A Salute to Joseph Mailander
Tuesday night longtime blog-la-sphere fixture Joseph Mailander took down his Street Hassle blog; one that covered the civic discourse simultaneously in an erudite and cranky manner holding not only local politicians and mainstream media accountable but bloggers such as yours truly as well.
I met Joseph Mailander not long after I got into blogging. Before he even knew who I was (though he discovered my identity well before the LA Times and our eventual self-outing) Joseph provided support and chunks of advice that was valuable as Mayor Sam was getting up on two legs. Though some of our bloggers battled with some of his bloggers at his then blog Martini Republic, a quick cammraderie developed and eventually Joseph joined our team and went full down when the cool kids at MR decided they couldn't get along anymore.
Joseph provided significant sunshine and water to Mayor Sam not only contributing great and often provocative content but machinating behind the scenes to expose the blog to the movers and shakers in local government as well as local media.
Mailander provided me with many chuckles whether it was his goading of uptight Westside blogger Kevin Roderick, his creation of catchphrases such describing the LA Times as the Former Fishwrap of Record and coining fun aburdities like 80 FAKE HUIZAR WONDERLANDS (a sly cross-referencing of Councilmember Jose Huizar's trucked in snow holiday events and criticism of alleged fake neighborhood watches claimed by Mayor Villaraigosa when he was a Councilman). Though "bloggers" like Roderick referred to Mailander as living in a parallel universe and the "farting wonder" of LA journalism Marc Cooper called Joe the "village idiot of the local blogosphere," it was Mailander more often than not who called out "nanny poo" bloggers such as Roderick, Cooper and Mickey Kaus (who imagined a gang riot in Brentwood one Halloween evening.)
Indeed Joseph also provided me much costnernation at time and our jammings and disagreements were many and certainly I equally got under Joseph's skin as we blogged away dum dums. Even at the low points Joseph would write me to alert me of nonsense going on somewhere someplace or to take to me to task often when I probably needed it.
There is no doubt that Joseph is responsible for a significant portion of the success of this blog (and others) and often does not get the respect he deserves, even from me. Sometimes Joseph's politics and rhetoric are abhorent to me; he would probably say the same of me. That being said I never questioned Joe's committment to his craft nor the city.
Though Joe is shutting down Street Hassle, he will continue to blog not on politics but on arts and culture at a new blog minor arcana at http://minor-arcana.blogspot.com . I suggest you follow him there. Joe's blogging partner Debbie Lopez will continue her work at her personal blog, Valley of the Doll at http://valleydollshouse.blogspot.com/ and the great mommies/daddies blog Beckford Parents at http://beckfordparents.blogspot.com/.
All of us at Mayor Sam wish Joe the best of luck with his new project!
I met Joseph Mailander not long after I got into blogging. Before he even knew who I was (though he discovered my identity well before the LA Times and our eventual self-outing) Joseph provided support and chunks of advice that was valuable as Mayor Sam was getting up on two legs. Though some of our bloggers battled with some of his bloggers at his then blog Martini Republic, a quick cammraderie developed and eventually Joseph joined our team and went full down when the cool kids at MR decided they couldn't get along anymore.
Joseph provided significant sunshine and water to Mayor Sam not only contributing great and often provocative content but machinating behind the scenes to expose the blog to the movers and shakers in local government as well as local media.
Mailander provided me with many chuckles whether it was his goading of uptight Westside blogger Kevin Roderick, his creation of catchphrases such describing the LA Times as the Former Fishwrap of Record and coining fun aburdities like 80 FAKE HUIZAR WONDERLANDS (a sly cross-referencing of Councilmember Jose Huizar's trucked in snow holiday events and criticism of alleged fake neighborhood watches claimed by Mayor Villaraigosa when he was a Councilman). Though "bloggers" like Roderick referred to Mailander as living in a parallel universe and the "farting wonder" of LA journalism Marc Cooper called Joe the "village idiot of the local blogosphere," it was Mailander more often than not who called out "nanny poo" bloggers such as Roderick, Cooper and Mickey Kaus (who imagined a gang riot in Brentwood one Halloween evening.)
Indeed Joseph also provided me much costnernation at time and our jammings and disagreements were many and certainly I equally got under Joseph's skin as we blogged away dum dums. Even at the low points Joseph would write me to alert me of nonsense going on somewhere someplace or to take to me to task often when I probably needed it.
There is no doubt that Joseph is responsible for a significant portion of the success of this blog (and others) and often does not get the respect he deserves, even from me. Sometimes Joseph's politics and rhetoric are abhorent to me; he would probably say the same of me. That being said I never questioned Joe's committment to his craft nor the city.
Though Joe is shutting down Street Hassle, he will continue to blog not on politics but on arts and culture at a new blog minor arcana at http://minor-arcana.blogspot.
All of us at Mayor Sam wish Joe the best of luck with his new project!
Labels: joseph mailander, Street Hassle
Posted by Michael Higby @ 7/01/2009 12:15:00 AM
3 Comments:
Cheers JM! One day I hope to have even half your vocabulary or ability. You da man.
I certainly didn't agree with everything Joseph Mailander said, but I agree that he is a talented writer and any blog or newspaper would be poorer off for not having him around.
I will always appreciate the fact that he went out of his way to interview the Mayoral candidates at a time when the major newspapers were treating us like we had swine flu.
MayorSam wrote: Though "bloggers" like Roderick referred to Mailander as living in a parallel universe and the "farting wonder" of LA journalism Marc Cooper...
Excuse me, that should read "OLD CHOLA" Marc Cooper.
/fixed.
Love Ya Mr. Mailander!
xoxo
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