Canto CCCLVIII: Be Best, Be Last

Gentle cabrones:

By this time 20 years ago, my professional life was truly humming along (my personal life would have to wait about a year and a half more).

A regular appearance on KPCC’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle every other week to talk all things Orange County. More stuff coming up on KCRW. All the things I said in Part III. On the cusp of having the Diocese of Orange announce what was then the biggest sex-abuse settlement in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S.

Music, which I covered in a previous canto. The Former Columna was starting to become the cult favorite that it became. All from the fifth story of the building on the corner of Main and 17th — on a clear day, I couldn’t see forever but I could make out Catalina.

But I remember November 2004 most not because of the Former Columna’s birth, but because of a cover story I published the week of Veteran’s Day.

Robert Acosta. SanTana kid turned Army guy who lost his arm in the Iraq War turned anti-war activist. His then-girlfriend was a fan of mine, and had reached out at the end of 2003 to suggest I do a profile on Robert. He had already appeared in the pages of the New York Times and New Yorker, among others — but no one had done a full profile, they said, and they were all missing the real Robert.

When I pitched it at the beginning of 2004, Guillermo immediately wanted it. He said it was too good of a story to just wait on — that someone would beat me to Robert — so just write the damn thing. I told him it wasn’t that easy. Robert had suffered severely because of the Iraq War — his physical sense, yes, but especially his mental state. People were trying to turn him into something he was uncomfortable with: a anti-war voice. He had definitely turned against the war, but he needed to heal himself first.

I told Guillermo that Robert needed to get comfortable enough with me so I could follow him around. I don’t like to use people, and besides: the longer I hung out with Robert, the better the story would be. Guillermo said I better not be beat.

I hung out with Robert for a couple of months, once a week. We had a lot of fun, and I genuinely liked him and his then-girlfriend — I would take them on my food reviews, where they’d help me try dishes and we’d just chat. No notepad, no recorder. Just relaxing. Young reporters: ALWAYS try to interview people with food. People love food!

I asked Robert to not let anyone else profile him the way I was going to do, and he agreed…until he told me that the Orange County Register was going to do something big on him.

OY VEY…

I couldn’t be mad at him, though — it was his life. Besides, I knew that whatever others might do, I could do better.

The day Robert’s story appeared in the Register was a Sunday — barely 1,000 words. Tom Berg was the writer, one of the Reg’s heavy hitters. He did okay. Too superficial a profile. I would do better.

The Infernal Rag had our news meetings in those years on Tuesday (as opposed to the all-staff meeting, which was Thursday), and that’s when I told Guillermo that the Register had done something on Robert.

Guillermo upbraided me in front of all my colleagues. He used some curse words, and said I should drop the story and that I was essentially a fool. I actually can’t remember the particulars, because it was such a nasty, petty response that I tried to get over it as fast as possible. I had never been so talked down to by a boss before or since, and after that meeting — not even by Daddy Ray at the Family Fun Center (only Art will get THAT reference).

I was probably as deflated as I ever felt in journalism — and if you know, me, I’m NEVER deflated. Lowery noticed, because he went over to me after the meeting, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and said something to the effect to not feel TOO bad because Guillermo was wrong. I should continue to hang out with Robert, because I was onto something.

So I did.

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I ended up hanging out with Robert and his then-girlfriend for 10 months. I followed him from fancy parties on the Westside to the VA hospital in Long Beach to hanging out at his apartment in Tustin and with his then-girlfriend on food reviews with me throughout OC.

My hunch about him was correct. He did NOT want all the attention that was rained down on him, but felt he had to because he wanted the American public to know what a fiasco the Iraq War was. Wherever he went, Robert was gawked at — or, specifically, his prosthetic arm. It was unfortunate, because he was a legitimately nice guy, just some guy who grew up in the barrio of Floral Park (yes, there is one) and joined the military to get out of a bad situation.

I didn’t tell Guillermo what I was doing until maybe September, and he snapped that he had said I should drop the Robert story, so why didn’t I? When I told him that I knew from the start I had something good, he grunted something to the extent that I better deliver.

He tasked Lowery to edit me — might’ve been the only story Lowery worked with me on from beginning to end. We hammered something together that was great — but Lowery wanted more. He didn’t like the original ending I had submitted, and suggested I go out with Robert one final time. That’s how we ended up at The Swinging Door in Tustin on Halloween night, his favorite dive. There, a drunk Marine insisted Robert’s prosthetic arm was fake, and he really hadn’t served in Iraq, and Robert was wrong to oppose the Iraq War, and Robert drove over 90 miles per hour through the streets of Tustin and SanTana with me in the back seat afterward because he was so upset.

Did I mention Robert was dressed like a hippie while wearing his camo jacket? I did do better.

Lowery taught me kindness and how there’s humor in everything (when he announced his wife was leaving him to the staff, he was making jokes even though he was obviously upset), but also that I should never settle for good. Always go for GREAT. (he also said the kindest thing anyone has ever told me about my career — when he was the second-to-last person to leave during the Great Schism of 2007, Lowery went up to me and said, “I’d wish you good luck, but you’re never going to need it” — God bless you, Lowery…)

When my Robert cover story came out, Guillermo said that it was good. He didn’t apologize for his previous blowup. The story didn’t take off the way I wanted it to, but I didn’t care. It was a damn good story, and I had gained two friends.

The following year, the story ended up being a PEN USA Literary Award finalist for journalism — to this day, the most prestigious honor I’ve received for an individual piece where I was the sole byline. I was all of 25 when I wrote that story. Reading it now, it’s a bit inflated in its writing — but the reporting was impeccable, and the lessons invaluable. (I’m not sharing it because I don’t share articles from the Infernal Rag anymore)

I stayed in touch with Robert for a few years after. He ended up breaking up with his girlfriend, and last I heard he bought a farm in Oregon — but this is like 2007. Every couple of years, I think of him and hope he’s okay — and I also wish I could thank him.

