Most people don't bother to read the free newspapers of their hometowns (i.e. the Austin Chronicle) save to find out about what band is playing where or where the drink specials are. I read 'em all the time, the articles in those freebees are usually a lot better than the crap in the major newspapers.
Almost crapped my pants last week when I saw a guy I knew on the cover of the Colorado Springs Independent. I work with this guy a few times a week, one of the very few parolees who seems to have turned the corner. Funny how the state has spent tens and tens of thousands of dollars on rehab programs for this guy, and all that took to change him was a dream. Thank you for paying your taxes, Colorado residents! The story is here.
This week in the CS Indy, there's an article about drinking and physical effort. Mentions the hash, Jack Quinn's, and even a bike pub crawl which I've heard rumors of but have never been able to pin down. The link is here. It keeps amazing me how people talk of the JQ Running Club like it's some sort of religious experience. I was at the very first one, and still go quite often, and I'd say at best it's about 20% as fun as the Austin Duathlete pub runs. Folks there think they're some kind of college student because they ran three miles and drank a pint of beer. It's extremely rare to even see someone minorly drunk there, not quite the case at the pub run or a Kimchi hash.
Anyways, I hold out hope that the bike pub crawl will be awesome!
15 comments:
Was reading that article in the Indie last night. Another great local rag is the Westside Pioneer.
I read the Pittsburgh city paper every week.
I was reading this post and just now realized it was your blog and not someone elses. I couldn't figure out why an Austinite was reading a Colorado paper.
Beer is my friend. And you are right... AD Pub runs are the best.
Brownie, great article, thanks for linking it. This is what I think a major issue boils down to:(excerpted from your indy article)
DOC denies the programming might be ineffective.
"There are times that we hope people make it, and that is not the case," says Tim Hand, DOC assistant director for parole and community corrections. "But it does not happen from the lack of effort on our part to help them in their transition."
As long as the DOC can say, "well, we did what we could, so it's not our fault," there is not enough true drive to make any effective ammendments to the system. How sad that a main idea out there is still just about covering one's own ass. How many people that you see go through your office were activley involved in good school, youth mentorship programs, sports, etc? While I understand it may be more of a focus for me because I am very child centered, I really think positive enrichment and teaching during youth can alter a potential future criminal record. If we spent more money on programs to help people, especially at risk people, when they are very young it could drastically change how those people react and live their lives later on. I see you as more of the expert on this subject, though, what do you think, Brownie?
AD pub run kicked ass last night!
It's not the Austin Chrinicle, you freak. Get it right!
And I just picked up the new copy while at my kolache joint this morning.
Brownie--don't move to Denver!!!
Very good question, C-4. One of the most common things about all the folks who come through the parole office is a lack of education. All the money the DOC uses now in treatment obviously isn't working (you'll shortly hear about a reduced rate of recidivism, but it's only because we're letting cons get away with a lot more before throwing them back into prison - not because any kind of treatment is working), so I'd like to see it thrown into education and other programs to keep people from jail in the first place. The DOC is a monster that feeds off itself - politicians all harp about getting tough on crime but fail to care about the after effects. Personally, I don't imagine that cycle will ever end. But hey, at least our DOC isn't nearly as fucked up as California's!
Off the subject of recidivism and on to the more important subject of exercise and alcohol. You really should do RAGBRAI sometime. It's like a 500 mile pub crawl on a bicycle.
Cool you could get like........5 or 10 RUI's during that bike crawl. I'm in! DOC here I come for an RUI!
Are there any states that have higher public education funding (ok, well, I think there are about 48 that have more than CO, sorry, silly question...) and lower crime rates or better DOC stats? I would really love to be someone who tries to do something about this, although it is incredibly daunting. We need to change where a lot of our tax dollars are going currently.
...yikes, I sounded like a hippie for a minute, don't tell anyone Brownie!
Soo..going to kick butt at Pb'ville or DNF?
Most think I won't finish. And I'll remember that as I'm doing jager bombs at the final aid station.
You should come up, it's the 25 year anniversary.
signed up for the Cascade Crest Classic 100 miler the weekend after. Looks pretty kick-ass.
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