under 35 nominees last year. Her debut work of fiction is a short story collection about political dissidents, actors imprisoned during the Red Scare, and others feeling disillusioned with their country.

California by Edan Lepucki Lepucki’s debut paints a picture of a very real-seeming dystopian future, as the novel’s two protagonists flee what used to be Los Angeles, only to find new dangers while seeking a community in which to raise their child.

15

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami The author of 1Q84 has written another book as puzzling as it is difficult to put down. Tsukuru Tazaki has been mysteriously abandoned by his friends, so he visits them one by one to discover why.

16

An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay This will be Gay’s first novel, about the kidnapping of the daughter of a very rich man in Haiti. If it’s anything like her fabulous essays, which cover every corner of the world of contemporary pop culture, it’s sure to be a hit.

17

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi The author of Mr. Fox serves up an inventive retelling of the Snow White story, centering around Boy, a woman who marries a widow and gives birth to a son, Bird, whose dark skin reveals that the family has been attempting to “pass” as white.

18

Thirty Girls by Susan Minot A journalist travels to Africa, hoping to tell the story of young girls like Esther, a Ugandan teenager who has been captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army, in Minot’s latest novel.

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19

Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li Three friends witness a crime; one of them may have committed it. Li’s novel undulates back and forth between presentday America and China in the 90s, to tell their story.

20

What’s Important is Feeling by Adam Wilson The author of Flatscreen has written a collection of short stories, one which appeared in the Best American Short Stories anthology in 2012 — so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about the art form.

21

Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn Kirn’s latest fuses memoir with crime reporting, creating a compelling story about his 15-year relationship with Clark Rockefeller, who, Kirn discovers, is guilty of child kidnapping and murder.

22

Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman At the end of World War II, a crew of American soldiers capture a train filled with gold jewelry and other riches. The man guarding the treasures becomes conflicted after meeting a Hungarian woman who has lost everything she has in the war.

23

Off Course by Michelle Huneven Cressida Hartley (Cress) is finishing up her dissertation on the economics of art. To do so, she has set up camp in her parents’ home in the mountains, and finds herself more enchanted with the local community than her own research.

24

Casebook by Mona Simpson Protagonist Miles’s parents are separating. He and his close friend Hector begin snooping around their belongings, and eavesdropping on their conversations in what begins as innocent, childlike “detective work,” but soon evolves into something more serious.

25

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval The editor of n+1 delves into the history of the office, lacing in references to Dilbert, Bartleby, and of course, The Office, but also books on management and business strategy. He also offers insight into what the workplace of the future could look like.

26

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro Reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer’s 2013 hit The Interestings, Fierro’s book catalogues two summer days at a beach house, where a group of 30-something

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friends meet, and many realize that they’re disappointed with what their lives are turning out to be.

27

The Last Illusion by Porochista Khakpour Khakpour tells the story of a child with an upbringing so devastating, he becomes nearly feral. His mother shuns him due to his light skin and hair, raising him in the same cage as her pet birds. Though eventually discovered and brought to New York by a behavioral analyst, Zal finds it difficult to escape his upbringing.

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Lost for Words: A Novel by Edward St. Aubyn St. Aubyn’s latest is no harrowing tale of aristocratic families. Instead, his new novel is a satirization of a British literary prize, which he has renamed the Elysian Prize for Literature. One frontrunner seeks revenge, another accidentally submits a cookbook instead of her novel; St. Aubyn pens all of this with his token wit.

Summer House With Swimming Pool

by Hermann Koch The author of The Dinner brings us another insightful-sounding story. This one is about a botched medical procedure, performed by Marc “doctor

to the stars” Schlosser, and resulting in the death of actor Ralph Meier. The pair and their families had spent the previous summer together near the Mediterranean — that’s when things started going wrong.

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I’ll Be Right There by KyungSook Shin Shin’s book takes place in South Korea in the 1980s, amid political turmoil. The novel’s protagonist is well-read in both Eastern and Western literature, so allusions abound. When her former longtime boyfriend gives her a call seemingly out of nowhere, she’s forced to remember her tumultuous past.

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How Calm Y People Carry On

BY LINDSAY HOLMES

OU’VE BEEN THROUGH it more times than you’d care to count: As you struggle to manage your growing stress throughout the chaos of a busy work day, there’s (always!) at least one person who is keeping their cool. Don’t they notice the crises you’ve been rushing between?

