Comments on: What I had come looking for were the secrets to my father's murder.

What I had come looking for were the secrets to my father's murder.

kirkaracha — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:03:53 -0800

What I had come looking for were the secrets to my father's murder. [LA Times link] In 1972, when Mark Arax was 15, his father was killed by two unknown gunmen. He spent nearly three decades trying to solve the crime, and wrote a book about his investigation. Then a break in the case led to some suprising discoveries.

By: caseymcg

caseymcg — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:33:44 -0800

Wow, thanks for the link. I read the book when it first came out on the strength of a review and loved it. I became fascinated by the mystery and by the portrait of Fresno, then and now. Unlike the author, I never thought another piece of the story would break. Now I feel thrown back into it.

By: davy

davy — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:37:47 -0800

It's a too bit self-aggrandizing, film noir and sentimental for me. Who'll direct the HBO movie version?

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:48:57 -0800

Dad had a friend mold a three-pound hunk of lead that fit into my jock for weigh-ins. I wonder if this was the first use of the [MI] tag?

By: livii

livii — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:48:57 -0800

Fabulous story, thank you for the link. Intensely personal and moving.

By: numlok

numlok — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:19:32 -0800

Yes, thanks for the link. Ah, the tule fog...

By: jkaczor

jkaczor — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:39:17 -0800

Wow, I couldn't stop, thanks for the link - powerful.

By: bingo

bingo — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:46:03 -0800

90 feet between the bases and 60 feet, 6 inches from pitcher to home plate Isn't that a strange-shaped baseball diamond?

By: livii

livii — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:48:57 -0800

Back again, I also wanted to thank you because I looked up Mark Arax after this, and found his book "The King of California", and it's an absolutely perfect gift for my mother-in-law, and so now that's one more Christmas gift bought. Er, that was quite the run-on sentence.

By: Colloquial Collision

Colloquial Collision — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:02:19 -0800

Good post, thanks.

By: shoepal

shoepal — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:08:55 -0800

great story, kirkaracha! Thanks!

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:19:58 -0800

got sucked right in! thanks, kirkaracha!

By: freedryk

freedryk — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:32:13 -0800

Complex. Reminds me of something that might be on This American Life.

By: reflection

reflection — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:33:35 -0800

That was an amazing 30 minutes. Sorry it took him so long.

By: cadastral

cadastral — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:41:55 -0800

Isn't that a strange-shaped baseball diamond?

90' between bases and 60'6" from pitching rubber to home plate are the dimensions used for adult professional baseball for over a hundred years. So--unless you're pointing out that [1]it's a square, not a diamond, [2]that it's really 88'6" between bases (because of the width of the base) or [3]that the distance between two sets of two bases is really around 125'3"--then no, nothing is wrong with that diamond.

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:55:10 -0800

Great link. This reminds me of the story about the reporter who confronted the guy who had raped him as a child. It must be horrid to have one moment in time define your life for decades.

By: roboto

roboto — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 20:01:56 -0800

I too read the book and am pleased to now read Mark Arax has learned enough truth and wisdom to find closure, finally.

By: clubfoote

clubfoote — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 20:57:37 -0800

I don't know why that touched me so much, but it was a great read. Thank You for posting it.

By: iwearredsocks

iwearredsocks — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:20:06 -0800

Mark's dad exhibits some of what I want to be with my son - full of energetic focus spending time making memories enough of a hero to inspire. Tomorrow I think I'll: 1) call my stepdad. 2) take my son grocery shopping (he's not yet one, otherwise we'd play baseball).

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:05:24 -0800

srboisvert, you made me spit water on my laptop.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:59:17 -0800

Has anyone ever read My Dark Places by James Ellroy? Or Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore? More biographic stories written by wounded boys living in haunted men's bodies... men who similarly became obsessive writers in order to find some way to cope with long-ago murders that took away their childhoods (James Ellroy's mother's murder & the serial killings committed by Mikal's brother Gary, respectively). With James Ellroy in particular, his entire persona pivoted on his mother's murder at such a young age, it makes one wonder how different his life path would've been if the murder had never occurred. So sad, and yet... somehow it's even sadder to think he might have never become a writer had he not felt that gaping hole inside of him that writing filled. It's like you can feel his mother haunting every page he writes, even in the books that aren't about her.

By: bingo

bingo — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:59:53 -0800

90' between bases and 60'6" from pitching rubber to home plate are the dimensions used for adult professional baseball for over a hundred years. Right, but that's not what he said. He said six inches from the pitcher's mound to home plate. Fastballs must be hell.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:10:20 -0800

Mark Arax is Batman!

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:46:00 -0800

He said six inches from the pitcher's mound to home plate. No he didn't. But if you're desperate to find motives for snark everywhere, I guess you take it where you can. (I note that even quonsar didn't feel the need to make a joke here.) Great link -- thanks, kirkaracha!

By: bingo

bingo — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 09:04:41 -0800

Actually, I just read it wrong. It was the oddly-placed comma that threw me. And it wasn't a joke.

By: derangedlarid

derangedlarid — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 11:05:17 -0800

Arax was interviewed on This American Life some time back and the archived recording can be found here.

By: kartooner

kartooner — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 08:27:29 -0800

What an engaging story! I had to read it twice to understand everything. I'm going to have to pick up the book now to read more about this.

By: lia

lia — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:42:25 -0800

Thanks for this, kirkaracha. Very moving.