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Back in 2003, I posed as Santa Claus in a number of tropical settings for Compass Media Group, the Taichung-based publishers of city guide magazines. At that time I was the managing editor of their Kaohsiung/Tainan edition. On the left is the cover of Taiwan Fun, their north Taiwan edition. I forget who we borrowed the surfboard from. You can't see it, but I wore beach sandals instead of the fur-lined boots Santa usually has on his feet. To accompany the article, shown on the right, we got images of Santa praying at a shrine, buying betel nut (from a young lady who, sadly, had lost most of her teeth), and driving the kind of small blue truck used by Taiwanese farmers (surely more practical than a sleigh if you need to deliver presents to many locations).
I wasn't paid (and, to borrow a P. J. O'Rourke quip, I earned every cent) but the shoot, conducted by my old accomplice Rich J. Matheson, made for a fun change from sitting in front of a computer writing and editing.
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