What's a Bidding War Among Friends?
This Year's Successful Silent Auction
By Tamara El-Khoury
University of Maryland

St. Petersburg, Fla. Sept. 19 -- Dorothy Parvaz turned her back for an instant, only to discover a signature below hers - someone else was coveting the shimmery eye shadow and body glitter.

Oh, this meant war.

And so began one of several battles Sept. 19 as journalists brought their competitive nature to the silent auction at the annual meeting of the American Association of Sunday and Feature editors. The event raised a record $8,300 to sponsor next year's fellows.

Anything but silent, the auction started off slow as the food went faster than any of the items. "I feel this moral obligation to outbid," said Parvaz, a 2003 fellow and Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter. "One, I have Junior J.Lo at home waiting for puffy stuff, and two, I want to give back here as a fellow."

But as plates were emptied and glasses refilled, the tempo picked up. Parvaz came away at the end of the auction with an armload of sparkly goodies for Junior J.Lo, her 17-year-old half-sister, Sheila.

From books to bobble heads, photographs to lingerie, and an AASFE "mystical orb" that answered "chances aren't good" when asked about the possibility of winning a Pulitzer Prize, there was something for everyone this year. (The mystically indecisive orb answered "yes" when asked again.)

Two very popular bid tables hosted bottles of wine and liquor.

"I'll have a nice flight," commented fellow Andrew Guy of the Houston Chronicle as he clutched a bag with a mini-bar sized liquor set.

Suzy Fleming, features editor at Florida Today, came away with the perfect birthday gift for her ultra-conservative, Republican father - a talking George W. Bush action figure, complete with presidential boots, an American flag lapel pin, and a furrowed eyebrow.

"My call to you is, if you want to fight evil, do some good!" the action doll said.

Incoming AASFE president Chris Beringer, of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, auctioned her own handcrafted, beaded jewelry. Bids on her earrings and necklaces were quick to rise, sometimes at $25 increments.

Newsday's Barbara Schuler said that if she didn't win a pair of Beringer's earrings, she was going to make Beringer craft another pair.

Luckily, Schuler came away with not one, but two pairs of Beringer originals.

Beringer took the opportunity to buy some jewelry she hadn't made. She bought a $325 pair of Barney's amethyst earrings for $170.

"You know, it's hard when your friends bid against you," said former AASFE president, Ann Maloney of The New York Times.

"Actually, it's more fun," Beringer said.

Either way, they both agreed it was all for a good cause.

Tamara El-Khoury is a senior at the University of Maryland, interning this semester at Newday's Washington bureau. Tamara can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it