Brad Rourke

Category: public comments

  • "Hyperlocal" Journalism And Community

    Many of my friends and readers of my national commentary know that I am also the founder of a web site called Rockville Central, which is an example of what the Knight Citizen News Network would call “hyperlocal journalism.” Rockville Central is a citizen-produced, all-volunteer local blog that is intentionally designed to embody the kinds…

  • My PJTV Segment: It’s Like The Sopranos!

    These are my notes from yesterday’s Pajamas TV segment, which was live yesterday. If you check this page, you can see the video. I’m slated to be on again this Friday, October 24, at 6:00 pm Eastern. It’s easy to pick on the Garden State of New Jersey, almost too easy. Like shooting fish in…

  • I’m On TV

    In case you are interested, I’ve got two TV-on-the-Internet segments coming up that you can check out. Not a big deal, just wanted you to know. First of all, I am scheduled to be a guest on Pajamas TV (the new Internet video venture of Pajamas Media, where I publish commentary occasionally and where my…

  • White Men Can’t Talk

    The article by me first appeared in Pajamas Media. There is a priceless moment in Oliver Stone’s unfairly maligned The Doors, when our heroes are prepping to go on the Ed Sullivan Show. They are met by a stage assistant, a real twerp, who informs them that, “The network guys have a problem with one…

  • Hard, Ain’t It Hard

    This column first appeared (with a different title) in Pajamas Media. There’s not much I do that’s actually difficult anymore. It didn’t used to be that way. When I applied to colleges, it was suggested to me that I create a number of tiers of schools: the long-shots, the probables, and the back-ups. I collected…

  • Please Don’t Run

    Dear Sen. Obama: Just a few days ago, on one of many Debate Days, I saw that photograph of you and your daughter, Sasha, in the bumper cars at the Iowa State Fair. You are both so happy, sharing the simple joys of the lurch and heave and jolt. Looking at the photo, I imagine…

  • "I See It All The Time"

    The Sheriff’s came to the neighbors the other day. Came twice, in fact. First time, they asked if I had seen them recently. I had to admit not since the weekend, when there was a lot of activity in the driveway. The second time the Sheriff’s came, it was with a pair of laborers. They…

  • "Ah, Mephistophilis!"

    The scene where the perp breaks down and confesses all is always a crowd pleaser. That sweatbox drama, the pacing inspector giving the third degree, the metal table marred with cigarette burns. We imagine ourselves behind the one-way, watching the confession unfold. But, what would it be like to be chained to that table instead?…

  • It’s What We Leave Behind

    (From the August 15, 2005 edition of The Christian Science Monitor) There we were, my son and I, at the top of a four-foot quarter-pipe ramp. We are learning “aggressive inline skating.” This particular ramp is one that always bothers me, because it starts vertically, and I often fall, skidding across the asphalt below. We…