From O'Hehir, the interviewer, who's not really an interviewer but a friend who Carr once offered to help out:

"If he knows you and likes you -- and David knows and likes a lot of people -- he's likely to do you a solid. I don't have to wonder whether he would try to help me if I were in dire straits, because I already know. When I lost my job as editor of SF Weekly in 1995, David called to ask if I wanted an inside-track recommendation for his old job at the Twin Cities Reader in Minnesota."

Too bad the average guy in AA or the average black guy hooked on crack doesn't get an "inside-track recommendation" from these guys.

This is not journalism. It's the liberal version of the all-white, Republican golf club. And the club members have access to big printing presses and want to tell you all about themselves and their friends.

What I'm saying, but totally botched, was that the guy who works at Target has no chance in hell of getting a first-person piece on the cover of the NY Times magazine.

That's the message of each and every post I've made here: That people of privilege - such as Carr, O'Hehir and possibly you - have networks of people who travel in circles where book deals are made.

The Target guy can't write for the New York Times even if his story is exceptionally compelling. A journalist like Carr could tell this guy's story though, particularly because he's been there.

I'm saying that Carr took enormous advantage of his position by writing about himself. As I said previously, there are men who are rotting in prison because they were caught in possession of a small amount of crack. In the Times piece, Carr essentially says: I'm not like them because, in many ways, I lucked out. I was turned off by how many times he indicated he'd lucked out.

I guess what I'm really saying is that Carr is a journalistic sell-out. And I'd like to hear him disagree.

I looked up his name and found a Times Q&A where he told readers he had an upcoming book, as do many Times employees, because he and the rest of them have kids to put through college.

I don't think Carr would disagree with anything I've said. If you read his own language - he has said his editors at the Times won't let him touch stories that involve nuance and subtlety.

He wrote about himself because he could. I'm not opposed to writers making money, but I'd like to see writers writing for the reader and not so blatantly for their own bank account.

Maybe the book is different and better than the Times piece.

Still, I think the Times piece should stand on its own merits. What I got out of the Times piece was: I wrote this stuff because I have a platform and I'm too lazy to write about that guy at Target who doesn't know anyone at the NY Times and may have a far more compelling story than I.

I have to second meetup.com. It's fantastic. You'll find anyone and everyone there. You can join an established group or just start one of your own. I did that. It got surprisingly large and then I turned it over to someone else. You don't have to do the traditional book club thing. I've seen meetups that revolve around meeting for coffee; African American women who have natural hair; meetups to hear a certain kind of music; meetups for people who like to go to flea markets; the list is endless. You will be incredibly surprised at how many takers you will have if you start a group yourself and just talk it up or put it on craigslist.

One poster talked about how meetups are only once a month or that a gathering that's open to the public doesn't attract like-minded people.

Meetup is software; it's only a vehicle for connection.

Waiting for the right meetup is like waiting for the right job, the right boyfriend/girlfriend, the right anything. If you want community, you must engage in some action to get it.

I started a meetup because I had a particular interest and I thought meetup would be a good vehicle to find like-minded people. It grew to more than 150 people over the course of a year. Of course all 150 didn't show up at the same things, but a core group of 30 or so were active participants and we got to know each other. We met two or three times a month.

Getting a meetup off the ground mainly takes a willingness to be friendly and involved. I am an introvert and I did this because I felt a lack of community. I'm not sure it's possible to be depressed when you're planning events, communicating with people, and welcoming people. Welcoming people is the best because it takes the focus off of yourself.

If you know what you're looking for - ie, other writers who need to focus on finances; people having difficulties with parents, etc., you will find the people you're looking for. They are out there.

Do they all check meetup? No. Do they read craigslist?; some do. Do they look at the bulletin board at the library or the coffee shop? Maybe. Do they check the bulletin board at church? Perhaps.

These are the places to advertise your group. Then word of mouth kicks in.

It costs $12 a month to be a meetup leader. Most leaders charge a nominal yearly or event fee ($1) and recoup the $$.