COMM 387: Carl Hiaassen, link to your blogs

Post to your blogs ... which you can access through a directory page at the top of the Mackerelwrapper ... your answers to these questions, which I put on the screen in class in 72pt type ...

What makes Carl Hiaassen tick? What are his issues? Does he have 'issues'?

I'll capture -- and link -- some quotes below.

From Diane Stevenson, editor of Kick Ass: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaassen:

Greed and its accompanying corruption, in fact, occupy one side of Hiaasen’s clearly articulated system of right and wrong, while unspoiled wilderness lies on the other. ... Against this backdrop, events play out in Hiaasen’s novels and columns, the moral landscape making almost tangible certain basic and universal values: we should be loyal to our friends, behave with civility and decency, earn our paychecks honestly, experience shame if we steal, preserve the world for our children, and never surrender—either our belief in these values, or to anyone who would violate them for personal gain. As Hiaasen says, “You try to be a good citizen wherever you live. Plant mangroves and don’t piss in the water.” (Kick Ass xv)

Here's a blurb ... taken from the review in Booklist, a magazine for librarians that is pretty evenhanded in its evaluation of books:

For fans of the novels, it's a delight. . . , [b]ut the book is not just for Hiaasen's fans. Readers who have never cracked the covers of his novels can find much here to enjoy: Hiaasen cares deeply about Florida, cheers when something good happens, and gets riled when somebody does something dumb; readers interested in the Sunshine State will learn more from this book than from a stack of travel guides. Reminiscent of the snarky, opinionated newspaper articles of the great Mark Twain, Hiaasen's columns are finely crafted little gems."-- Booklist

And one from Pete Hamill of The New York Daily News, one of what might be called the slash-and-burn school of urban columnists:

"Carl Hiaasen is one of America's finest novelists. His newspaper column is another side of the same talent, examining with a corrosive writer's eye the outrageous carnival of Southern Florida. The inhabitants are all here: thieves, conmen, and hustlers, perfumed swine and oiled mannequins, legal swindlers and patriotic crooks, executioners and lap dancers, and yes, even an occasional hero. This is a splendid collection by a native son whose rage at the despoiling of Florida can only be relieved by dark laughter."--Pete Hamill

And here's one from Hiaassen himself, that might explain why Hamill likes his stuff:

"You just cover a lot of territory and you do it aggressively and you do it fairly and you don’t play favorites and you don’t take any prisoners. It’s the old school of slash-and-burn metropolitan column writing. You just kick ass. That’s what you do. And that’s what they pay you to do."--Carl Hiaasen

It also explains the title.