Phil Kearney and his Mission in Kosovo

In his riveting and inspiring book Under the Blue Flag, San Francisco Assistant DA Philip Kearney recounts his eight-month stint prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo with the UN and how this improbable assignment transformed his once-routine career into a meaningful search for justice in the world’s darkest corners. Here, he discusses his views on justice and the publishing process.

How did you decide to write a book about your experiences prosecuting war criminals in Kosovo?

PK: I started writing at night while confined to a NATO military base outside of Pristina during the heavy snows of winter. Options for hobbies at the time included drinking or writing; I chose the latter. But, on a more serious note, the events I was confronted with on a daily basis were so overwhelming that I started writing just to record my thoughts and impressions. As I continued into my mission, I kept at it. My honest motivation at the time was to create something my kids—although I didn’t have any at the time—could read someday to better know their dad.

When I first read Under the Blue Flag, I was stunned by the contrast you draw between our legal system in the U.S. and the system in Kosovo. What about presenting a case to the UN tribunals in Kosovo was the hardest thing for an American homicide prosecutor to adjust to?

PK: The system, based on the European civil law model, which is intended to be much less adversarial than our own common law tradition, was completely disorienting. Basic staples of my normal courtroom practice, like cross examination and impeachment with prior statements to police officers, were simply not allowed. Probably the hardest obstacle to overcome was the basic loss of control. At home, I had the ability to direct investigations, build cases, subpoena witnesses, and extract evidence on the stand. In the civil law tradition, investigating judges perform many of these tasks. Also, trying to “cross-examine” someone without asking leading questions was…a challenge.

Under the Blue Flag is about a search for justice, but it is also about the meaning of justice itself. Did your experiences in Kosovo, or the experience of writing this book, alter your perspective on justice?

PK: It made me realize that in large swaths of the planet, true justice is a distant concept.  In this country we largely take for granted that courts and law enforcement are independent bodies, unafraid to stand up to politicians or crime figures. That is not the case everywhere. In Kosovo, I literally had police officers run for the borders when I subpoenaed them to testify. I also got a sense for how important the rule of law is for societal development. If corruption or intimidation reigns, you can forget about a healthy economy, a supportive middle class, or a functioning representative government.

You first went to Kosovo in 2001. How have some of the more troubling aspects of life there—ethnic bias, lawless street thugs, witness intimidation—improved or evolved since then? And, specifically, has justice been realized?

PK: Justice anywhere is always just a goal, I’m not sure it can ever be fully attained. Kosovo still has its problems, notably with a strong and empowered criminal class and an economy which has major troubles employing its youth. It is still difficult for law enforcement to take on organized crime figures there. But Kosovo has made definite strides. The most recent national elections were peaceful and, by most accounts, legitimate. I think an international law enforcement presence there for the near future is a very positive step.

What did we learn from Kosovo that applies to more recent atrocities, such as the situations in Darfur or Afghanistan?

PK: It is hard to compare Kosovo to either Darfur or Afghanistan.  The scale of human suffering and murder in Sudan was just so much greater, while the prolonged combat operations in Afghanistan were orders of magnitude more intense than what took place in Kosovo. One lesson is portable however: if the international community takes over the administration of a country or region, it has to be prepared to stay. Nation building takes time. Representative democracies where minorities are given a fair shake don’t appear overnight.

What has the process of writing a book and being published been like for you?

PK: How long do you have? The writing was equal parts rewarding and tortuous. It was rewarding in that the tyranny of the blank page forced me to organize my thoughts in coherent fashion; an exercise that led to a fuller understanding of my own experiences in Kosovo. It was tortuous because completing a book is an endless process. I lost track of the number of full edits I made to the manuscript. As a novice author, I found that the simple act of writing made my prose cleaner and more readable. What that meant in practice was that by the time I finished a pass through the book, I was a better writer at the end than in the beginning. Chapters that had passed muster just months earlier seemed leaden and full of gunk. That realization led to another re-write, which started the process all over. No wonder writers are known to drink heavily.

