The Letter I'm Not Sending After All

September 20, 2010

Dear Mr. Putz:

I am writing to tell you of my disappointment in my recent experience with writing a letter to the editors of Boston Magazine. Let me begin by telling you how much I enjoy your magazine. I read it cover to cover every month and await its arrival at my home since I’m a subscriber. I think the in-depth reporting is fantastic and the subject matters covered are always interesting and well done.

When I received my September issue, I identified right away the Glee take-off on the cover. At first I thought it clever as a way to highlight the annual school report by using pop culture. But then I read the article and with even more interest the article about the charter movement and Roxbury Prep. I am very familiar with Roxbury Prep, having worked with their students and staff quite a bit when I was on staff at Boston Cares. I also care a great deal about the charter school movement. I am not a parent, but I care about education and about the students in our community. The more I considered the importance of this report each year and the impact it can have on area students, parents, communities and schools, the more annoyed I became that the cover was so fanciful, and if you’ll allow me to use the word: cheap.

It bothered me so much that I wrote a letter to the editor through your online mechanism. I’ve never written a letter to your magazine before, although I’ve written other publications. This is the letter I sent:

“Dear Editors,

I am a big fan of Boston Magazine. I await my copy each month and I love the in-depth articles and fantastic reporting you do, as well as the little tid-bits. I read it cover to cover and I am a fan on Facebook and I get your Weekender enewsletter as well.

I am so disappointed in your choice for cover for the Best Schools issue. While I watch Glee and I love it, I do partially because it is so campy and the things that happen on the show hopefully aren't happening in real schools (athletic directors starving cheerleaders and being generally mean, principals being blackmailed, teacher battles, treatment of students, guidance counselors needing counseling themselves, etc.). For you to parody the show on the cover to highlight a feature article that we look forward to each year which is serious and important seemed to me to cheapen the reporting.

I would've loved to see the Roxbury Prep students on the cover. What an amazing experience that would've been for those students, for the charter school movement overall, and for a neighborhood/community which is usually seen in a negative way in the media.

I continue to look forward to receiving my magazine each month, but felt compelled to share my feelings on this cover with you.

Best,
Karen
Jamaica Plain, MA”

Later that same day, I received a response to my email from Jason Schwartz, identified in his email signature as a Senior Staff Writer, asking me for my express permission in order to publish my letter in the magazine. I realize this could’ve been a formality, something done with every letter received. I responded straight away, giving my permission. Between the time I’d written the letter and was now writing the permission email, I’d read more of the magazine, so I added a P.S. to my email to Jason. My email in its entirety said:

“Hi Jason,

You have my express permission to print my letter to the editor if you wish. I live in Jamaica Plain, MA and my daytime number is xxxxxx if you need to reach me.

Thank you!

Karen

P.S. Just read the Gods and Mobsters article which was awesome and the Dunkin' article is one of the best things I've ever seen in print. What a great way to do that article. :)”

Imagine my surprise when I opened my October issue yesterday and found that I was indeed printed under the letters section, but not where I expected. Instead, under the section dedicated to the Dunkin’ Donuts article, there was my parenthetical post-script comment to Jason “’the Dunkin’ article is one of the best things I’ve ever seen in print’” wrote Karen of Jamaica Plain.”

I didn’t give permission for that to be printed. Don’t get me wrong: I loved the Dunkin’ article. But that wasn’t why I wrote you. And I didn’t give permission for it to be printed. I wrote a letter because of something I saw as an injustice. It was something important enough to me to sit down and write it out. And instead, that experience was also cheapened by your staff’s decision to pull a P.S. from an email and print that compliment instead of the criticism I was offering. I would rather have seen nothing from me in your magazine than to have this comment printed, since it was the complete opposite of my original intent.

I’m so disappointed again. What a bummer of an experience with your magazine. To first be disappointed in your cover choice and now be disappointed with how someone handled my correspondence.

I, of course, will continue to be a loyal reader. But my enthusiasm is dampened. I will anticipate delivery of your magazine with a little less verve than before.

I thank you for your time in reading this letter.

Sincerely,
Karen
________________________________________________________
I'm not sending the above letter because this morning I also emailed Mr. Jason Schwartz, and said this:

Jason,

I just received my October edition of Boston Magazine. I was shocked to see that you didn't use any of my letter to the editor, but did use something that was typed in a P.S. in my permission email to you. I gave you permission to use the letter to the editor I wrote. I didn't give permission to use a parenthetical line from an email to you. I'm even more disappointed now than I was when I wrote the original letter. I took time to write a letter about an injustice I saw (which you were welcome to ignore and not print at all) and instead you printed a compliment I made as a side note. I love your magazine, but I'm disappointed in this staff decision.

