Second prize is TWO trips

My colleague Mike Fitts (whose checkered past includes having once been The State‘s national editor) and I sometimes express our envy of Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof‘s constant world travel. You see, it’s been years since our department has had any travel budget at all. Mike and I only got to go to the national political conventions in 2004 (he went to Boston; I went to New York) because I caught the publisher in a very weak moment, after a very good month in the paper’s advertising revenue.

Well, now there’s an opportunity to engage in something you might call a sort of journalists’ Fantasy Camp. The New York Times is giving away a free trip to Africa with Mr. Kristof. It sounds really worth entering. Trouble is, it came a few decades too late. Turns out only journalism students are eligible.

But it gives me an idea. I think we should hold a contest, too. In fact, I’m just going to go ahead and do it. Here are the rules: Write an essay of no more than 700 words spelling out your game plan for how the Unparty can break the two-party stranglehold on South Carolina and the nation.

The lucky winner will get:

A free trip to Irmo with Brad Warthen!

Imagine prowling the teeming streets of that local trouble spot with a three-time winner of the S.C. Press Association’s coveted E. A. Ramsaur Award. With Mr. Kristof, you could meet the heads of nations engaged in genocide. With me, you could meet my cousin TEC Dowling (if it’s OK with him), who presides over the take-no-prisoners madness
of District Five. You and Mr. Kristof could search for the source of the Nile. You and I could search for Irmo’s elusive downtown.

Insert your entries as comments on this post. And good luck.

The ad for the Kristof contest quotes a letter from him saying, "I’m looking for a masochist."

So am I. Do you have what it takes?

10 thoughts on “Second prize is TWO trips”

  1. Doug

    Sign me up.
    Maybe we can get the limo to swing by the boondocks you call Northeast Columbia so you can get an idea of what’s going on out here.
    Stop for a burger at Five Guys in the Village at Sandhills. Get stuck in traffic in any one of our spawl infested neighborhoods.
    Risk life and limb trying to make a left out of Wal-Mart on Two Notch Road. Pass by the two new elementary schools under construction (both within a mile or two
    of other elementary schools).

  2. bill

    The Ambien Solution
    Most South Carolinians and Americans don’t care too much about politics or politicians.
    Name recognition,cuteness quotient,and a somewhat normal wife(or husband as the case may be)are all that really matter to the average voter.Issues,Smissues-who cares?It doesn’t matter anymore.I am dem as you are dem as we are pubs and we are all together.Once the Unparty gets on the ballot,go out canvassing door to door and give them your spiel.Then thank them for listening to your bull by offering them what every American really wants:A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP!Then present them with two Ambien(you can get em over the net)for each registered voter in the household.The next day at the polls,have Unparty volunteers whispering your candidates’ names into their highly susceptible ears.Unparty by a landslide!

  3. Uncle Elmer

    Brad,
    The Unparty needs a campaign poster slogan. I’ve been driving around and have noticed that the competition is not all that impressive:
    Oscar Lovelace: A New Governor
    Bob Coble: Columbia’s Mayor
    Kevin Fisher: A New Mayor
    Short on ideas, but at least we know something about what jobs they have or want…has anybody seen any campaign signs with actual slogans? I miss those, they showed that at least the ad guys were working for a living.
    To be fair to Mr. Fisher, I have only seen one of his signs (the east end of Heyward) and for all I know it was a lone fan rather than his campaign that generated it. But gee whiz, these other guys could just try a little.

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