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OK, so this is some serious inside-baseball shit that will only appeal to current and former New Times / Village Voice Media Gossip Whores.
But it must be told.
Christine Brennan is VVM’s editorial second in command, the person who oversees thew chain’s flagship paper, the Village Voice, and it’s a mystery how she got there. As far as I know, she’s only written and published one story in her career and it was unequivocally libelous.
Seriously. Just read it.
Anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of libel law should be able to see the burning red flags that wave all through it.
Anyway, the story is about Brennan’s ex-husband, a former Westword staff writer, with whom I once worked at an alt weekly in Boulder.
She was by far and away the most vicious ex that I or anyone else on staff had ever seen. The two communicated by fax to coordinate their time with their kids, and Brennan was continually filing motions against them that seemed to be filed for the sole purpose of making her ex’s life hell.
In other words, she hated him with a fury that hell will never know.
So here’s the funny part. One of our writers at the Boulder paper applied for an editor gig at Westword. In order to get it, he had to take a ridiculously difficult editing test, which Brennan herself devised some years earlier.
The test contained an environmental story that needed serious reworking. The applicant, who knew little about environmental issues, asked Brennan’s ex, who had written a number of such stories, to do that portion for him.
Well, wouldn’t you know, Brennan was blown away by the piece, how incredibly well-edited it was. From what I understand, she went on and on lavishing praise on it, calling it “elegant” and “beautiful”, all the while completely ignorant of the fact that it had been rewritten by her loathsome ex.
To the best of my knowledge, she remains unaware today, because I’ve told very few people, and I’m pretty sure they kept her mouth shut.
I confess
I killed Papa Doc with my voodoo. Please don’t hit me again!
So where are the links to the lawsuits? Or the article?
I worked for The Philadelphia Drummer when I was in college. A local hack, Harry Katz, wrote an article about a state senator’s mistress which was totally fabricated. Within two-hours of the paper hitting the streets a lawsuit was filed. James Michner, the publisher, shut down the paper immediately. It had been very successful.
Give us something rather than your undocumented accounts of what happened and the back story.
Here we are with another legend in their own mind.
Yeah, good question: What qualifies people who really have done nothing with their lives to be professors somewhere?
Done nothing, huh? Joe was top gun at the Pitch for years, got a mayor elected to office in Kansas City – yeah, he was the point man – helped bring said mayor down and wrote a highly regarded non-fiction book.
Try looking in the mirror for the answer to your question.