His story taught me to trust my gut about a story. His story taught me that sometimes, your bosses aren’t right. Guillermo’s outburst taught me to never humiliate a colleague in front of others, because that’s just bush league bullshit. And DEFINITELY don’t do it if you’re the boss.

I also learned a mantra, one I wouldn’t coin until at least a decade later. I always preach to Don’t Get Beat (that used to be the epigraph for my cantos). But really, journalism — and life — is this: Be first, be fast; be best, be last.

You SHOULD be the first one to write about something, and do it ASAP. But it’s more important to be better at it than anyone else, and write something so definitive that no one will ever top it or even try.

This is me ALWAYS.

“Hail the Hesitant Hero” showed Guillermo and others that there was nothing I couldn’t do. I could write columnas like Commie Girl, review food like Mr. Gold, write about music like Josh Kun, do investigations like Moxley and Schou, or features like Coker. So which beat, Guillermo asked toward the end of 2004, did I want to focus on?

Why not all of them, I responded.

And here I am.

The Year That Changed Everything was a hell of a year. 2005 wouldn’t be better — it couldn’t be better. And yet my life would continue its upswing that God has been so kind to never truly chop down, my mami and Remierda notwithstanding. But we’ll have to wait to see if I ever tell the latter one, because that one’s GOOD…

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Purebred boxer left for dead but brought back to life at Clos Benoit, one of the stops on the latest Baja California wine trip held by my wifey’s Alta Baja Market. Interested? Here’s the next ones!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “"All the great story lines are great practical jokes that people fall for over and over again." — Kurt Vonnegut

LISTENING: “Backwards Down The Number Line,” Phish. Since I’m ancient, I mostly listen to 980 AM La Mera Mera if I’m driving Carrito, and SiriusXM if I’m driving the Yukón. I have a rule that my media chica only found out on the way back from Valle — I must hear a Beatles song in its entirety (their solo stuff or covers, I can skip). From the Beatles Channel, then I go through the progression of the 20s channels. On there is Phish Channel, which I’ve never really gotten into even though I think their music is interesting. But this song! Wistful, jammy, duet vocals — a bit of Dylan, R.E.M (whom I don’t like, by the way), the Dead and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Totally gaba music and poppy — but it HITS.

READING: “Legacy”: Elder writing a poem about his elders — wistful, lean, Midwestern-funny. Absolutely beautiful.

BUY MY NEW CO-BOOK! People’s Guide to Orange County tells an alternative history of OC through the scholarship and reporting of myself, Elaine Lewinnek, and Thuy Vo Dang. There’ll be signings all year — in meanwhile, buy your copy TODAY. And, yes: I’ll autograph it!

Gustavo Events  

Nov. 16 aka TODAY, 1 p.m.: I’m going to be in conversation with the legendary essayist Ilan Stavans, co-author of Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook, at my wife’s Alta Baja Market, 201 E. 4th St., Ste. 101, SanTana. There will be books for sale AND snacks to follow. Lecture and snacks, FREE; books, BARATO.

Nov. 20, 12:30 p.m.: I’ll be in Zoom conversation with Alta Journal chingona Beth Spotswood about my story on the century-long fascination with Zorro. It’s FREE, but you have to register here.

Gustavo in the News

“Alta Live: Unmasking Zorro”: A plug to the event above, in which I’m called the Norm of “Alta Live” — I’ll take it!

“Rancho Libertarians: A Term Coined By LA Times Columnist That May Help Decipher Latino Rightward Shift”: Ooh, the firt examination of a term I invented!

“Voices of Heritage: Skirball celebrates Indigenous, Jewish cultures”: So you know how I’m in conversation with Ilan Stavans at my wifey’s Alta Baja? It’s a home-and-home, because on Sunday, I’ll be with Ilan at the Skirball for the festival mentioned!

“Latinos were part of a society-wide shift to Trump. Don’t single them out for blame“: L.A. Times readers sound off on a columna of mine.

“Is the Latino Voter a Myth? A Response”: Some Substack Love

“La Abeja”: The Fresno Bee’s great Latino-themed newsletter shouts out a columna of mine, but they don’t have a permalink, so this is the plug they get! La Investigadora is on it…

“Part 129: Mythology and Scandalism in Los Angeles – Do the Ends Justify the Means?” Zachary Ellison, the legendary whistleblower, shouts out a columna of mine.

"Decision 2024: Election Night in California": A guest on Spectrum News 1's special shouts out a columna of mine.

“I was a teacher when Prop. 187 was on the ballot. Here’s what my students did to show their patriotism”: An L.A. Times reader shouts out a columna of mine.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“Donald Trump to lose Orange County for third time”: My latest KCRW “Orange County Line” commentary talks about what the headline says.

“We now live in a Prop. 187 America. What’s next?”: My latest L.A. Times columna talks about the true lessons of California’s infamous ballot initiative. KEY QUOTE: “They dismissed the measure’s victory as the last gasp of a white electorate and reassured Latinos who lived in states that spawned dozens of copycat laws, measures and politicians by retelling the Democratic triumphalist part like it was gospel.”

“Ysabel Jurado vanquished Kevin de León. Will winning change her?”: My next latest L.A. Times columna is a sit-down with Boyle Heights’ newest councilmember, a history maker in many ways, with a cameo by the Santo Niño de Atocha. KEY QUOTE: “It’s one thing to spout platitudes to a reporter, quite another to do the same in front of Baby Jesus.”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!