The Lost Season

It looked bad. The 13-year-old QB clutched his right wrist, the one connected to his throwing hand. He seemed to be in more than great pain; he looked terrified.

The Plantation Wildcats were already down 7-0 to the Pembroke Pines Optimist Bengals in a big semifinal game. We really couldn't afford to have our quarterback coming up from the bottom of the pile screaming. One of our well-weathered coaches got a look at his mangled bones and came back to the sideline muttering, "Oh, that's ugly."

We didn't know it then, but he had broken both wrists. His right one was... full story >>

There's no place like home for Somali refugees in Greeley

Zuheyra was freezing on the evening of September 5, even colder than usual because she was starving. The knife she used to slice fat off the endless slabs of raw beef lining up before her felt heavy in her cramped hands, and the frigid, sterile air in the meat-packing plant did nothing to quench the dryness in her mouth.

She had been standing there for four and a half hours, her 22-year-old body covered with the nearly twenty pounds of protective gear — a heavy jacket, hard hat, gloves — required for workers at the JBS Swift & Company plant in Greeley. The extra... full story >>

Turkeys of the Year

Everyone knows it — 2008 was a year of change. A black guy won the White House, for crying out loud.

Would it be too much to ask that Houston be spared any no-brainer candidates for Turkey of the Year?

Alas, when Houston was asked the question "Can you have a bunch of people who will publicly and strenuously embarrass themselves?" Houston's answer was, "Yes, we can!"

We had a Texans team that started out talking about the playoffs and ended up talking about a great place in the draft. They'll probably blow that opportu­nity, too.

We had a... full story >>

For Civil War re-enactors, the Border War ain’t no football game

The first volley of shots in Westport rings out around 11:30 in the morning.

At the Harris-Kearney House, a group of Union soldiers notices a border ruffian amid the crowd that has gathered on the lawn. It's a sunny but chilly Saturday in late October, and a ceremony has just designated the oldest remaining brick house in Kansas City as an official stop on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. Afterward, people hang around to enjoy some cake decorated to look like a wagon wheel. Nearby, three little girls in long prairie-style dresses sell cups of hot cider from a... full story >>

Art Basel Invasion!

Artist Alette Simmons-Jimenez has toiled mightily on her ambitious project "Giants in the City" to prepare for this year's Art Basel, which runs from December 4 through 7. For months, she and nine others have been designing and constructing 30-foot-tall inflatable sculptures that will be lighted after dark, creating a whimsical display in Bayfront Park to counterpoint Miami's glorious skyline.

"We have been laboring furiously since last February to raise funds for this ourselves," sighs Simmons-Jimenez, a member of Wynwood's Artformz Alternative. "This has been a grassroots... full story >>

Living on the streets of Minneapolis for a week

The unemployment rate is the highest it's been since 1994. More than a million jobs have been lost nationwide since the start of the year. Minnesota shed 7,500 posts last month alone. Thirty thousand more jobs are expected to vanish statewide during the next year. And foreclosure signs are dotting front yards like tombstones.

On any given night, more than 9,000 Minnesotans roam the streets homeless, according to a 2006 Wilder Foundation study. There hasn't been another one since (Wilder conducts its study every three years), but experts suggest that the figure may now be closer... full story >>

Janet Napolitano’s Sorry Service in Arizona Makes Her a Terrible Choice for Homeland Security Secretary

She finds herself on the president-elect's short list for a cabinet seat, as well as on Saturday Night Live's hot seat for parody.

The governor captured the front page of American journalism this month with the... full story >>

Border Crossers

On any given night on the shadowy stretch of Post Street near Polk where the lavender Divas sign glows, a parade of Latina ladies beckons to men with cash to burn and an attraction to women who weren't born women. Ana works the corner with her cartoonish Jessica Rabbit curves squeezed into a red minidress, a mere ad for the services she could render in her bedroom blocks away with a crucifix keeping watch over the headboard. Midblock, Jacqueline Swan asks a potential client if she can touch his package, a test to see whether her prospective john is an undercover cop. Her hair pertly... full story >>

The Pope of Pork: In tiny towns across Missouri, old-school hog farming stages a comeback — and at tables across the nation, diners rejoice

Over the past few years, Missouri hog farmer Russ Kremer has kept some exclusive company, from high-toqued chefs to CEOs of publicly traded companies to the likes of vice-presidential also-ran Sarah Palin and President-elect Barack Obama.

A self-described evangelist for sustainable agriculture, Kremer logs 80,000 miles a year on the road behind the wheel of his reeking 1998 Chevrolet 2500 truck or the battered 1996 Oldsmobile he calls Blue, laptop and trio of Rolodexes close at hand, BlackBerry glued to his ear. He has taught Alaskan farmers the merits of cooperative... full story >>