Sincerely,
Karen
Jamaica Plain
______________________________________________________
And he said this:

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the note. I think we owe you an apology. This is just one of those things that happened in the wash of putting that page together—it sometimes happens that we need a line in one spot for something or have to cut for space on another thing. It was totally not our intention to make it look like we were ignoring your criticism and just including the kind words (and we really do appreciate both). That page—like all of them in our magazine—goes through a lot of editors and it just sort of happened. I realize that this might not be the most satisfying explanation, but please know that we really do value your input as well as your loyal reading of the magazine.

Thanks again.
Best,
Jason

AND SO, THEY ARE FORGIVEN. And the Editor need not know.

One City One Story

Last year, the Boston Book Festival was revitalized. (It appears to have been a Globe run event years ago and then it just died completely.) A nonprofit was established and for a full day in October, Copley Square and the BPL were overrun with people who write, think about, write about, and care about books.

This year, they are back for a second go at it and it looks like a spectacular line up. Check it out here. I missed it last year because I was away in Turkey, so I'm really looking forward to this year.

As a new initiative, they have selected and produced a One City One Story publication with a short story by Tom Perrotta. They are giving out 30,000 copies all around the city prior to the October 16 Festival. Perrotta is local and wrote Election (movie made famous by Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick) and Little Children (movie made famous by Kate Winslet and three Oscar nominations - including a writing one for Perrotta). He's got a new book coming out this fall called The Leftovers. The One City One Story is called "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" and it is pretty great.

I was worried about how I would get a copy, since I bounce between JP and Tufts and hardly ever get in between - to the heart of Boston. But then I went to the free Pops concert on the Common on Sunday and there I noticed the huge orange BBF logo on a table across the grass. I ran over and got my copy of Perrotta's story, all happily bundled up in a little white booklet with staple stitching and the same awesome orange ONE CITY ONE STORY on the cover. I went right back over to my seat, and since Keith and Co. hadn't started performing yet, I read it right then and there.

Wow. Now, I realize I could've read this story before now. Perrotta wrote it in 2005 and it has been published in some other places, most notably in the Best American Short Stories of 2005. But I never came across it before.

I can't wait to attend the Town Meeting that is happening at the BBF to discuss the story (or hear it discussed, more likely) with Perrotta himself. (As an aside, there is nothing better than talking about a famous author's work with the famous author!) I'm really hoping I can make it to that - I'm waiting for the final schedule to be announced on the BBF website.

The story is about a little league game. The protagonist is one of the umpires - Jack. It's a town where little league is a big deal, and the umps and coaches and players all take themselves seriously. There's a fantastic pitcher named Lori Chang, a little slip of an Asian girl who just guns one pitch after another into the plate. Interwoven into the story is the backstory of the Jack's life, which has fallen apart in recent years due to some major mistakes on his part. He's full of anger and full of hope and just a giant mess overall. And he's trying to redeem himself through his actions during a town little league game.

As I was reading, I gasped at one point and my phone rang at that exact moment. I ignored it, because I couldn't stop at that particular time in my reading. And then I read forward with a vengeance, because I desperately needed to know what the outcome was going to be. I've no idea how many words this story is, but you wouldn't think it was long enough for me to care about the characters that much. That's Perrotta for you, though. He creates characters who are flawed - often drastically or irredeemably so - and makes you care enough about them to stick it through to the end and beyond. (Here I am writing a blog post about his story, right?)

I hope Bostonians (and those who venture into our fair city) will pick up a copy of the booklet and read it. Here's where. You can also download it here. Even if you aren't going to the event (which I also hope you'll do), it is great read. And it's a neat feeling to know that a whole bunch of other people are reading it too. Common experiences are cool. Common intellectual experiences are even cooler because they are pretty rare after leaving school; as an adult. The people at BBF knew this and made this happen for us as a city, which I love. Thanks for that, BBF!

Things to Let Go Of

Today is the autumnal equinox. The first day of fall. The beginning of the annual end. The season when things die and fall down and fall off and shut down for the winter. The season of letting go and moving on and preparing for the glory of what comes next.

There are a few things I should let go of. Perhaps we should start a tradition, wherein we make "Let Go Resolutions" in the fall something akin to New Year's Resolutions in January. (Considering I hate those, I have no idea why I'm advocating for even more.)

My list is thus:

1. Let go of body issues. I am not fat. I am a big person, bigger than most women. I am tall, and broad, and strong and heavy. I am also curvy and voluptuous and healthy and strong and not hard on the eyes. I should just let go of feeling bad about my body.