And have you ever wondered how those de-stressed, ever-

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Exit calm people keep it all together on a daily basis? The truth is, they’re neither superhuman nor oblivious — they just practice daily habits that keep their stress levels under control. And the good news is that you can learn from them. According to Michelle Carlstrom, the senior director of the Office of Work, Life and Engagement at Johns Hopkins University, it’s all about tailoring tricks to fit your needs.

“My number one recommendation is you have to find the strategies that work for you and work to make those strategies a habit,” Carlstrom told The Huffington Post. “I think people feel less stressed — even when they’re really busy — if they’re able to live out personal values that matter to their life. Whatever your values are, if you don’t get to practice them its hard to feel calm.”

By adopting your own personal stress-busters, the chaos of life can become a lot more manageable. But how to start? Carlstrom says relaxed people take an inventory of how they deal with stress and then figure out healthy strategies to balance out coping mechanisms that aren’t beneficial. Ahead, find seven simple

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strategies calm people make an effort to integrate into their lives on a daily basis.

THEY FOCUS ON FINDING THEIR CENTER. It’s no secret that meditation and mindfulness produce numerous health benefits, but perhaps the practice’s most significant impact is the effect it has on stress. People who stay de-stressed find their

Spending some time with your friends can reduce your stress and buffer the effects of negative experiences.” center through stillness — whether it’s through meditation, simply concentrating on their breath or even prayer, Carlstrom says. “[These practices] help a person push pause, reflect and try to stay in that moment to reduce racing thoughts and reduce interruptions,” she explained. “I believe any strategy that aims to do that absolutely reduces stress.”

Meditation and spirituality even help some of the busiest people in the world unwind.

Oprah Winfrey, Lena Dunham,

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Russell Brand and Paul McCartney have all spoken out on how they’ve benefited from the practice — proving that the activity can fit into even the craziest of schedules.

THEY EXPRESS GRATITUDE. Expressing gratitude doesn’t just make you feel good — it has a direct effect on stress hormones in the body. Research has found that those who were taught to cultivate appreciation and other positive emotions experienced a 23 percent reduction in cortisol — the key stress hormone — than those who did not. And research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that those who record what they are grateful for not only feel happier and more energized, they also have fewer complaints about their health.

According to gratitude researcher Dr. Robert Emmons, there are plenty of benefits in being thankful that contribute to overall well-being. “Philosophers for millennia have talked about gratitude as a virtue that makes life better for self and others, so it seemed to me that if one could cultivate gratefulness

it could contribute to happiness, well-being, flourishing — all of these positive outcomes,” Emmons said in a 2010 talk at the GreaterGood Science Center.

“What we found in these [gratitude] experiments three categories of benefits: psychological, physical and social.”

During his study on gratitude, Emmons found that those who practiced gratitude also exercised more frequently — a key component in keeping stress in check.

THEY SLEEP. Instead of staying up all night or hitting the snooze button all morning, extremely relaxed people get the proper amount

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Exit of sleep in order to curb their stress. Not catching the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night can severely affect stress and your physical health, according to research published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The study showed that severe sleep loss had the same negative effect on the immune system as exposure to stress, decreasing the white blood cell counts of those sleepdeprived participants.

Naps can also be an instant stress reliever. Studies have shown that taking naps can reduce cortisol levels, as well as boost productivity and creativity — as long as they’re kept short.

Professionals recommend fitting in a short, 30-minute siesta early enough in the day so it doesn’t affect your sleep cycle at night.

THEY SOCIALIZE. When calm people start to feel anxious, they turn to the one person who can make them feel better — their BFF. Spending some time with your friends can reduce your stress and buffer the effects of negative experiences, according to a 2011 study.

Researchers monitored a group

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of children and found that those participants who were with their best friends during unpleasant experiences logged lower cortisol levels than the rest of the participants in the study.

Recent research also found that becoming friends with your co-workers can help you feel calmer at work. According to the Lancaster University study, people form the strongest, most

Letting in a little stress isn’t all bad — in fact, it may even help.” emotionally-supportive friendships in their work environments, which helps create a buffer in high-stress workplaces.

Carlstrom suggests burning off some steam with people you feel closest to, whether that’s friends, co-workers or family, “as long as there’s a diversity in your social relationships.”

THEY DON’T KEEP IT TOGETHER ALL THE TIME. Calm people don’t have everything together 24 hours a day, they just know how to manage

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The key, Carlstrom says, is figuring out if what’s stressing you out is as serious as you believe it is in the moment.