Also, my first publisher went into a state of either actual, or near bankruptcy after purchasing my book. After a full year of broken promises and endless delays, we wrestled the manuscript back and found Phoenix. Thank God. Also, can’t say enough about my agent, Bonnie Nadell of Hill and Nadell. A solid agent needs to be a starting point for novice writers.

What are you reading now?

PK: Life has been so busy of late that reading is a luxury I don’t often get. On my nightstand is a copy of John Krakauer’s book on the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan: Where Men Win Glory.

Click here to check out Under the Blue Flag: My Mission in Kosovo, available in hardcover and audio.

Best Spoken Word by Laura Bennett

Project Runway finalist Laura Bennett provides her hilarious take on modern motherhood in Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos. Here, she reflects on the experience of recording her first audiobook.

I love listening to audiobooks. My entire van full of kids gets swept up in Jim Dale’s magnificent narration of Harry Potter, as he deftly changes his voice for each of the fifteen or twenty characters, making the story come to life. Ditto any audiobook by David Sedaris. After my kids spend a few moments arguing whether it is a man or a woman speaking, they settle in and enjoy his hilarious material and perfect comedic timing. Conversely, I love reading essays by David Rakoff, but I can’t bear the lisp and uneven pace of his recordings, and find his material more enjoyable on the page.

With the knowledge that not all audiobooks are created equal, I had mixed emotions about reading the audio version of my own book. Who could possibly relay the material better than I? But my inexperience ran the risk of rendering the material unbearable to listen to. My apprehension was heightened because I turned in the book to my publisher a year ago and had not really looked at it since then, outside of thumbing through to answer some queries from the proofreading department. (‘Coniferno’ is not a word. Are you trying to be funny? Yes, the Christmas tree was on fire.) Like any creative project that you revisit, you are never sure if you will be amazed by your own genius or say, “What the hell was I thinking?” My Princess Diana–inspired, home-sewn 1981 prom dress falling smack into the latter category. Looking at my book again after all this time was going to be scary.

The actual recording was an exhausting experience. My director was named Dennis Kao, and he was infinitely patient with me. He had me rerecord any line that was subpar. “Do that again from ‘penis,’” he was actually heard to say. By the third day he was still constantly reminding me to slow down, and he still noticed every slight slur and mispronunciation far past the time when I would have said, “Screw it, just finish the thing.” When my southern would rear its ugly drawl, usually a sign that I’m tired or drinking, Dennis would kindly offer me a break. I came home after every session mentally depleted and crashed, leaving my kids to fend for themselves for the rest of the evening.

Narrating is not at all like everyday speaking; the speed is much slower and each letter in every word is carefully pronounced. In real life you run words and sounds together, or you sound like Martha Stewart. I also discovered that my writing has some stylistic issues that work on paper, but make reading it aloud difficult. I tend not to use contractions when I write. Screaming, “You are going to get it!” at the kids sounds unnatural. I also favor lengthy sentences packed with alliteration. I do it to be funny, but I certainly do not speak that way in life. These sentences become veritable tongue twisters when read aloud. I also learned that under no circumstances, no matter how many times I try, will I ever be able to pronounce the word Massachusetts. Before I ever write and record another book, I have to move to Connecticut.

In the end, after three mind-numbing days, Dennis said he was happy with the results. Being the overly optimistic type, I am hoping for a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. (I did make it all the way to Bryant Park on my first try as a fashion designer.) About my revisit, I am amazed by my genius. There were a few lines here and there that I would change, but it is nowhere near as embarrassing as the photos of me in that prom dress.

Click here to check out Laura Bennett's audiobook Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?, available May 2010.

The Dirty Laundry Challenge

“Dirty little secrets/Dirty little lies/We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s size/We love to cut you down to size/We love dirty laundry.”
–Don Henley song “Dirty Laundry,” circa 1982 (yes, we’re that old).

