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      • When I Was Cute
      • Feature Listing
      • Features
      • Essays & Ephemera
      • History!
      • Fiction
      • Interviews
      • Bio
      • Contact
          • When I Was Cute
          • Feature Listing
          • Features
          • Essays & Ephemera
          • History!
          • Fiction
          • Interviews
          • Bio
          • Contact
          • When I Was Cute
          • Feature Listing
          • Features
          • Essays & Ephemera
          • History!
          • Fiction
          • Interviews
          • Bio
          • Contact
          • Powered By
            Strikingly
            • Writer

              Direct your hot tips, job offers, fan mail, hate mail at: rickpaulas@gmail.com

            • My Books

              Buy them or find them if you'd like.

              The Palmer Hotel

              A series of spooky short stories set over a century in a downtown hotel.

              Buy now! $20 (that includes shipping within U.S.)

               

              Venmo: Rick-Paulas

              Paypal: rickpaulas@gmail.com

              CashApp: $RickPaulas

               

              Include your address, please.

              Eastern Span

              A neo-noir set in Oakland circa 2013.

              It's sold out, but you can read it at the Internet Archive, available here.

            • Features

              Some are long, some are not as long.

              Fifty or so years of the Albany Bulb

              Curbed

              “It has been—often all at once—a landfill, an encampment, a community, an art installation, a museum, a music venue, a playhouse, a racetrack, and a dog park”

              What It’s Like to Live in a California Ghost Town​

              CityLab

              To be an off-season caretaker of Bodie, California (winter population: 5), you need a high tolerance for cold, solitude, and two-hour grocery runs.

              The Quasi-Conspiracy That Caused Oakland’s Deadly Ghost Ship Fire

              HuffPost

              The 2016 warehouse fire that killed 36 people was a civic tragedy decades in the making.

              The Mass-Shooting Survivor Network

              The New York Times

              A profile of the constantly expanding club for those who have gone through a uniquely American experience.

              What to Wear to Smash the State

              The New York Times

              Anti-fascist activists believe in dressing for the job they
              want. Right now, many think, that job is punching Nazis.

              Exposure is Bullshit: Who Should Get Paid for Live Storytelling Events?

              Longreads

              The thing margins of the IRL storytelling society.

              Sex Workers vs. The Internet

              Longreads

              Since the dawn of the internet, online platforms have allowed clients to take advantage of sex workers. Now, they’re fighting back.

              'We Value Experience': Can a Secret Society Become a Business?

              Longreads

              Jeff Hull’s Latitude Society explores the possibilities of art, intimacy, experience, and membership.

              Postscript: A Secret Society Shuts Its Doors

              Longreads

              Five days after I published the above piece, the project shut down. Here's what happened.

              Tales from the eBay Crypt

              The Awl

              A tour of the internet’s haunted auction house and examining those who drive these spooky marketplace.

              An Oral History of ASpecialThing.com

              The Kernel

              A deep dive into the virtual online art scene incubator that ended up being hugely inspirational to the world's comedy scene.

              The Bat Doctor Is In

              SB Nation Longform

              A trip to the world of bat doctoring, the dark side of amateur softball.  

              The Cup of Coffee Club

              The Awl

              Catching up with a handful of former MLB players who got to played in only one game before their careers ended.

              Robot Wars

              SB Nation Longform

              An oral history of the birth and death of "BattleBots."

              Is Katy Perry actually JonBenet Ramsey?

              The Kernel

              No.

              Can an Indie ISP Beat Comcast?

              Popular Mechanics

              For nearly two decades, Monkey Brains has slowly built up a an alternative to getting reamed by mega-monopolies that usually control access to the Internet.

              The Graffiti That Will Save Your Life

              Popular Mechanics

              Right in front of your eyes, but going generally unnoticed, is the secret code that tells you what's right under your feet.​​

              Two Days of Alt-Right Whack-A-Mole in the Bay

              Splinter

              Running around to try to find the alt-right in the Bay.

              Sound and Fury: Inside the Low-Tech Ballpark of Beep Baseball

              Popular Mechanics

              How one man used the guts of a 1960s telephone to invent a ball that beeps and gave the visually impaired a way to play America's pastime.​

              3mules.com and the long walk to save the world

              The Kernel

              John Sears, who’s spent years walking California like a roaming preacher with three mules in tow, spreading his unique gospel of environmental conservation. 

              Archivists of Tragedy

              The Kernel

              Excavating the mystery of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple with the husband-and-wife team who spent their lives building the archive.

              The Hunt to Crack the Zodiac's Code

              The Kernel

              Nearly four decades ago, the Zodiac Killer terrorized the Bay Area, taunting newspaper readers with coded clues to his identity. Online code-breakers are still battling his final puzzle.

              A Speedier Death

              SF Weekly

              Two competing ballot measures propose a fix to California's broken, costly death penalty procedure, in two very different ways.

