Day Four (Three is on the way)

My first few clips at Colombia Reports:

Killings of ex-paramilitary leaders continue - I was making lunch in the kitchen when I happened to glance through the doorway at our new TV. "Ex-paramilitar asesinado," I read, alongside a dateline of Medellin. 'Hey, that's where I am,' I thought. 'HEY!' Ironically, the killing took place in the ritzy part of town, far from the reputedly dangerous but actually quite sanitized city center where I live. Not that it matters: I'm too stuck to my laptop to leave the apartment.

Two Colombians dead, three survive Spanish plane crash - I suspect that none of our readers cared about this. Of course, the site's greatest daily hit number came today, after Playboy.com discovered Adriaan's story that Colombia's only porn channel had shut down. Cue my 39-part retrospective. (I forgive those who don't get the SF Chron humor).

More than 600 displaced by Cauca violence - This was actually the very first thing I wrote for CR. The first hard news story I've written in more than 8 months. And the first thing on deadline in that same period--explaining why freelance ideas are so abundant, but my bank account so slim.

Guerrilla faction gives up arms - I know you didn't even get this far, and if you did you're probably not reading the articles, which you shouldn't really. We specialize in quick news briefs, not in-depth or narrative work. This is partly because Adriaan is physically revolted by drippy writing and partly because until now he was responsible for all the content. So I may yet beat the pavements of Medellin, instead of just the websites of Colombia's newspapers.