We recently co-sponsored a sweepstakes to give away a skateboard deck inspired by Everything Now: Lessons From the City-State of Los Angeles, the bestselling new book by TMN's co-founder Rosecrans Baldwin. (“A genre-bending work of reportage and memoir that’s been lauded as one of the best and most inventive books of the summer,” GQ recently said.)
To prove that people actually do win internet contests, we reached out to the winner, Paul, with a few questions, and he was kind enough to send us a photo.
Paul, congratulations! First question: do you skate? Or, perhaps once upon a time you skated? Skated. Serving Uncle Sam left me unable to skateboard any longer. He clearly got the better end of the deal.
Wow, sorry to hear that. But it looks like the next generation might be raring to go. My son’s got scooters down. Bicycle next. Then he gets to skateboard. And he is dying to try. His mother not so much. Your board rests next to his bed against the wall. The stuffed puffin and octopus protect it.
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Out of curiosity, what are you reading these days, or what kind of stuff do you read generally? When I’m not reading about a bizarre city that’s it’s own country [lol—ed.], anything Chris Offutt puts out is preordered at this point. Same for Haruki Murakami. Radical Mycology is on the nightstand and will be there for probably a year at my pace. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry is coming. I read one poem a day. Typically from an Irish or a South American poet. Koans as longs as they’re annotated.
Fabulous. Congratulations again to Paul, and big thanks to everyone who entered!