              The Jack the Ripper Content Economy

              The Awl

              How a series of possibly collected murders 128 years ago lead to a never-ending content mill.

              The Revolution Won't Start Until We Talk About Our Salaries

              Vice

              The history of why we don't talk about our salaries, and why it hurts us.

              The Moment When Humans Lose Control of AI

              Vocativ

              What's gonna happen when the Singularity hits.

              From Ghost Town to Havana: Two Teams, Two Countries, One Game

              Longreads

              What a Berkeley filmmaker found when he took a little league team from West Oakland to Cuba.

              Rebuilding After a Wildfire, and Waiting for the Next One​

              VICE

              Residents of Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood, leveled by last month's wildfire, would like things to be just like they used to—skeptics be damned.

              Inside a Homeless Encampment on the Brink of Eviction

              VICE

              Barring another reprieve in court, the Bay Area's relatively uncontroversial Here/There community could be vacant in a matter of days.

              Death in the Air

              Popula

              One woman's crusade against broadcast media consolidation.

              The Future of Capitalism Is San Francisco on Steroids

              Vice

              Something’s about to burst, and it might just be society itself.

              Defender of the homeless remains committed, and angry

              San Francisco Chronicle

              A profile of the Bay Area's Osha Neumann.

              On Nextdoor, the Homeless are the Enemy

              OneZero

              The platform built for neighborhood news often scapegoats the most disadvantaged communities.

            • Essays & Ephemera

              These mostly don't have a unifying theme or concept, which in itself, I suppose, is unifying.

              Weiner Takes All

              The Awl

              A panel discussion with people that have the last name Weiner or Wiener.

              A Simple Game

              SB Nation Longform

              Playing nine holes with the regulars at the Los Feliz Par 3.

              The Artist Is Present And Also A Robot

              The Awl

              The writing algorithms are going to take all our jobs.

              Inside America's Ghost Tour Industry

              The Awl

              A peek inside the industry of ghost tours.

              Ten People Who Observe Their Birthdays on 9/11

              The Awl

              It's kind of awkward, turns out.

              The Mysterious Case of the Craigslist Writing Scam

              The Awl

              I was had. I think?

              The California Cougar Convention and "Carefully Regulated Patriarchal Societies" 

              The Awl

              I went to this, and it was weird and sad.

              The Mysteries of San Francisco's Creepy Jejune Institute

              The Awl

              Somewhat behind-the-scenes of a strange part-public-art installation, part scavenger hunt, part multimedia experiment, part narrative story experience.

              The Perplexing Final Chapter of San Francisco's Jejune Institute

              The Awl

              The experience comes to an end, and not everyone is satisfied.

              A Smell of Wine and Cheap Perfume

              ESPN Page 2

              On Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" becoming a sports arena anthem.

              The Saga of the Grave Hunter

              ESPN Page 2

              A profile of Stew Thornley, who has been to the gravesite of every MLB Hall of Famer. (The dead ones, at least.)

              Quitting Smoking Is Easy When It's Easy

              Outside

              Why Allen Carr's The Easy Way To Quit Smoking book is still effective.

              The Mystery of John Titor: Hoax or Time Traveler?

              Pacific Standard

              A person named "John Titor" started posting on the Internet one day, claiming to be from the future and predicting the end of the world. Then he suddenly disappeared, never to be heard from again.

              The Man Who's Trying to Save the History of American Movies

              Pacific Standard

              Exploding movie theaters, things being dumped into the Pacific, byzantine corporate bureaucracy—all part of Eddie Muller's efforts to preserve the film noir era.

              The Hidden Psychology of Wearing Glasses

              Pacific Standard

              To others, glasses can make you look cool or like a dork, but they can also change your self-perception.

              Our Lady of the Holy Death Is the World's Fastest Growing Religious Movement

              VICE

              On Santa Muerte.

              Life After Doomsday

              VICE

              What happens when the apocalypse doesn't come.

              The Digital Land Mines of Modern Break-Ups

              Pacific Standard

              Selective disposal of digital artifacts is the best way to deal with the aftermath, but you might need your friends and an algorithm to help get you there.

              The Difference Between Jewish and Catholic Guilt

              Pacific Standard

              Which is scarier: an all-powerful deity or your mom?

              Mental Maps and the Neuroscience of Neighborhood Blight

              Pacific Standard

              Getting a better sense of how people visualize their neighborhoods could be the first step toward improving them.

              Why Are So Many Surgeons Assholes?

              Pacific Standard

              And how can we make them nicer?

              The Weird and Fraudulent World of Catholic Relics

              VICE

              Indeed it is, and indeed they are.

              How a Thor-Worshipping Religion Turned Racist

              VICE

              Ladies and gentlemen: Odinism.

