On Vox: I Like To Read.

The Ex-Millennial Girl blog is a compelling read. A woman about my age left her small town in Florida in 1999 to strip with her best friend in NYC, and they become addicted to opium. And she's good at remembering all the little details and it's just fascinating reading. Plus she's hilarious.  "All of [the Canadian] candy bars are like, violently named. Like ‘Punch in the Face’ or ‘Rip Your Mouth Out’ or something."

I also just read On the Take by a UW sociology professor. It was written in the early 70s and it focuses on the crime syndicates and networks in Seattle, but as the author points out can be generalized to any city in the world. But because it is Seattle it was especially fascinating for me. Before they outlawed "cardrooms" for good, the city had gambling stamps (for permission to gamble on premises) second only to Vegas back then. Also as I had just seen Serpico I had the taste for corrupt cops already.

Seattle sounds a lot more interesting and dangerous back then, but the author's point is that just because the big distribution network of graft was eliminated doesn't mean shit ain't still goin' down. He also describes a conversation another reporter overheard from LBJ back in the day, which demonstrated that Johnson could conceivably have been implicated in something that would have made Watergate look like a cakewalk. Good stuff.

Originally posted on herbaliser.vox.com