2. Let go of annoyances I have with certain people. Those people are in my life. I love them. And the constant annoyance is not helping me and it's not helping my relationship with said people. And really, the word annoyances is right. These things I harbor are teeny-tiny in the grand scheme of the world. My life would be smilier if I let go of these.

3. Let go of hatred. I hate a couple of things/people. Like, really harbor anger. I should just get over this. This one is a tall order. I don't take anger lightly and I never have. It's not something I like having. But it's getting stronger and stronger instead of lighter in this instance and it's time to try to let go of some of it.

4. Let go of worrying about money so much. I have enough. More than enough. Plenty. End of story.

Letting go is easier said than done. The leaves seem to have it down much better than we people do. But, ever notice those last couple leaves still hanging onto the branch after most of the others are already rotting away on the ground? I'm one of those. I just am. It's who I am. But I can always reiterate my desire to change and try it again and again. On this equinox, I pledge this.

Friday 5

This week's Friday5 is NAGGING.

What kinds of nagging injuries do you have?

I have lower back pain that started in high school, disappeared for a lot of years and is back now. I also have stupid plantar fasciitis, especially in my right heel, so I always have to wear sensible shoes.

What long-procrastinated task is nagging at you lately?

I really need to save all my photographs on some kind of back up (external hard drive, online, something). I need to get on that.

In what way have you been a nag to someone else?

I'm a nag all the time at work. I am the one who is always pointing out that now the event is less than 3 weeks away and nobody is invited.

Who in your life is a world-class nag?

Nobody really. I'm lucky like that.

Nag is such an ugly word. What would be a nicer way to describe someone who exhibits nagging tendencies?

Asshat. I love that word!

Burned

And so, in the end, the pastor in Gainesville didn't burn any Qur'ans.

But he managed to draw enough media attention for the whole world to know that there are Americans who would think of doing such a thing, and on 9/11 to boot.

Whose fault is this? His or the media? Me, for checking out the Facebook page incredulously? Obama and Petraeus for even deigning to issue a comment? I'm not going to point fingers. It's everyone's fault.

This post is about the actual act of thinking of burning the Qur'an. Who even considers burning a holy book? I mean, seriously. I am horrified by the idea of burning books at all, regardless of one's reason, but at least if you are going all Fahrenheit 451 and you think you are ridding the world of filth, you have a reason that is potentially sound, in my opinion. It doesn't make it right, but you could argue your point and I'd listen. But burning a holy text of a legitimate religion practiced by approximately 1 billion people on Earth? As an act of hatred? C'mon.

Yes. Terrorism exists. Yes, the 9/11 attacks were claimed by Muslim extremists. There are extreme sects of pretty much any organized religion. Some of them practice violence and some don't. Some practice violence in very opaque ways (such as refusing to recognize the sexual orientation differences amongst people). And there are terrorists who don't act in the name of religion; see Timothy McVeigh and the Unibomber, amongst others.

You know what, whatever. I shouldn't even have to make any of those above points. The only point needed here is that whether we are at war with a country or not, whether we have a problem with a certain religion, whether any action we take would potentially cause problems for us, whether or not we've been wronged by a group, there is no justification for burning the holy book of other people in an act of defiance or as a statement or really, for any other reason.

The Muslim religion is very close to Christianity. Muslims pray to the same God that Christians do. (And Hindus and Buddhists for that matter.) I've not read the Qur'an, but I've read the basic tenets of Islam and really, is there much to argue with? Yes, Muslims adhere to some strict rules that are hard for some free-wheeling Americans to really understand. They have ritual around eating. There is Ramadan and fasting. There are dress requirements that some participate in. There's a strong sense of belonging. In Muslim countries, this is the norm. It is the air, as much as Christmas and Easter is here. And I'd argue that those countries are much more religious-based than we tend to be. I'm not sure if many Christian Americans could tell you the history of some religious rituals they participate in without a second thought.

I spent time in Turkey last year and I loved hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day as it wafted through the air over the loudspeaker wherever I was: the biggest city or the smallest village. I found it as beautiful as I do "All Come All Ye Faithful" sung in my childhood church in Chelmsford on Christmas Eve. I'm not a religious person, but I know faith when I hear it or see it, and I respect it, no matter what form it is taking. No matter what form. No matter by whom.

I'm not thrilled that a sect of a religion has chosen to attack us - to hate us. But there is no excuse for anyone using that as an excuse to justify hatred of an entire religion and group of people who have done nothing wrong. Especially a religious person. One who supposedly preaches the tenets of Christianity, which last I checked included the Golden Rule.

