Justin’s Newsletter: December 2022
Vol. 2, Issue 12
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MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Big news! I’ve been hired as the field representative/council district liaison for Pasadena City Councilmember Steve Madison, who represents District 6. Many thanks to outgoing District 6 Field Rep Taka Suzuki, who did an excellent job for more than 23 years, and to Geoff Baum and Michelson Philanthropies for the opportunity to work at that fantastic organization the past year and a half.
As District 6 Field Rep, I’ll be Councilman Madison’s eyes and ears in the district. It feels like much of my career and especially my non-paid, extracurricular activities (Altadena Town Council, West Pasadena Residents’ Association, local boards and commissions, and even my journalism) has led to this moment and this position. As for my journalism, while I won’t be covering the city going forward, I’ll continue to write personality profiles and historical pieces for outlets like Alta Journal, LAist, and beyond.
Also, the Pasadena Media TV show I host, “NewsRap Local with Justin Chapman,” will be getting a bit of a rebrand as “Pasadena Monthly with Justin Chapman,” still featuring an inclusive exploration of city issues.
Ready to serve!
My Year in Review
This has been an eventful (and fast!) year for me. In addition to the new city job, here are some highlights:
I won the 1st place award in the Travel Reporting category at the 64th annual Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Awards in June for my story about Slab City in Culture Honey Magazine.
I also took home two 3rd place awards in the TV/Public Affairs category for hosting the Pasadena news talk show “NewsRap Local with Justin Chapman” on Pasadena Media, and in the Entertainment Features category for my story about Paradise Springs in LAist, “The Hedonistic History Of Paradise Springs, Where Early Hollywood Went Wild.”
And earlier this month, I came in 3rd in the Film Features category at the LA Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for my Paradise Springs story in LAist.
In addition to the 3rd place award from the LA Press Club, my show “NewsRap Local” also came in 2nd place in the News Programming category at the Alliance for Community Media West’s WAVE Awards (WAVE = Western Access Video Excellence). And the show continued to grow this year, with an excellent slate of guests including Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, new City Manager Miguel Márquez, California Assemblyman Chris Holden, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, and many others, as well as a special election episode ahead of the midterms.
I was interviewed for and featured extensively in a 12-part podcast series by LAist Studios about early JPL history called “LA Made: Blood, Sweat, & Rockets.”
I was quoted extensively in an NPR radio segment and article about Mad Mike Hughes, the Flat Earther daredevil rocketeer.
I was quoted in a great new book about Flat Earthers and conspiracy culture called Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Daily Beast reporter Kelly Weill.
I gave a talk at the Altadena Historical Society’s quarterly meeting about Jack Parsons, the rocketry pioneer and occultist whose work helped lead to the founding of JPL. (I also wrote an article for their newsletter on my tenure on the Altadena Town Council).
My friend Brad Steele and I launched a podcast about fatherhood called “Dadding.”
I was one of two questioners during a Pasadena City Council candidates’ forum in May co-sponsored by Pasadena Star-News, Pasadena Community Coalition, and “NewsRap Local.”
I wrote a story for Alta Journal about one of the world’s newest micronations, Slowjamastan, and traveled to Vegas to attend MicroCon, a conference for the micronational community. (I was granted Slowjamastani citizenship earlier in the year, and was elevated to “national hero” after writing this article, lol).
I wrote a 3-part series on Jack Parsons and a 2-part series on Frank Malina for Pasadena Now, both of whom played key roles in the development of the U.S. rocketry program and the founding of JPL.
I wrote an article in Pasadena Star-News about author Jerry Stahl’s new book, Nein, Nein, Nein! One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust.
I traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to cover the 2022 Science Writers conference (and stepped into Mississippi and Arkansas while I was there).
I also wrote several more articles for Pasadena Now and the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.
Watch this month’s episode of “NewsRap Local” featuring an interview with Sheri Bonner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley.
Thank you as always to the Pasadena Media Foundation for their support! Support them!