It’s true: we’re into dirty laundry.  We’ll show you ours, if you show us yours.

Andersen vs. Maggie, sans spin cycle: Who can out-dirt whom?

Andersen…

…is as hairy as a white person can be, without being Robin Williams.

…is worried about the whirling razor-sharp propellers of reckless Floridian rednecks on motorboat joyrides. Wait, that’s Manatees.

…is turning silverback, like a mountain gorilla. He also has a few too many animal-related anxieties.

…would be married to a nice Jewish girl by now, if he weren’t as gay as all get out.

…wonders why he got out of bed for this.

Maggie…

…self-consciously tries to keep her wine glass as far away from her mouth as possible, which is as counter-intuitive as it gets.

…wonders what it would take for casting directors to type her as hospital thin.

…should be further along in her career.  Although, her acting resume shows she has worked on two series, and studied with Kurt Vonnegut which is impressive for her “acting age.” (Real age - 7 years + stage makeup)

…worries she will go blind, deaf, lose her hair, get horribly disfigured by hot acid, and people will hate her.

…also worries she will be convicted of a crime that a girl who looks identical to her commits. She won’t even be cast in the TV movie of her story, due to the “stress lines” in her forehead. It’s hard to get bootleg Botox in prison, ladies.

…has short term goals like organizing her closet, and long term goals… like changing everything about her.

ABOUT THE WRITERS

Andersen Gabrych is inspired by honesty, even when it’s a complete lie. He’s a ritualistic writer, if you count his ritualistic jags of watching Kung-Fu movies and reality TV. While researching Dirty Laundry, he learned the most telling, seminal moments in life come in the strangest little moments; the value of which only realized after you’re caught singing “Old Man River” gussied up like a Turkish prostitute. He’s discovered that as people grow less connected in reality and more in tune with internet media, true experience has become more novel than fiction. Andersen is currently reading The Audubon Guide to North American Mammals, which may explain his wildlife daydreams.

Maggie Rowe is well versed in literature: she used to put on thick eye make-up and pretend she was Sylvia Plath in the mirror. For that reason alone, she is considered a true feminist. She’s read four books about Pentecostal snake handlers in the last three years. There must be something hot about a charismatic Appalachian snake-handlin’ preacher leading a hapless and toothless Appalachian congregation to inevitable death by snake bite. She currently owns 87 self help books — if you open the cabinet, they all say “help me!” Right now, Maggie is reading The Dry Eye Remedy: the Complete Guide to Restoring the Health and Moisture of Your Eyes by Robert Latkany, M.D. Top that for Less Sexy!

There.  We said it.

Now you show us yours.

Click here to check out Dirty Laundry.

The Daily Life of a TV Pundit by Jim Moret

How did this happen? How did I become qualified as a legal “expert” for various cable news programs?

It actually started in 1994, when Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were slain outside Nicole’s Brentwood, California condominium. At the time, I was the anchor of CNN Showbiz Today, a daily entertainment news program. I was also the only anchor for the network on the west coast and the only lawyer on the reporting staff. So when OJ took off on his now famous “slow speed chase,” I became the natural choice to anchor that coverage, followed by the six day preliminary hearing and then the nearly nine-month long criminal trial. I also sat in the courtroom every day for Simpson’s civil trial that followed. Since then, I merged my expertise in law and celebrity news and I have been regularly called upon to cover this burgeoning area of “celebrity justice.”

I covered numerous high profile cases in my career, including the Scott Peterson double murder trial and the Michael Jackson molestation trial, which attracted a media encampment in Santa Maria, California in 2004. I was one of the few lawyer-reporters with a daily court pass, so I quickly became one of the de facto legal analysts for all the networks around the world covering that trial.