Good job getting your 15 minutes of fame, pastor in Gainesville. Media, are you sure you should've covered this quite so much; to have given it so much credence? And me: here I am, waxing on about it, after the fact. I guess we're all guilty, in the end, of something. We all get burned.

Summer 2010

With each passing year, I enjoy making this list more and more. My annual "What I Did This Summer" post!

bought a bike - started to commute to work on it - visited Todd & Kate in STL - was a First Thursdays artist (three times!) and sold magnets made from my photos for the first time - rode a 25 mile route from JP to downtown and through Southie and back - went to my 15th college reunion - fell in love with Dexter - watched the first two seasons of Breaking Bad (love!) - took Mom & Dad zipping - did a bikeathon for Bikes Not Bombs (25.75 very hilly very hot miles) - enjoyed another year of CSA - went to an info session and meeting for a MA program at Simmons - rode a 25-mile route along the Charles out to Watertown and back through Newton - suffered through some serious back pain - passed my one-year anniversary at FitCamp - went on a motorcycle date - cared for someone in a lot of pain - spent another awesome 4th at Chez Boss at Cobbetts - visited Christy in NJ - went to the JP Lantern Festival - did a sprint triathlon - found out about Aquabikes, which is like a triathlon without the running part, perfect for me - biked to Deer Island (40 miles round trip!) - realized I have the capacity to really really hate someone - read more young adult novels than I can count - fell in love with Katniss from Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay - acted as a reference for a few people doing job searches and helped them get offers! - saw the first two Dragon Tattoo movies at the Coolidge - found out a 'hood friend is happily pregnant - wandered around Cusco, Peru for three days - hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu - spent a week on Long Island, Maine - kayaked Casco Bay Harbor from Peaks around Cushing to Portland Light, along Cape Elizabeth, over to Little Diamond and back to Peaks - saw my first Cirque du Soliel, Ovo - was rejected for the first time from donating double reds because my iron was 2% too low - took iron pills for 2 weeks and went back and happily donated double red blood cells - biked, LLBean style, through the rural hills and coastline of Freeport and Brunswick, ME - learned that LLBean's name was Leon Leonwood Bean - found lots of seaglass on the beach - made a necklace from a piece of blue printed porcelain rubbed smooth by the sea - made an amazing tee-shirt for Sonia after spending a day walking around JP looking for the letters of her name (see photo above) - grew beans, zucchini, basil and cukes - grilled everything you can think of - visited Sonia, Susan and Suneel in Houston - went to a cool Eugene O'Neill & e.e. cummings tour in Forest Hills Cemetery - had great networking lunches with a few people new to me and one or two old to me - made it to one Sox game at the last minute on Labor Day weekend with SRO tickets for the Coke Deck for only 25 bucks - went to the "End of the Summer" Party at Cobbetts & stayed over one more time - had a great, HOT summer.

2009's post
Summer 2008
Summer 2007

Friday 5

A blog linked to my blog, written by growing-up friend, Marla, had this post today. It's a super cool idea and is brought to us by http://www.friday5.org. My answers are below. Check out Marla's here.

What are the coolest and ugliest tattoos you’ve ever seen?

I love sleeves of any kind. I don't even really notice what designs make them up. I just love that people have the balls to do it and how awesome they look. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about:



Ugliest? A woman I saw yesterday had dots tattooed up the back of her legs, like the seams in stockings. They were weird and I wasn't a fan.

Have you ever had a meal in which squid ink was an ingredient? How was it?

If I did, I didn't know it. But if I did, I wouldn't mind. I love all kinds of weird food and will try anything.

Are you one of those people who has a favorite pen, or one of those people who just uses whatever’s at hand? What’re your favorite pens like?

Totally. I have a serious addiction to Pentel Twist-Ease .7 mechanical pencils and cannot live without mine. This summer alone, one got lost and another stopped working. I had to go out and get more that same day. Pens, yes. I vary a lot, but I like black better than blue and hate ink rollers that write too quickly. I dig a really good ballpoint. I still like writing long hand, but it tires me out. I generally only do it when travelling.

There’s a box of colored markers on the table, and someone tells everyone assembled to grab one. If you have first pick, what do you take?

Red.

Have you ever written on a wall in a public place?

I don't think so. At first I thought "Well, surely I've done that," but now I'm second guessing. I think not. I've stolen so many signs (street, traffic, restaurant, ski-area, etc) that all the petty criminal activity begins to blur together.

Happy Friday!