Stories to Keep an Eye On:
International: Wow, what a World Cup Final that was! Intense all the way through. France played admirably. Mad props to Kylian Mbappé and his hat trick—the guy was born in 1998, he’s only 23! He’s got a great career ahead of him—we certainly haven’t seen the last of him. But the accolades this time go to Argentina and one of the best players in the history of the Beautiful Game, Lionel Messi. Not to pile on the Messi love-fest, but the guy deserved at least one World Cup win. What a way to cap off an extraordinary decades-long career.
National: We’re heading into a new, divided Congress. January 3 will be the day to watch whether Kevin McCarthy fulfills his long-time dream of becoming Speaker of the House. There are five public Republican hold-outs—enough to sink his candidacy with the Republicans’ razor-thin majority. The rift is widening into a bigger Republican civil war of sorts. They may be their own worst enemies. And what can get done in a divided Congress? Probably not much, though we might be surprised.
California: RIP P-22! The celebrity mountain lion in Griffith Park has been euthanized due to severe injuries. An outpouring of grief from Angelenos soon followed. The big cat captured LA’s heart and will be sorely missed.
Local: With UCLA football moving from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, starting in 2025 the Rose Bowl Game may not be played at 2 p.m. on January 1 (or January 2 if January 1 falls on a Sunday) anymore, meaning potentially a different day than the Rose Parade. After first demanding that the game remain on parade day, the Tournament eventually agreed to go along with the schedule determined by the College Football Playoffs. The Rose Bowl will continue to be a part of the college football postseason, and the New Year’s six bowl games will rotate between hosting quarterfinal and semifinal games, but it is unclear if the Rose Bowl Game will be held during its traditional slot starting in 2025. Depending on where the Rose Bowl Game falls in the rotation as a quarterfinal or a semifinal, it could be played December 31 or a week after New Year’s Day, during the day or at night, whenever TV rights-holders think will get the biggest ratings.
Great Reads
Here are some recommendations for great books I’ve read recently:
The Time of the Toad: A Study of Inquisition in America—Dalton Trumbo
It is clear after reading this that a previous book I mentioned, J. Edgar Hoover’s hysterically anti-communist diatribe Masters of Deceit in 1957, was written in response to the first part (“The Time of the Toad,” a 1949 pamphlet) and the second part (“The Devil in the Book,” a 1956 pamphlet) of screenwriter, director, and author Dalton Trumbo’s The Time of the Toad, eventually published in book form with a third part (“Honor Bright and All That Jazz,” a 1965 article first published in the 100th anniversary issue of the Nation) in 1972. Trumbo, best known for his anti-war novel Johnny Got His Gun and the screenplays of the films “Roman Holiday,” “Spartacus,” and “Papillon,” was one of the Hollywood Ten persecuted and blacklisted for their alleged political beliefs in 1947. Trumbo spent 11 months in jail for refusing to answer the House Un-American Activities Committee’s questions about his communist past. What Hoover did in Masters of Deceit was try to equate social justice advocacy and liberal/progressive causes (affordable housing, universal healthcare, racial equality/civil rights, peace/anti-war, higher wages, strong unions, etc.) with totalitarian communism in the average American mind, while what Trumbo did in The Time of the Toad was point out the fundamentally anti-American foundation of HUAC and the Red Scare of that era. Also, what a fantastic title. Here’s what he’s referring to: the Time of the Toad is a period “in which the nation turns upon itself in a kind of compulsive madness to deny all in its tradition that is clean, to exalt all that is vile, and to destroy any heretical minority which asserts toad-meat [political hysteria and societal bullshit] not to be the delicacy which governmental edict declares it. Triple heralds of the Time of the Toad are the loyalty oath, the compulsory revelation of faith, and the secret police.” The establishment of HUAC on June 7, 1938, “signaled the approach of the Toad into American life.” Unfortunately, there are too many such recent moments to list here that signal our own Time of the Toad, today. And when you hear the croak of the Toad, know this: it will get worse before (if) it gets better.
The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters—Edited by Fergus Fleming
Fergus Fleming, the nephew of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, compiled and edited this collection of the author’s letters during the period when he wrote the 14 Bond novels, 1952-1964. Fleming had a fascinating life in his own right and these letters to his wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends, critics, fellow writers, and more provide unique insight into his mindset as he created the world of the most famous fictional spy.
SEE YOU IN 2023!