              The Art of Choking

              The Morning News

              Some people require the Heimlich Maneuver a bit more than the rest of us. A report on the four times—so far—that the author has relied on the assistance of others.

              Kids Have It Too Easy When It Comes to Porn

              VICE

              Don't they, though?

              Why Women Will Never Beat Men In "Sports"

              VICE

              Because the game is rigged.

              What It Feels Like to Go Viral

              Pacific Standard

              BuzzFeed, YouTube, and (former) Gawker stars all describe a similar psychological rush, but riding the viral wave comes with dangers too.

              Why Sticking a Pair of Eyes on a Sign Actually Changes Behavior

              Atlas Obscura

              Simply a pair of eyes can change how you act.

              The Wayback Machine

              The Morning News

              How nostalgia works and why social media may destroy it altogether, or restore it to its original purpose.

              Hating and Loving Jay Cutler

              The Classical

              Trying to get to the bottom of why the best quarterback in Chicago Bears history is also the most hated.

              The Neuroscience of Ghosts

              Pacific Standard

              People do "feel" spirits, but why?

              The Tent City the Super Bowl Created

              SF Weekly

              A look at the Division Street tent city that was jammed up more than usual due to Super Bowl tourists coming to town.

              Let's Go: Cuba

              The Awl

              Going to Cuba as an American is needlessly complicated, and here is a primer.

              There's Now a Porn Genre About How Broke Millennials Are

              VICE

              A look at the portentous relevance of PropertySex.com

              The Story Of Your First Cigarette

              The Awl

              A compilation of tales of how people found their way to their first cigarettes.

              What We Talk About When We Talk About Firing The Coach

              VICE Sports

              What's going on when fans call for the coach's head.

              What Happens When The Government Thinks You're Dead

              The Awl

              A bureaucratic horror story.

              Life on the Content Farm

              The Daily Dot

              There are lessons to be learned from the dusty webpages of Demand Studios

              Home Games: The Strange Overlapping Borders of Sports Fandom

              VICE Sports

              Navigating the murky geographical borders of sports fandom.

              Leaks, Agendas, and Old-Fashioned Rumors: Inside Baseball's Internet Rumor Economy

              VICE Sports

              Who is really watching those internet trade rumors, and what's the hidden messages they're looking for.

              Running From Nothing: Why False-Alarm Freak-Outs Happen

              New York

              What's going on with crowd stampedes at LAX, JFK, and other public places.

              The Mysterious Siren Behind Mexico City's Junk Collectors

              Atlas Obscura

              The woman's recorded voice has been heard all over South America, and maybe even farther.

              From Fixer Deterrent to Fantasy Lure: The History of the NFL Injury Report

              VICE

              The long road of the most important press release in sports.

              My Parents and the Tipper Sticker

              The Awl

              Interviewing my parents about that time they took away my Nine Inch Nails album.

              Running Riot

              The Baffler

              On the false binary of reactions to violent protest.

              I Was An Extra in David Lynch's Weirdest Movie

              Vice

              That time I was an extra in Lynch's Inland Empire, an under-appreciated classic.

              The Real Reason Why 'Everybody Wants Some' is Better Than 'Dazed and Confused'

              Vice

              Kind of self-explanatory.

              The Revolutionary Hope of "Land of the Dead"

              The Awl

              A socialist reading of the heavily anti-capitalist zombie movie, George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead."

              Unions Are Cool

              Vice

              The struggle for labor activists and organizers is to convince a skeptical public of that fact.

              For the Good of Society — and Traffic! — Delete Your Map App​

              New York

              How the rise of map apps and ride-shares have wrought havoc on city infrastructure.

              Obsessing Over Player Salaries Is Ruining Baseball​

              FREEbyVICE

              'Moneyball' taught fans to root like a boss instead of basking in the thrill of the game.

              All Good Gadgets Go To Waste

              New York's Select/All

              Why the obsolescence of our smart homes will kill us all.

              How neglected archives lead to propaganda

              Columbia Journalism Review

              The importance of broadcast news paying attention to their archives.

              A New Kind of Labor Movement in Silicon Valley

              The Atlantic

              Employees at Google and elsewhere are protesting their bosses’ business decisions. Will that evolve into a more sustained labor movement?

              Sports Stadiums Are a Bad Deal for Cities​

              The Atlantic

              But cities can fight back.

              The Case for Leaving Fare Beaters Alone and Making Transit Free

              Vice

              Chances are everything you think you know about fare evasion is wrong.

            • History!

              Sometimes I write about history. Here's where that's located!

              The Story of Laffing Sal, the World's Most Uncanny Animatronic Doll​

              Atlas Obscura

              Six-feet-tall and pure nightmare, she was once one of America's most popular funhouse amusements.

              Revisiting the Religious Relics of the Web 1.0 Days

              VICE

              A tour of early cyber churches.

