Emil Steiner

Infobox Writer
name = Emil Gregory Steiner


image size = 274px
birthdate = Birth date and age|1978|11|30|mf=y
birthplace = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
nationality = American, Czech
occupation = Author and Journalist
genre = Fiction, Journalism
movement =
notableworks = "Drunk Driving" [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Drunk-Driving/Emil-Steiner/e/9781413753301/?itm=2]
influences = Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, Hunter S. Thompson, Thomas Harris, Stephen King

Emil Gregory Steiner (born November 30, 1978) is an American novelist, and journalist who currently writes and edits The League [http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/] -- washingtonpost.com's NFL discussion platform. He has also served as the offbeat news blogger for The Washington Post and as a contributor to MSNBC, Washington Post Radio, NPR, CNN, WPHT and the BBC.

Steiner is a first generation American, and descendant of Holocaust survivors, born in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 30, 1978. He came of age in Philadelphia, London, and Prague attending Friends Central School, in Wynnwood, and the University of Pennsylvania.

After graduating in 2001 he worked as an investigative journalist in Prague, Czech Republic as part of the ex-pat community of young writers and artists populating Prague after the Velvet Revolution. His first novel, "Drunk Driving" [http://www.amazon.com/Drunk-Driving-Emil-Steiner/dp/1413753302/ref=sr_1_32] was published in April, 2005.

Steiner made international news in June 2007 with his live-blogging of "Pearson v. Chung", the $54 million pants lawsuit. The case involved DC Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson suing his dry cleaner for $54 million under the DC consumer protection act after they lost his pants. Steiner's exclusive live-blogging coverage provided the only up-to-the minute reporting from inside the Washington, DC Superior Courthouse.

In October 2007 Steiner received near universal praise for his critique of the Ellen Degeneres dog scandal. In his much publicized column “Cry Me a River Ellen Degeneres” [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/10/cry_me_a_river_ellen_degeneres_1.html] Steiner was the only major journalist to point out that the talk show host’s tears for her dog Iggy may in fact have been damage control. [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/17/sbt.01.html]

On November 6, 2007 Washington Post columnist Emil Steiner in his OFF/beat blog [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat] reported on the emerging menace/hoax of Jenkem an African drug made from the fumes of raw sewage. In his article "Jenkem Madness?" [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/11/jenkem_madness_1.html] he cited "a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency [who] insists that 'there are people in America trying [Jenkem] .'" The unnamed DEA spokesman stated that the agency had yet to test Jenkem, however volunteering a theory that "hallucinations from methane fumes" are involved. He also labeled any use of Jenkem "dangerous, bad and stupid."

After the release of his "2007 Idiot of the Year Awards" [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/12/the_2007_idiot_of_the_year_awa.html] Steiner was embraced by Poland's liberal media [http://www.innastrona.pl/newsy/3557/tinky-winki-sowinska-idiota-roku/] [http://www.wprost.pl/ar/120857/Sowinska-trzecim-Idiota-Roku/] [http://www.se.com.pl/se/index.jsp?place=mainLead&news_cat_id=1309&news_id=178666&scroll_article_id=178666&layout=1&page=text&list_position=1] [http://www.pardon.pl/artykul/3494/ewa_sowinska_wsrod_idiotow_roku_2007] [http://deser.gazeta.pl/deser/1,83453,4808763.html] [http://www.tvn24.pl/-2,1534148,wiadomosc.html] [http://www.zw.com.pl/zw2/index.jsp?place=Lead04&news_cat_id=17&news_id=176979&layout=1&forum_id=52881&page=text] [http://www.gazetawyborcza.pl/1,76842,4811860.html] [http://www.dziennik.pl/wydarzenia/article103910/Pogromczyni_Tinky_Winky_trzecia_idiotka_roku.html] [http://www.itvp.pl/informacje/news.html?channel_id=499&site_id=-1&genre_id=-1&form_id=-1&news=632774] [http://fakty.interia.pl/fakty_dnia/news/polka-na-podium-idioty-roku,1036892] [http://www.rp.pl/artykul/2,80917.html] [http://forum.gazeta.pl/forum/72,2.html?f=55&w=73952286] [http://www.radiozet.info/News/News.aspx?NewsId=772] [http://ww3.wm.pl/Idioci-roku-2007--brazowy-medal-dla-Polki,37243] for awarding Ewa Sowińska the Bronze Medal in the 2007 Washington Post Idiot of the Year Awards.

In May 2008, Steiner moved his OFF/beat blog from washingtonpost.com to the online tabloid expressnightout.com [http://http://expressnightout.com/content/offbeat/] .

References

Salon.com: November 9, 2007 Smoke this! by Jamie Pietras. An unnamed DEA spokesman dropped this bombshell: "There are people in America trying [jenkem] ," the source told Washington Post blogger Emil Steiner. [http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/11/09/jenkem/]

CNN: Showbiz Tonight, October 13, 2007 "As a dog lover, I can relate how tough it must have been. What I cannot understand, though, is why Degeneres would bawl her eyes out on national television. And then it hit me like a Great Dane to the chest: Damage Control!" [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/17/sbt.01.html]

NPR: All Things Considered, June 13, 2007 · An odd trial is under way at D.C. Superior Court in Washington. An administrative law judge is suing a dry-cleaner for a whopping $54 million. The alleged misdeed is the loss of the judge's pants, which he delivered to the cleaners to be altered. He claims the cleaners broke their promise of "Satisfaction Guaranteed." [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11022545]

NewsBusters: March 28, 2007 Tim Graham, Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. "WashPost Blogger: Tony Dungy's Religious, Just Like 9/11 Aggressors And Racists" I've been tipped to one Emil Steiner today, taking off after Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy for supporting a marriage-protection bill in Illinois. [http://www.newsbusters.org/node/11684] , [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/03/tony_dungy_takes_on_gay_marria.html]

Concurring Opinions: Dan Filler, "Say Vagina, Go To Detention", March 08, 2007. "I discovered another nugget that I missed in yesterday's web WaPo: a suburban NY school district suspended three girls for using the word "vagina" in an open-mic reading of (what else?) The Vagina Monologues. Apparently, prior to the performance, the principal had told the 11th graders that they could read the play, but not utter the V-word. Their one-day suspension was therefore framed as punishment for ignoring the principal's orders. (The principal's explanation is posted here.) Emil Steiner over the Post gets it right, from my point of view." [http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/03/say_vagina_go_t.html]

The Huffington Post: Karen Russell, Ten Years For A BJ?! January 25, 2007. "No, I'm not talking about the right wing attack machine still bleating about Bill and Monica. I am talking about a tragic miscarriage of justice. I am talking about Genarlow Wilson and why he is behind bars. As WaPo's Emil Steiner points out:" [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-russell/ten-years-for-a-bj_b_39682.html]

External links

* [http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/ The League]
* [http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/nflcrimewatch/ NFL Crime Watch]
* [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/archives.htm Archive of writings at "The Washington Post"]
* [http://www.amazon.com/Drunk-Driving-Emil-Steiner/dp/1413753302 Drunk Driving the novel]
* [http://archiv.vulgo.net/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=673 To Have or Have Not]
* [http://readexpress.com/offbeat OFF/beat Blog]
* [http://voices.washingtpost.com/offbeat Washington Post OFF/beat Blog]