“It’s important to realize that everyone is functioning at a really fast pace but carrying a lot of stressors,” Carlstrom advises.

“Pause, count to 10, and say ‘Is this something I need to tackle?

How significant is this going to be in three months?’ Ask yourself questions to frame it and get perspective. Find out if this stress is real or if it’s perceived.”

Letting in a little stress isn’t all bad — in fact, it may even help.

According to research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, acute stress can prime the brain for improved performance. Just don’t let it go beyond a few short moments, especially if you’re prone to poor coping mechanisms. Carlstrom says that while everyone has bad stress habits — whether it be eating, smoking, shopping or otherwise — it’s important that you recognize when they appear in order to manage them. “Take an inventory of what you do when you’re stressed and discover what’s healthy and what isn’t,” she ex-

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plains. “The trick is to have a mix of healthy strategies [on top of] those coping mechanisms.”

THEY USE THEIR VACATION DAYS. There’s nothing in the world like taking a break from your busy schedule and unwinding on a warm beach — and it’s something extremely de-stressed people make a priority. Taking your vacation days and giving yourself

If the idea of dropping your responsibilities and doing nothing makes you more stressed out, Carlstrom recommends formulating a vacation plan that works around your work habits.” some time to recharge isn’t just a luxury, but a crucial component in a stress-free lifestyle.

Trips can help you lower your blood pressure, improve your immune system and even help you live longer.

Taking your vacation days can also help avoid burnout at work.

However, if the idea of dropping your responsibilities and doing nothing makes you more stressed

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out, Carlstrom recommends formulating a vacation plan that works around your work habits.

“There is nothing wrong with someone who wants to sprint toward a deadline at work, but the same person needs to realize that, just like a run, sprinting requires recovery,” she says.

“Recovery might mean taking time off or it might mean slowing down your pace for a little while.

Making sure you prioritize selfcare [should be] a standard.”

THEY UNPLUG. Zen people know the value of being out-of-touch for a little while. With the constant alerts, texts and emails, taking some time to disconnect from devices and reconnect with the real world is vital in maintaining stress. A study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, found that taking an email vacation can significantly reduce a worker’s stress and allow them to focus better in the long-run.

Taking a moment to ditch your phone and pay attention to the world around you can actually be an eye-opening experience. According to HopeLab President and CEO Pat Christen, you may dis-

cover what you’ve been missing out on when you’ve been staring at your screen. “I realized several years ago that I had stopped looking in my children’s eyes,” Christen said at the 2013 AdWeek Huffington Post panel. “And it was shocking to me.”

Despite all the literature on why it’s healthy to unplug, many Americans still rarely take a break from their work — even when they’re on vacation. “It’s our culture to be twenty-fourseven,” Carlstrom says. “People have to give themselves permission to put down their smartphone, tablet and laptop and do something else.”

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Oh, the Mistakes You’re Making With Fried Eggs

BY REBECCA ORCHANT

HERE’S BEEN A lot of talk lately about the exponential joy of fried eggs. They are what we most commonly associate with a hearty breakfast. They are also great on bibimbap. They turn a humble grilled sandwich into a croque madame. In fact, putting an egg on it even has its own zine now.

For something that brings the world so much joy, we’ve often felt

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a lot of agita about the process of making them. Eggs are finicky little things, and things can go very left very fast if you let them fluster you.

Don’t worry, we’re just one listicle away from fried egg nirvana.

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CRACKING YOUR EGGS LIKE A BRUTE Look, eggs are delicate. They require a gentle touch. If you find that you’re busting the yolk/filling your eggs with shell whenever you crack them, you’re probably putting too much proverbial mustard on it. Try cracking your egg against a flat surface before opening the shell over a bowl, that usually works for us.

BREAKING YOUR YOLK BEFORE YOU MEAN TO A runny yolk is one of the singular joys of a fried egg. If you hate runny yolks, go ahead and break them with reckless abandon. For the rest of you, there is a simple trick to avoid this breakfast bummer: don’t drop your egg into the pan from a great height. Slide it into the pan (either from its shell or the ramekin you delicately cracked it into) from just above the cooking surface.

COOKING ON TOO HIGH A HEAT Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy cowboy. If your eggs puff up into little

Eggs are finicky little things, and things can go very left very fast if you let them fluster you.” clouds and get brown and crispy around the edges, your pan is too hot. Cooking an egg over medium heat will keep the whites tender, the yolk runny and make weird crispy bits a thing of the past. If you’re worried about your whites setting, just cover the pan for a minute or two.

