http://michaelbales.com what passes as light Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:56:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://michaelbales.com/his-newsreel-camera-never-blinked/ http://michaelbales.com/his-newsreel-camera-never-blinked/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:57:22 +0000 Michael http://michaelbales.com/?p=5178 ...Sill, a self-taught newsreel cameraman who would earn a media-star reputation for getting exclusive footage and delivering it to theaters first, reached the largest audience. Such was the power of motion pictures, the new medium transforming the nation’s cultural landscape ... ]]> http://michaelbales.com/his-newsreel-camera-never-blinked/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/black-or-white-2/ http://michaelbales.com/black-or-white-2/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:33:56 +0000 Michael http://michaelbales.com/?p=5207 Looking at him now I saw Cassius Clay in miniature. His hair was trimmed short and squared off flattop style. Dark, almond-shaped eyes widened a moment before he spoke, as if signaling to pay attention to whatever came next. His eyes never stopped moving, soaking up everything even as he talked.]]> http://michaelbales.com/black-or-white-2/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/battle-of-the-sexes/ http://michaelbales.com/battle-of-the-sexes/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:36:12 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2206 Cowboys disagreed about the women’s skills. Strickland’s husband Hugo, a champion at Pendleton and many other rodeos, said one roper had lobbied him to persuade Mabel to enter women-only exhibitions. 'Hugh, durn it, we fellas got to stick together. We don’t come off good in the public’s eye with a woman beating the whey out of us . . .']]> http://michaelbales.com/battle-of-the-sexes/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/1911-bucking-finals/ http://michaelbales.com/1911-bucking-finals/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:15:37 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2123 None of the 15,000 people who crowded into the arena . . . knew they were about to watch a contest that’s still the centerpiece of Round-Up lore, or that they collectively would become a key character in the story’s dramatic conclusion. In the end, the crowd chose one champion, and the judges chose another.]]> http://michaelbales.com/1911-bucking-finals/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/twitter-and-burritos-to-the-rescue/ http://michaelbales.com/twitter-and-burritos-to-the-rescue/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:38:41 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2196 This is a story about love, shopping locally and the power of the Internet. And burritos, too. It began in early December when a man learned that his mother’s Northeast neighborhood business, Broadway Books, faced financial problems more ominous than the struggles small independent booksellers typically see.]]> http://michaelbales.com/twitter-and-burritos-to-the-rescue/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/shades-of-a-renegade/ http://michaelbales.com/shades-of-a-renegade/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:28:45 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2156 The blunt nose of a psychedelically painted hippie van is perched on a front porch . . . Its empty headlight sockets gawk at the street through falling snow. From a portrait in a window, a pensive teenage boy peers outside. Scrawled on the window above a “Do Not Disturb” sign is an ornate signature: Benjamin Alexander Clark.]]> http://michaelbales.com/shades-of-a-renegade/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/backyard-farming-food-close-to-home/ http://michaelbales.com/backyard-farming-food-close-to-home/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:52:33 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2177 As the sun tries to burn through morning clouds, the business partners laugh while explaining their nicknames: Barrett is Moss and Bravin is Broc (short for Broccoli Whisperer). The laughter stops as they discuss what it will take to succeed. 'There are long, long days ahead,' Bravin says.]]> http://michaelbales.com/backyard-farming-food-close-to-home/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/and-the-world-will-fall-to-pieces/ http://michaelbales.com/and-the-world-will-fall-to-pieces/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:30:58 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelbales.com/?p=2226 I set out to find Celilo Falls, or where it’s buried underwater. . . I wonder whether the river will reveal why the photograph tugs at me. I imagine myself, solemn, dipping my hands in the river and feeling the answer in water trickling through my fingers, like an Indian shaman divining unseen truth.]]> http://michaelbales.com/and-the-world-will-fall-to-pieces/feed/ 0 http://michaelbales.com/without-sequel-the-graduate/ http://michaelbales.com/without-sequel-the-graduate/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 1970 07:00:00 +0000 Michael http://michaelbales.com/?p=5396 Looking back, I hope the story's loftier themes seduced me, too: Benjamin's ability to see the world differently than programmed, his willingness to defy the rules that defined adulthood, unafraid to confront the world with his peculiar and soft-spoken outrageousness.]]> http://michaelbales.com/without-sequel-the-graduate/feed/ 0