Clay Risen
Clay lives in Washington, but he was born in the tiny town of Big Flats, N.Y. It is
neither big nor flat, as it
lies between two very steep hills; one of them, Harris Hill, is famous as the home of the
National Soaring Museum.
Later, Clay went to grad school to avoid growing up. But this too had to pass.
Studying is expensive.
Clay learned the basics of journalism — how to read and write — at
Big Flats
Elementary. Later,
in order to avoid his high
school's athletics requirement,
he edited the school yearbook. In college, in order to avoid having fun, Clay edited The Georgetown
Hoya.
This was also around the time when Clay met Jim Norton, who later brought
him onboard Flak as opinion editor. And here he is.
Some interesting facts about Clay:
1. Clay lived in rural Austria a few years ago, teaching English at the Jennersdorf
Bundesoberstuferealgymnasium. During his time there he saw a wedding between a man and a tree,
hundreds of garden gnomes and the
world's longest wurst.
2. Unlike other Flak editors, Clay is not particularly partial to pie. However, as he went
to high school in Nashville,
his favorite treat is a Moon Pie
(which, in case you don't know, is nothing like a regular pie).
By the way, Clay has also seen the world's largest Moon Pie.
3. His favorite color is azure blue. He is a Virgo; his mother says that figures,
but he has no idea what this is supposed to mean.
4. Clay currently works for
The New Republic as an assistant editor.
There is nothing exciting or funny about this; it's just something that should be said.
For tax purposes.
5. Clay is left-handed.
6. Clay is embarassed because his grandfather, Nick Norwood, knows more about computers
than he does. His grandfather also has a cell phone and a snazzy new car. Clay doesn't.
7. Clay measures a whopping five-foot-six, 150 pounds. However, a cousin of his, Arnie
"Stilts" Risen, was a hall-of-famer for the Boston Celtics. Clay doesn't really like the Celtics, but, hey,
it's pretty cool, right?
8. If for some reason you ever wanted to talk to Clay, you can
e-mail him.
— Clay Risen (clay@flakmag.com)