BEING A BULL IN A CHINA SHOP By now, I know I sound like a broken record, but be gentle. If you want an over-easy egg, you’re going

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to have to flip it once, and when you do, you’ll want to handle it like a faberge egg. Flip gently, preserve your runny yolks. In fact, don’t think of it as “flipping,” so much as laying your egg gently on its other side.

SHUTTERSTOCK / ZKRUGER

OVERCOOKING THEM I think that there are people out there who actually like their eggs cooked this way. Or maybe they just don’t know any better. Browning an egg white makes it tough and chewy. Cooking an egg yolk through makes it chalky. What you want are smooth, solid whites and a runny yolk. It shouldn’t take more than three minutes.

USING A STICKY PAN There is no frustration like trying to slide a perfectly fried egg out of the pan and having it not budge. If you have an aversion to traditional non-stick pans, you can use a wellseasoned cast iron skillet. If you don’t have either of those, be sure to use a little extra butter or oil.

There is no way to scrape an egg out of a pan without breaking the yolk.

We learned that the hard way.

TRYING TO COOK THEM ON THE SIDEWALK Okay, just kidding. But seriously,

everyone has to stop making this joke now.

FORGETTING ABOUT EARTH’S MOST PERFECT EGG MOLD: TOAST Call it an egg in a nest, egg in a basket, toad in a hole — we don’t care, just eat it. If you’ve never made one, it’s really easy, just toast your bread in some butter. Once it’s crisp and golden on both sides, remove it from the pan, cut out a circle using either a cookie cutter or a knife and return it to the pan. Drop a dab of butter in the hole, then pour your egg right into it. Cover for a minute or two to set the whites and enjoy. (You can also flip the whole thing once you feel comfortable doing that.)

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MUSIC

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Dog Ears

In which we spotlight music from a diversity of genres and decades, lending an insider’s ear to what deserves to be heard.

BY THE EVERLASTING PHIL RAMONE AND DANIELLE EVIN

RUBE LACY

MOONDOG

ROBERT FRANCIS

Singer Rube Lacy, a.k.a. the Reverend Rubin Lacy, was born in 1901 in Pelahatchie, Miss. By his teens, Lacy learned guitar and shortly thereafter became one of the Mississippi Delta region’s most sought after bottleneck guitarists. Lacy recorded a few sides for Paramount Records, and by 1932, he became a minister and preached until his death in 1972. The title “Mississippi Jail House Groan,” recorded in 1928 and included in the collection Before the Blues: The Early American Black Music Scene, is as authentic as it gets.

Avant street-sound composer and multi-instrumentalist Moondog (a.k.a.

Louis Thomas Hardin Jr.) was born in 1916 in Kansas. At the age of 16, he lost his sight in an enigmatic blast, and soon after discovered the world of sound art. By his late 20s, he relocated to New York. Surrounded by avantmodern sound architects, Moondog, with his unconventional musings and Viking attire, held court on NYC’s music scene for decades. Among his diehards are Elvis Costello, Antony and the Johnsons, Jens Lekman, Lenny Bruce, Kronos Quartet and Janis Joplin. In the mid-’70s, Moondog relocated to Germany, where he died in 1999.

With a trove of releases to collect, start with “High on a Rocky Ledge,” from his 1978 project H’art Songs.

Singer/songwriter Robert Francis was born in the late ’80s and raised in a classical-sheet-music dynasty. Robert hit the ivories in very early boyhood.

Soon after, family friend Ry Cooder gifted him a guitar, and in time he went on to study with Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante. Wanderlust struck Robert in his junior year of high school, and he set out to make his mark. Three full-lengths later, his collaborations/shared stages have grown to include John Butler, Dave Sardy, Hello Stranger, Priscilla Ahn and Juliette Commagere. Mr. Francis gives us something to feel about. Open your ears to “Star Crossed Memories,” from his 2012 Strangers in the First Place.

