Blowing myself up

I'll soon be back in Manila, so it's time to start blogging again. Let's warm up with this modest horn-tooter. My March 2006 story in the Chicago Reader, Have Game, Will Travel, was selected in the honorable mention section of the 2007 edition of The Best American Sports Writing. I discovered this while leafing through the book in the Union Square Barnes and Noble. Of course, this is a huge honor. I'm also encouraged by the fact that this story, written only a couple months after I arrived in the Philippines, isn't my best work. After two years of living in the Philippines, I've been able to pull from a broader understanding of local culture and basketball's role in it, and my writing has improved. Hopefully, it means bigger accomplishments will follow.