Saturday, July 26, 2008

Should I call in the correction?

From a local newspaper story on the death of a distinguished Albanian:

Daniel and Millie Grossberg live next to the Miyashiros on Stonehenge Drive in Albany. They said Miyashiro loved nature, and had a beautiful garden and a goldfish pond loved by neighborhood kids. A blue herring recently ate the goldfish, Millie Grossberg said.

Keenan pointed out that an eagle could have dropped a live fish into the goldfish pond, which then proceeded to eat the other fish. But, as he noted, herrings are not predatory.

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Letter Writing

I like to write letters to publications when something bothers me. Vogue published an article about female circumcision. I wrote them a strongly worded letter how I didn't feel that what was happening to these women in Africa could be named such a thing, unless of course circumcision entails cutting off a man's entire penis. My letter was succinct, and downright disgusting in the way I described what was actually happening. I did get a response that they'd be printing my letter, but it didn't make the cut (no pun intended).
One of my favorites was a letter to CNN about this . Since I worked there at the time, I knew of the man "creating" the calendar, and also knew he just simply made up this idea of what he wanted to do. I asked CNN in my letter, every time some possibly unstable man comes up with an idea (with no execution or support in place whatsoever) is this news?
My latest letter I just wrote to the New York Times is a bit trickier for me, as it's about vernacular. Merill Perlman is a copy editor, and occasionally takes questions from readers.
I wrote to her and asked her her thoughts on an article in my local paper, the L.A. Times. In brief, here is the paragraph that bothered me:

Giving away products can backfire when people have a bad experience with them. Brooke Morgan, 13, said she received a sample of Suave deodorant but wasn't happy with it. And bad word gets out: Keller Fay found that teens are slightly more likely than the general public to dis a product if they don't like it.

Dis?

I wonder what Merill will think. I also asked about 'bling"-- which graces the pages of both these newspapers. I hope she answers my question in her column.

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Correction

Because of an editing error, a report in the Comings & Goings column on Feb. 24 about a chain of luxury communities for RVs misstated the number of American households that own an RV. It is about 8.3 million, not 8.3 - The New York Times

Labels: , ,