BUY: Amazon GENRE: Folk/Blues ARTIST: Rube Lacy SONG: Mississippi Jail House Groan ALBUM: Before the Blues, Vol. 1

BUY: iTunes GENRE: Experimental ARTIST: Moondog SONG: High on a Rocky Ledge ALBUM: H’art Songs

BUY: iTunes GENRE: Singer/Songwriter ARTIST: Robert Francis SONG: Star Crossed Memories ALBUM: Strangers in the First Place

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BILLY FURY Brit crooner Billy Fury was born Ronald Wycherley in Liverpool in 1940. As a child, he was stricken with rheumatic fever, which had a lifelong impact on his health. Despite this obstacle, young Ron became enrapt with music, first on piano, then the guitar by his early teens. He inked his first deal with Decca Records in the late ‘50s, performing and writing songs as “Billy Fury.” The heartthrob landed scores of British music awards and topped the charts regularly. By the ’60s, he added film and television to his growing acclaim. Credits include feature films Play It Cool, I’ve Gotta Horse, and That’ll Be the Day (with Ringo Starr) and TV’s Shindig. At the close of 1965, Fury moved to Parlophone Records. By the early ’70s, he founded his own label, Fury Records. In 1983, after his long struggle with rheumatic fever, he succumbed at the age of 42.

Remember him with “You’re Having the Last Dance With Me,” from Classics and Collectibles: Billy Fury.

BUY: iTunes.com GENRE: Pop ARTIST: Billy Fury SONG: You’re Having the Last Dance With Me ALBUM: Classics and Collectibles: Billy Fury

MUSIC

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES Nashville-born Black Diamond Heavies is the blues-punk duo of John Wesley Myers (keys) and Van Campbell (drums). Myers, a.k.a. “James Leg,” the son of a Baptist preacher, and Van Campbell, the scion of Kentucky bourbon makers, jump-started the outfit in the aughts and followed up with a handful-plus of releases to date. The gentlemen have created a deliciously forbidden cocktail of deliverance without salvation. “Bidin’ My Time,” from their sophomore 2008 release A Touch of Someone Else’s Class, produced by Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) is a must. Play it loud!

BUY: iTunes.com GENRE: Rock ARTIST: Black Diamond Heavies SONG: Bidin’ My Time ALBUM: A Touch of Someone Else’s Class

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VLADIMIR COSMA Master composer, pianist, and violinist Vladimir Cosma was born in Bucharest, Romania, into a family of pianists and conductors. As a young man in the early ’60s, he relocated to Paris to further his music studies.

After touring the globe as a concert violinist, Cosma entered the world of film scoring. Cosma credits a meeting with Michel Legrand as the catalyst of his destiny. Collaborations include Jean-Jacques Beineix and Ridley Scott. Credits include some four dozen film scores, such as “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “The Dinner Game” and “À Chacun son Enfer”; a half-dozen operas; and a trove of recordings. Accolades include two Best Music awards by the French Academy of Cinema for the 1981 film Diva and the 1991 film Le Bal, as well as the 2010 Prix Henri Langlois de la Cinémathèque Française. Revisit the star-lit “Promenade Sentimentale,” from the 1981 soundtrack Diva (Bande Originale du Film).

BUY: iTunes.com GENRE: Soundtrack ARTIST: Vladimir Cosma SONG: Promenade Sentimentale ALBUM: Diva (Bande Originale du Film)

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The World May Have to Suck Gases From the Air to Meet Climate Goals

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Someone Invented a Vagina Toaster

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CAT BATTLE ARMOR NOW EXISTS

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Overweight Americans Who Pick Diet Drinks Eat More Food

Half of Americans Believe in Divine Super Bowl Intervention

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Schools in the U.S. Still Bear the Names of White Supremacists

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The Government Is Spending a TON on Penis Pumps

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CHOCOLATEFLAVORED FRIED CHICKEN HAS ARRIVED

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California Will Soon Require Bartenders to Wear Rubber Gloves

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The NSA Randomly Collects 200 Million Text Messages a Day

Editor-in-Chief:

Arianna Huffington Editor: John Montorio Managing Editor: Gazelle Emami Senior Editor: Adam J. Rose Editor-at-Large: Katy Hall Senior Politics Editor: Sasha Belenky Senior Food Editor: Kristen Aiken Senior Voices Editor: Stuart Whatley Pointers Editor: Robyn Baitcher Viral Editor: Dean Praetorius Creative Director: Josh Klenert Design Director: Andrea Nasca Photography Director: Anna Dickson Associate Photo Editor: Wendy George Senior Designer: Martin Gee Infographics Art Director: Troy Dunham Production Director: Peter Niceberg AOL MagCore Product Manager: Gabriel Giordani Architect: Scott Tury Developers: Mike Levine, Sudheer Agrawal QA: Joyce Wang, Amy Golliver Sales: Mandar Shinde AOL, Inc. Chairman & CEO:

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