Bagels and Independent Journalism

Saturday means an opportunity for a post-run stop at Bagels Galore, the South Bay’s best. Today’s choices, poppyseed for me and onion for The Counselor. Taste-ee! Also picked up the latest edition of Random Lengths, the amazing San Pedro publication that is a thorn in the side of… well, everone. Gotta love these guys. That is, you’ll love them unless you’re anti-labor or have a beef with the ILWU.  This edition’s “Community Voices” piece is representative: criticizing the Port of Long Beach for an under-the-table sweetheart deal with the trucking industry titled, “Back Room Deal Stinks,” penned (we still say “penned” when no ink or paper is involved in typing!) by a senior attorney for the NRDC. (I can’t link you to that story, because although I have the print edition in front of me, the Web site still has October’s edition).

And, Random Lengths has their long-running promo ad featuring Charles Bukowski holding a copy open in front of him, headed by a salty promotional quote from our late San Pedro poet laureate, who lived just a few blocks down the hill from where I now sit.

The paper’s masthead tells us that they’re a member of aan, the association of alternative newsweeklies (the lowercase is theirs, not mine). Despite all Random Lengths’ poor copyediting, odd phrasings and diatribe-prone stance, if the publication is any representative of aan, that may be an organization that merits the support of individuals interested in journalism more than infotainment-in-print.