New Thing #376

After several self-pitying posts, I'm pleased to have something upbeat to say. Last night I took part in the Portland Schools Foundation's annual Hacks and Flacks event, in which journalists face off with politicians for a roast. And I'm pleased to report that, given my natural gift for ridiculing others, I, along with the Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin and newscaster Brenda Braxton, was able to score a flacks' victory for the first time in recent memory.

It was an especially sweet personal triumph because of jokes like this one from State Senator Margaret Carter: "Marc, your work unites a wide spectrum of minorities together--African Americans, Latinos, Asians: none of us know who the hell you are."

And it totally redeemed my humiliating defeat in the Celebrity Spelling Bee, which haunts me still.

Here we are with our distinguished trophies.


I haven't been this proud since winning the Oregon Book Award.

Oh yeah, and I'm blonde again. Just couldn't resist another round of bleaching. This was so severe my hair started falling out.