These are the thoughts of a Texas transplant in West Michigan who makes his living as a newspaper reporter by evening, and a struggling novelist by day.

Monday, May 22, 2006

hey, who won the race??

hey lady hey,

i take offense to your comments about doing a "better reporting job next time." what do you know about reporting and writing? nothing.

so i didn't write in my Girls on the Run story who won the race. sorry you had to read the entire 14 inches only to find out there was no winner included in my article.

i'm usually pretty gentle when reders call in or e-mail me with critique or criticism about a story or angle i took in an article. however, you just refused to get the idea of what i was telling you. you're lucky i kept my cool. i don't like being ragged on about my writing from someone who doesn't know what i had to go through to write the article or why i chose to write it a certain way.

for your information, i wanted to put a face to the event and program and so i focused on abbey clendening. i thought i did a nice job,if i do say so myself. abbey came in fourth or fifth. but i didn't include it in the article.

as i said, it makes no difference who wins the race. it's not a contest. the girls themselves said it's not important who wins, "we're all winners." i know it might sound cheeseball, but hey it came from their mouths not mine.

and the event was not a race who see who wins. you had 700 girls running. to focus on the winner or even point who she was is ludicrous.

do question my decision and my reporting by saying i should have gone against the wishes of the event's coordinator and still included the winner's name is insane. why would i want to piss off the event's coordintor? other mothers? crush little girls' dreams and self-esteem. the purpose of the program is to (and i'll do something i hate right here) BUILD self-esteem.

and for your information, i did call up the coordinator and guess what? she liked my story. she said it was perfectly fine. well, here i must blush. i didn't call for kudos. but i'll take them.

and so be gentle with me next time. it was through no fault of my own that the article came out the way it did. emotions run high, yes i know. but check emotions at the door, please.

yours sincerely,
moi