Contributors

Mike Riggs chronicles the persecution of moody, depressive emo teens in this month's Artifact (page 72). He hastens to add that while his love for emo kids knows no bounds—the drummer in his band, Chums of Chance, goes by the name Emo Paul—he "hates hipsters." As an intern this past summer at reason's D.C. offices, Riggs chipped ice out of the freezer, made gallons of coffee, alphabetized the library, and did such a good job blogging that his contributions continue to appear on Hit & Run, even though he has moved on to the greener, better-compensated pastures of Washington City Paper, where he edits the City Lights section and reviews whiskey and beer. His other journalistic interests include "gay people, tattoos, drugs, and porn."

In this issue, Associate Editor David Weigel polls the staff at Nevada's Bunny Ranch (page 20), chats with Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr (page 26), and rips up the new movie Swing Vote (page 68). "This is the ideal year to cover Libertarian politics, and to cover politics as a libertarian," says Weigel. "Political engagement is higher now, and with that engagement has ironically come more cynicism, more of a sense of skepticism about government."

Contributing Editor Charles Oliver started his career at reason in 1988 as an editorial assistant. He worked at the magazine full time until 1993; these days he's a staff writer for the Dalton, Georgia, Daily Citizen, where he covers city government. Oliver, 44, has been gathering and writing Brickbats (page 17) for nearly 20 years. When he started the job, he relied on letters from readers and gleaned items from several daily papers. Now he does his research online, a development he calls "a two-edged sword," since "it's much harder to find something fresh." But having company in the "goofy" news business is a good thing, says Oliver. "It raises that general awareness of government incompetence and impositions on civil liberties," not to mention "really trivial policy issues."