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.

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

He's like a therapist to me sometimes as well

There's a lot to hate about Meghan McCain's take on her father's recent barbecue, even if you can get past the overly cozy relationship between candidate and press. There's the insistence on referring to the house as a "cabin." There's the melanoma ravaged presumptive Republican nominee openly daring the sun. But mostly there's the telling fact that the only examples she could come up with of friends she was excited to have at the party also happened to be employees.

Asimov Resurrected

An anonymous reader of Salt in Wound sent me this update on the Isaac Asimov Super Quiz situation. She so wished to remain anonymous that she wouldn't even post this as an anonymous comment.

Q: What quiz is returning?

A: Isaac Asimov’s Super Quiz returns to the Times Union comics pages on Monday, Jan. 21.

by M. Monica Bartoszek, Senior editor/operations

We’ve certainly received many very thoughtful letters, calls and e-mails. Until we heard from you, we had no idea that families and co-workers were gathering to do the quiz, and this was a daily ritual. (Co-workers, we hope this is on your lunch break …) We didn’t hear from you when we asked for input in a late fall survey. Our features department made the change about 2 weeks ago after publicly inviting all of our readers in print and online to participate in an online survey. The quiz ranked second to the bottom in reader interest, but obviously the Super Quiz fans didn’t participate in the survey. Only the weekly Saturday soap opera round up ranked lower (and that was eliminated, too). Many of you that I spoke with said they hadn’t seen the survey. (It was on the cover of the Life section several times over several weeks) To bring back the quiz, we will again be trimming Dear Abby and the horoscope column. Several readers suggested we drop the bridge column (which can not be trimmed given its content). We did that in 2007, but that caused an uproar with the bridge players. It’s tough to introduce new comics or any new feature if you can’t lose something (and, no, we’re not able to add more space or pages)...I think an underlying message here is, if you see a Times Union reader survey, take a few minutes to let us know what you value and enjoy reading.

I think the underlying message is that surveys are rarely representative.

Schlolastic News

While out stumping for her mother the other day, Chelsea Clinton refused to answer a nine-year old Scholastic News reporter's question. I don't really have an opinion either way on that, but I'm really glad Scholastic News has been brought up.

Isa brings that drivel home weekly, and I'm shocked that teachers think it's an acceptable homework assignment. For the uninitiated, it's more or less USA today written for children, and often by children. Each week, Isa has to read a few articles about current events and fill out a few multiple choice questions on a type of newsprint that rejects a pencil stroke outright. Check out this example of some kid reporting.

I don't need to tell you they consider High School Musical as a top story. Also: are they a company, a media organization, or just in the business of selling crap to our kids?

The Star Strikes Again

Another St. Helena Star article from the archives, Chamber Office News. "March Stats beat 2003 and 2000" the headline reads. OK, but then here is the only mention of statistics in the article:



Well, that seemed a little lacking in information, so I looked at the graph which accompanied the article.



Hmm. The graph-making function in Word hasn't helped everyone. The other day Isa had to make a graph and forgot to add a title, and her teacher took off five points. At the time, I thought it was a bit harsh, but now I see the point. I'm not any closer to knowing what the 'Glory Hallelujah' was all about in the first place.

Tony: A Man of Property

Excerpts from a St. Helena Star article from 2004. This is Tony.



Tony may not be able to control his hand or his checkbook, but it seems he has a good wife who is trying to keep that pesky addiction under control.


But then, the problem becomes clear: land is just flying at them!



Then the article gets into how they've never been to France (too busy buying land!) and a few parcels that they don't own around what they do own, and how this little piece of the pie irks him and he concludes:



Maybe someone will die and the phone will ring. Maybe someone will throw the land at him so he can finally close that darn checkbook and get down to the business of living.

Me! Of All People! Part Two

Almost exactly three years ago, we were leaving the Napa Valley, with its cheeses and wines and olive oil stores (any specialty store with a single type of item for sale upset John greatly).
Found in a notebook from those days:
May 2004
An article from the St. Helena Star mentioned a vintner who said it was 'more likely that he become an astronaut than a winemaker.'
"Improbable!" he exclaimed.
But when he found the Old Turnbull 'ghost vineyard' on the 65 acres he inherited from his father (a winemaker) he thought, 'hey, I'm onto something here!'

Me! Of all people!

When Bernie and I lived in Napa, we were devoted readers of the St. Helena Star. They had a seemingly endless supply of stories about people who grew up on vineyards, pursued other avenues, and then, surprisingly, at mid-life, found themselves with vineyards of their own, often inherited from their families. The emphasis in these stories was always on the unlikely chain of events that led to this improbable picture. Who would have thought it? Me! Running a vineyard! All my life I tried to get away from vineyards...

Hollywood is full of such stories. Her parents discouraged her, but Rumer Willis is going to try her hand at acting (and she's really good!). Jason ReitmanKasdanCoppola is a gifted director in his own right (he even raised his own money). It's why I can't take it seriously when Sherwood Schwartz walks the picket line with his son (Sheldon?)--who, in a stunning turn of events, found himself running the Brady Bunch at the age of tweny-three--and his grandson, a young writer who also somehow managed to find his way into the family business.

But I can't completely claim the high ground, because my mother was a writer and my grandfather was a writer. I'd love to be able to emphasize the circuitous path I took to get here, but really I'm just another son of a vintner running away from grapes. Who would have thought it? Me! Writing scripts!

And yet the fact is, it wasn't writing that got me through school, it was math. And I have a fantastic factoring problem I want to post. But I'd need to learn how to type exponents on my keyboard, and realistically that's not going to happen.

The Morning Paper

I still subscribe to the local daily newspaper, the Albany Times Union, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its increasingly anachronistic nature. For example, our comics page contains at least five deceased authors: Charles Schulz, Dik Browne, Abigail Van Buren, Bil Keane, and Isaac Asimov (Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz; ironically, today's topic is 'people who died in 2007'). Johnny Hart and Hank Ketcham have only just been replaced, and Mort Walker and Jack Elrod are not long for this earth.

Anyway, as part of an effort to attract a more youthful demographic, the paper has been featuring blog excerpts on the front page of its local section. They are devoid of context and often cryptic, possibly appealing to no one at all. Here is today's excerpt:

"This year, for the first time since I became single, I am going to get a Christmas tree. After all the stuff that's happened the past two months, I need to. Plus, my parents are coming up to my place for Christmas. So, I kind of have to get a tree. I accept right now that I am not going to like this process one bit"

I am sparing you the link.