Joshuah Bearman

Message From Beyond

Joshuah Bearman
John Preskill needs to give back that encyclopedia to Stephen Hawking, because the Republican National Convention proved once and for all that there are indeed multiple universes — the one we live in and the one in the minds of Republican speechwriters — and the monstrous black hole that joins......

Moments of Noise

Joshuah Bearman
THE BIG INTERRUPTION is what made Bush’s acceptance speech interesting last week. You may have noticed the break that came between two applause lines — something about prevailing against al Qaeda and how Iraq had been a gathering threat — when a quick succession of ruckuses erupted, followed by boos......

Grand Old Illusions

Joshuah Bearman
I had assumed that the Republicans would run a better show. Maybe it’s Madison Square Garden — in comparison to the Fleet Center in Boston, the facilities here look tired. The carpet is worn; the walls need paint; the layout outside the hall is disjointed and puzzling; and the floor......

Big Tents That Are Hard To Get Into

Joshuah Bearman
The big tents have been well guarded at the Republican convention in New York. It took some doing to penetrate the several layers of security at the Log Cabin Republicans’ Big Tent party Sunday to hear them complain about their own difficulty getting inside the symbolic big tent pitched over......

John Who? And Where’s Puffy?

Joshuah Bearman
“Free drinks and they gonna act retarded,” said Jaida Gonsal. “Stand around here not movin’ all this time.” Gonsal was talking about the crowd milling in stasis around the door next to her shoeshine stand on the Fifth Floor of the Fleet Center. This was the Loge area, the level......

Escaping the Convention Matrix

Joshuah Bearman
On the third night of the convention, a small fracas erupted near the Washington delegation, just below John Edwards’ podium. One of the whips — these were the radio-equipped DNC staffers in yellow net vests who fanned out each evening to supervise the floor directly — had handed out the......
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Breakfast With The Kooch

Joshuah Bearman
Boston — “What is this obsession with my hair?” Dennis Kucinich was on the phone Monday morning with a talk show from Cleveland, his hometown. We were in a van heading to the Boston Marriott so Kucinich could address the delegation from Hawaii, the only state where Kucinich came in......

Payback

Joshuah Bearman
Photo by Joeff Davis BOSTON — I penetrated the Avalon’s security maze by accident, as usual, and was now watching Howard Dean from the VIP Loge up top. “People your age volunteer at the highest percentage of any other age group,” Howard Dean announced to a house packed with college-age......

Playing Politics

Joshuah Bearman
I don’t know what brought Arkansas into play for the Democrats, but it adds four electoral votes to Kerry’s stack, putting him at 228 over Bush’s 204. Pennsylvania and Ohio, as usual, are up for grabs, oscillating in a tight two-point spread around the dreaded dead heat. But Michigan and......

Greasel, not Diesel

Joshuah Bearman
Photos by Joshuah Bearman A sticker on the blue Dodge read: ask me about veggie power. The truck belonged to Joel Wolf, a rancher, surfer and longtime diesel mechanic, who had agreed to meet me at Summit Restaurant up above the Ojai Valley, so that I could do just what......