Sportswriter, Roswell Daily Record

Half the songs I wrote were in Roswell, including one that would be No. 1 on the Casey Kasem top 40. It's about a drive-by shooting; a guy went to Alsups to buy some beer or something and looked at bangers in the parking lot the wrong way. They chased him in their car, caught up to him and shot him in the neck. Quality song. I just need someone to put music to the words. Think David Lynch-dark, heavy but slow-n-hard on acoustic-guitar strumming; or, it can be played punk-rockish. It's a versatile song.

I could definitely use some Popo's right now. Best Mexican food, ever.

 

Xan, don't you mean Ramon Bravo...

 

True, dat. All of it.

Wasteland, pure and simple.

 

Roswell beat is awesome. To whoever gets this job, please give my best to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. And don't believe it when some ol' salty coach tries to convince you that it really was a weather balloon.

The truth is out there.

 

Just don't make any "Caddyshack" references

 

I don't know about that FishHack... it turned into an easy out, a couple freelance stories including one for Sports Illustrated, and a much better paying gig...

Not to mention the joy of winning the unemployment claim despite three appeal attempts by the hapless Rick Kraft... just a thought...

 

Oh man.

Oh man.

This is awesome. 3 jobs later, i'm out of the business. Since then I've been a writer in Odessa, a minor league football PR guy in odessa, a restaurant manager in San Antonio and now am working as an aircraft technician for the US Navy at NAS Jacksonville.

But this job ... it keeps bringing me back to this board. "Hey, Shawn, the RDR's back on SportsJournalists.com!" Sweet. Just when i'm about to leave for good, you people keep bringing me back in.

Poertner, first of all, is the best person i ever met in the business, hands down. He doesn't let shit affect him even though he essentially runs one of the worst papers in the country, in one of the worst locations in the country and looks like that queer guy i saw on some makeover show once, the one who got a makeover with his seabeast sister.

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned that closet case publisher Corey Beck keeled over a few months back. It seems like death is a theme there, and no one wants to die in Roswell -- NMMI AD Lefty Stecklein died while I was there, my replacement as SE died there, local baseball legend Joe Baumann fell to his eventual demise before my very eyes when they named the stadium at the fairgrounds after him and then Beck. E-I-C Mike Bush can't be far behind, sweating like a whore in church under the oppressive weight of his own massive fupa.

The town is 6 miles by 2 miles. there's a wal Mart, and Arby's and a UFO-shaped Mcdonald's. The weather is hotter than 2 rats fucking in a wool sock. Cost of living is lower than many third world countries and when the wind blows in from the north it smells like one giant high-density feed lot.

The news editor is a small, nervous man who is exhibits more forehead veins than Chris Benoit after an equine anabolic bender. The women are not attractive, except maybe Andrea, who has to be high priority when MILFhunter.com comes to town.

If you go there, I sure hope you celebrate Latin culture. I was proficient in spanish when I went there, left damn near fluent. I played for the Roswell Railsplitters (the local semi-pro football team that'd be named the Roswell Invaders if it's still around) and I was the only white guy on the starting defense. Led the team in sacks, though, probably the highlight of my 9 months there.

Most of the people are very nice, and the size of the town allows you to build a certain rapport with the community. I had a few fans, and my voice was strong enough to have just as many people sad to see me go as glad to have me gone.

Adam in composition is a great guy, I hope he's still there. He's the ad hoc IT guy, trying to keep a bunch of decade-old iMacs running pirated Quark software online. He was my ally as a Cowboys fan in an editorial department with a Philly fan (Cave) and a giants fan (the sports writer who may make himself known later).

All in all, I'm glad I went. I couldn't sell the experiences I had there -- which i, like Songbird, could write a book about if Beck and Bush hadn't killed my muse -- but being out of there is just as priceless.

 

Someone really should tell Adam about this site.

 

Guess who's back ... back again ... guess who's back ... tell a friend.

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=325856

 

I went to Roswell last summer, passing through on the way to Ruidoso and the town is awful. I did eat at a really good Mexican joint - recommended by Songbird - and I played golf at the NMMI course (it was really nice, until the crazy ass thunderstorm moved in), but this town is terrible even by West Texas/Southeastern New Mexico standards.

Oh, and the UFO museum is the biggest waste of $12 I've ever spent.

 

I never went to the UFO Museum. Just wasn't interested. The art museum is a good one, for such a medicore town. I'm always surprised when I see that Andrew's still there. Lord knows he could be somewhere else if he wanted to be.

Roswell's like an old girlfriend you can't get out of your head...but don't know why. She wasn't the smartest or most charming. Her face was kinda plain and her ass was a little lumpy. But there was just a tiny bit of quirky magic. Not very much, though.

EDIT: Korgoth of Barbaria introduced me to SportsJournalists.com. So you can send any PMs expressing anger or gratitude his way. He left SportsJournalists.com bookmarked on the SE computer. Yeah, that's not necessarily recommended, all you newbies out there.

 

Dude, I'll let him know. He's on my facebook, and I get IMs every once in a while.

He tends the goats for me, since he intends to pay my dad for my hand in marriage with them.