              The Steamy History of the Jacuzzi

              Atlas Obscura

              The story of how those bubble jets came to tickle the rumps of millionaires and layfolks alike. 

              The Unintentionally Brilliant Marketing of BlairWitch.com

              The Kernel

              How the creators of the horror movie sensation tricked the early internet world.

              The Power Team Was the Bloody, Evangelical Freakshow That Ruled the 80s​

              VICE

              The story of the beefed-up wrestlers who ripped Bibles and ran through ice for Christ.

              Before Stonewall: The Raucous Trans Riot that History Nearly Forgot

              Broadly

              How one trans woman helped excavate the rebellion that came before the one that everyone remembers.

              Audrey Munson: Death of American Venus

              Broadly

              The story of America's first supermodel, who posed for dozens of statues that still grace New York and San Francisco, and spent the last 64 years of her life in a mental hospital.

            • Fiction

              I've made up stories before, basically, out of nowhere. Here are a few.

              Eastern Span

              A noir novel I wrote set in the housing crisis of Oakland, circa 2013-2014. I self-published it in paperback form, and includes art from Oakland and Bay Area artists. It can be purchased at oaktownnoir.com.

              The Battle of Fort Hollow​, Terraform

              A future splintered section of America celebrates its history with a war reenactment.

              Springing Backwards, Terraform

              In the future, daylight savings time can bring on the apocalypse.

              The Palmer Hotel

              A horror short story anthology I created, edit, and occasionally update. My own story on the website takes place in Room 1916. The first part is titled "Open Windows" and the second part is "The Law of Refraction."

              To Chilling Effect, The Morning News

              Only the truly trained can accurately describe how despair sounds without a noise filter. A sound technician finishes his horror movie script.

              My archive of nonsense, much of it baseball-related, for McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

            • Interviews with Interesting Folks

              I've spoken to all sorts with interesting careers and/or pursuits. Here are a few.

              Dr. Luiz Rocha, deep sea diver.

              He's spent more than 300 hours in the ocean's "Twilight Zone."

              Chris Perkel, editor of the documentary Pearl Jam: Twenty.

              The guy edited the footage that led to Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam documentary.

              Anonymous Social Media Brand Manager

              "The Fingers Behind the Tweets of Your Favorite Brands Brands Brands Brands" over at The Awl.

              Kevin and Sebastian Griffith, Father/son converting Infinite Jest into Lego form

              An interview over at The Awl.

               Tom Voigt, Zodiac Killer expert

              An interview with the man behind zodiackiller.com about people who claim to know who The Zodiac Killer was.

              Jason Woliner, director of Eagleheart and the non-Mr.Show

              The guy behind Eagleheart, the various Brett Gelman-starring Dinner With... shows, and the Mr. Show reboot/reimagining/re-whatever.

              Max Blumenthal, author

              The writer behind such pro-Palestinian reports Goliath and The 51-Day War about what it's like to be demonized by an entire people for VICE.

              Christopher Allman, cult leader

              A dude who started his own cult.

              Frances Larson, author

              An interview with the writer behind Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found for VICE.

              David Weintraub, author

              The astronomer behind the book Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? for VICE.

              Lawrence Shepherd, prospective Hollywood producer

              An interview with the genius behind the Kickstarter campaign to produce a television sequel of Breaking Bad starring Val Kilmer and Slash, for VICE.

              Barry Ira Geller, the man who wrote the actual script for Argo

              The guy who wrote the fake science movie script that was used in the project that was utilized in the "Argo" project, made popular by the Ben Affleck film of the same name.

              Tom Evans, spokesman for Family Radio Worldwide

              The folks who believed the world was going to end, for VICE.

              Timothy Wyllie, a leader of the 70s L.A. cult "The Process"

              For VICE.

              Rutger Hauer, actor

              One of my first assignments, for Wired, interviewing an actor who's super, super intimidating.

              The Guy Who Danced Onstage With Nirvana 

              His name is Antony Hodgkinson, and he danced on stage during Nirvana's "Live at Reading" show.

              Iain Softley, director

              The man responsible for the iconic film "Hackers," 20 years after its release, for VICE Motherboard.

              Illma Gore, artist

              The artist behind the "viral" portrait of a nude Donald Trump, for Broadly.

              Crematory Operator

              My friend is a crematory operator, so I chatted with him about that for VICE.

              Richard Koci Hernandez

              Instagram's best photographer artist, @koci.

            • Bio

              Rick Paulas has written many things, some serious, plenty not, for plenty of places. They include the New York Times, The Awl, VICE, McSweeney's, Wired, Curbed, New York, Longreads, The Atlantic, and frankly, any place that pays.

              He tweets here and blogs here. He currently lives in Brooklyn, but who knows for how long.

            • Give Me Your Sweet, Sweet Electronic Correspondence

              Shoot me an email why dontcha?

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