Joel Achenbach

Joel Achenbach is an American staff writer for "The Washington Post" and the author of six books, including "The Grand Idea", "Captured by Aliens", and three compilations of his syndicated newspaper column "Why Things Are" (now defunct). He wrote a monthly science column for "National Geographic" magazine and has been a commentator on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition". His writing has been featured in the 2007 Word-A-Day calendar. [cite news | author=Joel Achenbach | title=Annus Mirabilis! | date=2007-09-07 | url =http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2007/09/annus_mirabilis.html | work =Achenblog | accessdate = 2007-09-07] He graduated from Princeton University in 1982 with an A.B. degree in politics. He often makes a point of noting that during his freshman year, he lived next door to David Duchovny. [cite news | author=Joel Achenbach | title=David Duchovny Is Da Bomb | date=2005-03-20 | url =http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38199-2005Mar15.html | work =Washington Post Magazine| page=11 | accessdate = 2007-03-24] Achenbach lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and three daughters.

Achenbach's "Washington Post Magazine" column, entitled "Rough Draft," was primarily humorous. He was also staff writer for the Post's Outlook section. On September 7, 2007, The Washington Post named him National Enterprise writer for the duration of the United States presidential election, 2008. [cite news | author=Patrick W. Gavin | title=Achenbach Becomes "National Enterprise Writer" | date=2007-09-07 | url =http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/the_revolving_door/achenbach_becomes_national_enterprise_writer_66565.asp | work =Mediabistro.com | accessdate = 2007-09-07]

He has a regular blog on the washingtonpost.com website as well, attracting a small audience of devoted fans as well as a larger group of casual readers.

A large degree of the conversations on Achenblog tend to arc back to previous posts, creating a large litany of phrases and comments that are somewhat opaque to the average reader. Here is a small sample of some of the terms used on Achenblog:

* SAO-15: The Select Audience of 15, used to describe the core group of users who post regularly on Achenblog
* Rovestorm: A post which attracts a huge number of casual readers due to its political content
* Boodle: the conversation thread itself on Achenblog (Derives from the phrase "kit and kaboodle," by Achenbach, wherein the "kit" is the main blog entry and the "kaboodle" is the collection of comments.)

Reporting on September 11

An article published as a front-page story under Achenbach's byline in the September 16, 2001, "Washington Post" played a key role in the formation of the official account of the events of September 11. Entitled "'You Never Imagine' A Hijacker Next Door," [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A38026-2001Sep15&notFound=true] it was the first detailed account of the actions of Mohamed Atta that portrayed them in a way that eliminated his drinking of alcoholic beverages from a much reported incident in a restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, near Miami, on September 7, 2001. It was also the first to portray Atta as driving to Portland, Maine, the night before the attacks, and staying in a Comfort Inn and the first to report that incriminating evidence related to Atta was found in his luggage at Boston's Logan Airport, rather than in a Mitsubishi sedan found in the airport's parking lot. [David Ray Griffin, "9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press" (Northampton, MA: 2008), pp. 146-47, 165-66.] Both points later became elements in the narrative of events presented in the 9/11 Commission Report.

References

Selected works

*"Why Things Are" (1991), ISBN 978-0-345-36224-7
*"It Looks Like a President Only Smaller: Trailing Campaign 2000" (2001), ISBN 978-0-7432-2348-5
*"Captured By Aliens: The Search for Life and Truth in a Very Large Universe" (2003), ISBN 978-0-8065-2496-2
*"The Grand Idea: George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West" (2005), ISBN 978-0-7432-6300-9

External links

* [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/ Achenblog - the official Joel Achenbach blog]
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=96] [http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=396] - Online Achenbach diavlogs with Robert Wright on BloggingHeads.tv