When Jackson died five years later, this past June, I was sitting in my office at Inside Edition and I got a call from CNN’s Situation Room. I was asked if I could be put on the air to talk with anchor Wolf Blitzer to discuss this rapidly developing story. I was on that call live on CNN for roughly two hours before a satellite studio near my office became available, and I quickly rushed over and continued live on-camera coverage of this massive entertainment news story. Over the next six weeks, in addition to my duties as Chief Correspondent for Inside Edition, I appeared on an average of five cable news programs a day.

I am now routinely called by various programs to give insight into a variety of news stories, and I am also an occasional guest host on Headline News and for Larry King Live. Most of the time, I am booked in the morning for shows airing live later that same afternoon. On those days, my time is generally split between covering a story for Inside Edition and doing as much research for whatever story I am to be commenting upon later on the various cable programs.

Adding writing a book to my mix of responsibilities has made for a hectic but immensely rewarding career. Unlike my daily reporting, which tends to focus on the events of the day, writing has enabled me to create a body of work which may hopefully last for years.

Phoenix will publish Jim Moret's THE LAST DAY OF MY LIFE in January 2010.

Introducing Harlee Harte: Celebrity Columnist Extraordinaire

Hi, what’s up?!

I'm Harlee Harte!

I’m a Junior in high school, and I write a celebrity column, "HarteBeat," for my Hollywoodland High School newspaper. It’s the best job in the world! I get to meet and greet the hottest teen idols and hit the hip Tinseltown places to hang out while I'm out on the hunt. Being a columnist is hard work, but I love the glamour and excitement! This place is crawling with stars, and it’s my duty to keep you up-to-date with who’s hot and what’s not!

At times, it feels like I’m living a double life; my life as a high school student mixes with my red-carpet escapades. Despite what it sounds like, though, I’m still a pretty normal teen. Homework, parents, chores, and a certain history teacher, who shall remain nameless, annoy me, but that’s part of life. I especially hate studying for tests and can’t stand babysitting my eight-year-old brother, Alec. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but they drive me bananas!

My books are not only about celebs like Robert Pattison, Taylor Swift, and Taylor Lautner, but all about my life too. It’s not easy being a teenager. Oftentimes, I feel we don’t get enough credit for how we deal every day with the ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs of our insane so-called lives. It’s very stressful trying to balance homework and crushes while avoiding social pressures. That’s why I like to chime in on how to handle problems such as parents or school or friends or guys.

My three BFF’s, Kiki, Luzie, and Marcy join me on wild adventures through Hollywood. We have so-o-o much fun going to concerts, movie premieres, sporting events and shopping. We might as well be attached at the hip since we spend so much time together. I would be lost without my girls!

Kiki is the ultimate fashionista whom I rely on to style me for my important events. From flat ironing hair to 3-inch stiletto pumps, Kiki knows how to look hot. Always dressed to the nines, no matter where she is, Kiki could be on the cover of Seventeen. It pays to have a friend who breathes the latest runway trends…especially since I’m a little lame in that department!

Remember Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls? Luzie reminds me of her. She loves every sport, especially soccer. Last year, we were running from paparazzi, who chased as though they were starving tigers in the jungle, and she didn’t break a sweat! She’s even better at sports than most of the boys…but maybe not better than her totally hot boyfriend Joey!

With a book by her side 24/7, Marcy is a bookworm. She finished the Harry Potter and Twilight series faster than anyone I know. She also has her iPod jammed in her ears everywhere she goes. Between her music and books, she thrives in her own fantasy world. Once in a while, Marcy will perform her works at a café during an open mic poetry night, and we always go support her. Sometimes, though, she goes wild with henna tattoos, but, hey, that’s Marcy!

And I guess I should mention my crush Jack. Sometimes I don’t think he knows I’m alive, and then there are other times…oh, I could go on forever! There’s so much to tell…and I will.

Tune in later…’cause now it’s time for my mani and pedi so I have sign off, but I'm always looking for the latest 411 about our favorite stars, so drop a line if you hear any tidbits! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter to catch up on the recent celebrity scoop. Most of all, don’t forget to check out my books!

<3 Harlee