Joel On The Road

Right after all

Joel — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:35:03 +0000

By Joel Thurtell News in late June that the Detroit Free Press will print its last editions of the Community Free Press on Aug. 1 stunned the reporters, editors, photographers and myriad freelancers who’ve diligently worked to make those mini-papers popular with readers. In Detroit and 10 suburban areas where they circulate, the CFPs have managed to [...]

Where did turkeys go? Gleaners asks if Conyers’ staff helped needy people

Joel — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:13:48 +0000

One more in a series of articles I wrote for the Detroit Free Press about the way U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. handles business in his congressoinal ofices. This story appears with permission of the Detroit Free Press Copyright 2005 by Detroit Free Press Headline: WHERE DID TURKEYS GO? Sub-Head: GLEANERS ASKS IF CONYERS’ STAFF HELPED NEEDY PEOPLE Byline: [...]

Fourth of July revery

Joel — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:37:05 +0000

By Joel Thurtell What if we lived in a country where companies could ban employees from voting? How democratic would that be? Well, it hasn’t happened. But it could. And there is an industry where political activity already is looked at askance. In that industry, political activity is considered by some as nefarious behavior unbecoming a professional practitioner. What industry am [...]

Cart before the nag: Kwame’s innocent until…

Joel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:19:39 +0000

By Joel Thurtell Reading the Detroit Free Press, you’d think Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was already behind bars, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the text message scandal. Maybe that’s where the paper’s staffers would like him to be, on the assumption that a jailed Kwame would enhance their claim on a Pulitzer Prize [...]

Kwamegate vs. Sludgegate

Joel — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:28:15 +0000

By Joel Thurtell There’s a thing in architecture called perspective. Look at a five-story building by itself, without comparison to other structures, and it looks big. Stand beside it, and it seems gigantic. Build a 60-story tower next to it, and look again. It seems tiny. Now, think about Kwamegate. Until last weekend, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s racy text [...]