Author Archives: aly hawkins

About aly hawkins

Humanities and religion junkie, budding activist, marriage re-imaginer, reluctant church-goer, obsessive reader, fits-and-starts writer, Jesus follower.

The Economy Comes Home

Hey, peeps. So … the economic badness trickled down to me on Friday and I got laid off. It was weird. And sad, because I truly loved my job. I worked for the company, a Christian publishing house, for nearly 5 years and had many wonderful work friends. They were sad to see me go, too, which is nice. Damn you, downsizing.

Anyway, this is suddenly a great time for me to build my freelance writing and editing business. I sent out an email to everyone on my contact list, but I thought it might not be too tacky to give AddRd readers a heads-up as well. Here is what I wrote:

“Need stand-out copy for your website, your catalog or mailer, a radio or TV spot or product packaging? I’m your man … er, girl. Wondering who on earth knows when and when not to use a semi-colon? Wonder no longer; I know. Praying for the perfect collaborative writer for your soon-to-be critically acclaimed, surprise bestseller, Canine Soteriology: Do Dogs Go to Heaven? Your prayers have been answered! I love project development and speculative theology. And dogs.

In short, I’d like to charge you shockingly reasonable rates for smithing words. When next you or those on your contact list (wink, nudge) are in the market for words smithed within an inch of their lives, I hope you will get in touch.

I sincerely appreciate your consideration and I look forward to working with you. Blessings,

Aly Hawkins
alymhawkins [at] gmail [dot] com

“The key person to any success this book may enjoy is Aly Hawkins … without any exaggeration, Aly proved to be among the best editors I have ever had.”
–Tony Campolo, from the preface to Red Letter Christians (Regal, 2008)

References, a partial client list and samples of my work are available upon request.

Thanks for letting me pimp my wares. Thanks, too, in advance to all you praying types for the intercession on Ash’s and my behalf.

The Media Elite (or, The Fallacy of Neutrality)

I watched most of both major parties’ conventions streaming on C-SPAN. I don’t have TV (a lack for which I am more and more grateful every day this political season drags on), so it was online or nothin’. All the major networks and many cable outlets offered their coverage online, but I have to tell ya: I can only take so much talking head. So it was C-SPAN for me.

In addition to what seemed to be contempt for community organizing, I was struck by the outrage expressed by many of the RNC speakers regarding the “media elite.” Now, charges of media bias are nothing new in politics; everybody’s heard of the librul media. And I readily recognize that the unique circumstances of Gov. Sarah Palin being picked as the GOP running mate torched off what can legitimately be called a (an over-?) zealous media frenzy. (To ask what I think is a fair question, wasn’t that kinda the point?) But what threw me off a bit was the implied assumption that the news media (I assume that’s who they mean when they say “media elite”) should be impartial.

Stop the presses! some of you are saying. Isn’t journalistic neutrality something that should be assumed?

Here’s the thing: I don’t know. I know there is a long tradition of “serious” journalists (and schools of journalism) preaching objectivity and “disinterestedness” (as they like to call it); I’m just not sure, in our age of reality TV and the 24-hour news cycle, that it’s even a possibility.

But I’m also not sure that’s a bad thing.

Am I the only one who finds it a bit reassuring to know where most everybody stands? Man, I love checking in on The National Review Online and The Weekly Standard to see what David Frum and crazy ol’ neocon Bill Kristol have to say about the underhanded plotting of The Evil Left. And I love peeking in on the ganga-fueled ravings of the Kossacks and the merlot-soaked bloviating of The Huffington Post to stay on top of the newest conspiracies hatched by The Evil Right. I love PajamasMedia and the whole roll over at The Atlantic. And I love watching Jon Stewart make hearty and delectable mincemeat pie of the whole shebang on The Daily Show. (I draw the line at watching FOX News, but there are 8 million+ people covering that base for me.)

Gone are the days when we could tune in as a nation to trustworthy Walter and know that we were getting the straight poop. And I think maybe it’s okay. (Furthermore, I’m pretty sure there’s no going back outside of some kind of apocalypse, so we may as well roll with the punches, given the alternative.) New media, for better or worse, has given everyone with wifi a soapbox from which to air his or her well- or ill-considered take on the world’s goings on. I, for one, am glad that the “media elite” are no longer the sole arbiters of information.

And when I get tired of all the opinions-couched-as-truth, I can always watch C-SPAN.

for sale

Hey, remember how Ash and I moved about 7 months ago? Well, we just can’t get enough of packing up our crap and hauling it around, so we’re moving again. Because our new place is quite a bit smaller than the old, we’re off-loading some of said crap. Anyone interested in any of the following?:

  1. SLS Q-1000 Home Theater Surround Sound System ($450)
  2. Riverside Antique Black entertainment cabinet ($350)
  3. Specialized Rockhopper Pro mountain bike ($375)
  4. Specialized Crossroads Elite hybrid bike ($275)

As an added bonus, we’ll contribute 5% of the sale price to Operation Christmas Goat, so you won’t be taking any goats out of anyone’s mouths by shopping Ashkins instead of Amazon. (This is how I’m justifying using Addison Road as my personal classifieds page, in case Mike is annoyed.)