Carl Hiassen

Jon Ford jonmfordster@hotmail.com
Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:10:52 -0800 

Mary Ann (did I spell your name wrong--again??): Hiassen sounds 
great!Florida wheeling and dealing are ideal subjects for a columnist or 
mystery writer, and with titles like "Sick Puppy," this  guy sounds like 
he's got a sense of humor. I'll stock up on my next trip to the used book 
store!

Jon

>From: mbuttons <mbuttons@gate.net>
>To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
>Subject: Re: Carl Hiassen
>Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 07:45:15 -0500
>
>
>
>Poor Telebob wrote --- "Who or what is Carl Hiassen [SIC]?"
>
>Poor Carl Hiaasen, nobody ever spells his name right.
>
>South Florida native Carl Hiaasen was/is The Miami Herald's insightful,
>witty, acid and politically fearless columnist ... who has also written a
>string of adored only-in-South-Florida mysteries.
>
>He's a must-read if you're at all interested in this bizarre place.
>
>love
>m-a
>
>
>
>
>
>  on 11/09/2001 11:08 AM, telebob x at telebob98@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> >
> > http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/columnists/hiaasen/index.htm
> >
> >> From: "Wayne Johnson" <cadaobh2@brgnet.com>
> >> To: "telebob x" <telebob98@hotmail.com>
> >> Subject: RE: Carl Hiassen
> >> Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 10:59:08 -0500
> >>
> >> Who are what is a Carl Hiassen?  Never heard of him/it?
> >>
> >> Wayne
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net
> >> [mailto:austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net]On Behalf Of telebob x
> >> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 8:18 PM
> >> To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
> >> Subject: Re: Carl Hiassen
> >>
> >>
> >> By Todd Leopold
> >> CNN
> >>
> >> (CNN) -- A city official known as "Mayor Loco." A con artist who 
>performs
> >> plastic surgery on several patients before being unmasked. An 
>extortionist
> >> who threatens housepets. A commissioner who sees pornography in a photo 
>of
> >> vegetables.
> >>
> >> Sound like characters from a Carl Hiassen novel?
> >>
> >> Try characters from Carl Hiassen's real life.
> >>
> >> These people -- and assorted real estate developers, convicted felons,
> >> government officials, Bible thumpers, and theme-park executives, some 
>of
> >> whom are difficult to tell apart from the others -- make up the cast of
> >> characters in "Paradise Screwed" (Putnam), a collection of Hiassen's 
>Miami
> >> Herald columns. Southern California may have a reputation as the flake
> >> capital of the United States, but based on Hiassen's work, the swampy
> >> flatlands of Florida seems to have oozed past the Golden State when it
> >> comes
> >> to offering a slough of greed, corruption, chicanery, and flat-out 
>bizarre
> >> behavior.
> >>
> >> What is it about a state that attracts such a motley crew?
> >>
> >> "I can't explain it," the 48-year-old author of "Sick Puppy" and "Strip
> >> Tease" says in a phone interview from his home in the Florida Keys. "I
> >> think
> >> in the old days, the nexus of weirdness ran through Southern 
>California,
> >> and
> >> to a degree New York City. I think it's changed so that every bizarre 
>story
> >> in the country now has a Florida connection. I don't know why, except 
>it
> >> must be some inversion of magnetic poles or something. It's very, very
> >> strange."
> >>
> >> A voice of 'reasonable and proper disgust'
> >> That strangeness has been good for Hiassen. He seldom has to work hard 
>to
> >> come up with ideas for columns -- or novels, for that matter. Granted,
> >> there
> >> are those rare mornings when there are no indictments, no dead voters, 
>and
> >> south Florida looks like "a normal place."
> >>
> >> Most of the time, though, goofy events abound, and "It's like shooting 
>fish
> >> in a barrel."
> >>
> >>
> >> His take on the Sunshine State: "All paths of slime and disreputability
> >> seem
> >> to lead here."
> >>
> >> Hiassen says the line with an overlay of jokiness, but underneath, he's
> >> dead
> >> serious. A Florida native, he's genuinely upset about the depletion and
> >> abuse of the state's natural resources, and has taken on Disney -- a 
>bete
> >> noire he blames for a host of ills -- in both his columns and a 
>book-length
> >> essay, "Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World."
> >>
> >> Hiassen makes no apologies for his aggressive tone.
> >>
> >> "By and large, (the topics are) something that has now gotten the 
>attention
> >> of the general media down here, but nobody is coming out and saying the
> >> obvious thing -- (like) 'the guy's a crook,'" he says. "That's where I 
>come
> >> in. You have to have some voice of reasonable and proper disgust over 
>these
> >> things. ... That's the great thing about having your own column. You 
>can be
> >> irreverent when everyone else is trying to be Peter Jennings."
> >>
> >> He credits luminaries such as Jimmy Breslin, Mike Royko and Murray 
>Kempton
> >> as influences. From them, he learned not to be afraid and to say 
>exactly
> >> what he's thinking, Hiassen says.
> >>
> >> "When you're given a newspaper column, you're not being paid to sit on 
>a
> >> fence and scratch your chin and say 'On the one hand this' and 'On the
> >> other
> >> hand that,'" he says. "You're getting paid for your opinion. So don't 
>be a
> >> candy-ass about it: What do you think?"
> >>
> >> An 'honor and privilege'
> >> Hiassen still writes two columns a week for the Herald. The rest of the
> >> time, he's working on a book, he says.
> >>
> >> He had help going through the 15 years' worth that make up "Paradise
> >> Screwed." A friend at the University of Florida, Diane Stevenson -- 
>she'd
> >> edited a previous collection of Hiassen's work -- did the initial 
>culling,
> >> and then the two of them selected the 200 or so pieces for the book.
> >>
> >> Re-reading the columns was enlightening, he says.
> >>
> >> "Some of the lowlifes (I wrote about) are still skulking around. 
>They're
> >> just as sleazy as I predicted," Hiassen says, noting that he once 
>worried
> >> that he was too harsh on some people. No longer. "I should have 
>drop-kicked
> >> some of these people another 10 yards."
> >>
> >> In some cases, he gets that chance in his novels. His new one, "Basket
> >> Case," is due in January, and this time he takes on the hand that feeds 
>him
> >> -- corporate media. "I won't be making any friends in the corporate
> >> suites,"
> >> he says.
> >>
> >> By now, Hiassen could easily retire from newspapers and write his 
>novels.
> >> Most of his works have been bestsellers, and Hollywood has snapped up a
> >> couple, too.
> >>
> >> Sure, Hiassen says, he's pondered giving up the life of an ink-stained
> >> wretch, but that's all.
> >>
> >> "Good satire comes from anger. It comes from a sense of injustice, that
> >> there are wrongs in the world that need to be fixed," he says. "And 
>what
> >> better place to get that well of venom and outrage boiling than a 
>newsroom,
> >> because you're on the front lines. ... (I) have this tremendous honor 
>and
> >> privilege and this forum of writing a column, and I'm pretty lucky 
>because
> >> I
> >> work for a darn good newspaper, and by and large they leave me alone.
> >>
> >> "When that day comes (that it's time to go), I'll be happy to step 
>aside,"
> >> he adds. "But right now, I still get off a good one now and then, and
> >> there's so much that needs to be written about."
> >>
> >>
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>
>-- Mary Ann Wilson
>mbuttons@gate.net
>
>
>


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