A note to our readers

Let's start off by saying thanks to Pam at Big Brass Blog, Ron at Why Are We Back in Iraq? and Folding Star at A Winding Road. We appreciate the contributions you provided to the story on under-reported news in the last week.

This edition is a little heavier than we've been going in the past. Usually, we like to keep a jokey feel even when outraged but this was a week when one story dominated and few could resist the feeding frenzy. As a result, we heard people on campus who didn't fit the media ideal of desirable coverage speaking about issues like racism and lack of understanding of the disabled.
(On the latter, these weren't people arguing that Terry Schiavo should be kept on a feeding tube. They agreed with the court's decision. They did not, however, agree with the way the media -- in all formats -- played out this story.) If you were white and able-bodied, the story played out in a different way possibly than it did to others. (Ava notes "and male." And we'll also note that many able-bodied whites, male and female, were able to grasp that the coverage could come off offensive.)

So we felt that we had to cover that. And there aren't a lot of jokes there if any. In the past, even when raging against the actions of CJR Daily or The New York Times, we've been able to find a way to be funny (in our opinion and that of our readers, if not in the opinion of CJR Daily and The New York Times). This time we couldn't find humor in the subject as you'll note in our editorial and in the story on under-reported news last week.

For a lighter read, we have to recommend the TV review of Jake In Progress which is all the work of Ava and C.I. of The Common Ills. We got a number of e-mails last week saying that the TV review was the favorite part of each edition and that they couldn't believe we'd put out an edition without it. While we take the feedback seriously, please note that Ava and C.I. write those things and that there will be time when they aren't able to block out time to write a piece, let alone to put in any time to watch something on TV. (Before C.I. started helping on this feature, TV watching was pretty much a thing of the past.) That said, the rest of us enjoy Ava and C.I.'s TV reviews as well.

We have an interview with Cinamon (not her real name) who graduated last May and offers some advice about the real world after graduation. As an art major, her comments might appear to some to only apply to a limited group of people, but we think you can find something that applies to all. We also left out a point that C.I. found in the transcripts and we agree it's worth noting, plus it applies to hear.

Speaking on the importance of a liberal education, Cinamon noted:

If you're by yourself and don't have TV at least you can use your brain and have company. [Laughing] Do you think the people who think about shoes all the time could do that? No!

We thank Cinamon for the interview and we thank Rebecca and C.I. for their work on that.

Rebecca and C.I. worked on all the stories here with the exception of this note. (And of course, the TV review which was the work of Ava and C.I.) We appreciate, as always, the help and assistance Rebecca and C.I. give us. As well as the perspetive two additional voices can bring.

We also appreciate Betty, Common Ills community member, who will have her own blog up April 1st. Look for it, we think you'll enjoy it. This edition, Betty participated on every story except the TV review and this note. It was another all nighter so we appreciated the help. We always swear "this is the last all nighter" and then we find ourselves on yet another Saturday, pulling yet another all nighter.

We thank Rebecca for allowing us to spotlight a blog entry she did entitled "enough already."

And Ava says hold on because we've got an e-mail from C.I.

C.I. says that since John Bolton was a under-reported story last week, we might want to pass on that there's a web site entitled StopBolton.org that features, among other things, a video of Bolton that most people would be interested in seeing. So check that out.

On the subject of e-mails, Ty responded to a few this week, as did Dona. We do read them but we haven't reached the level of Ava who responds to each new e-mail on her day to read what's in the inbox. We realize that you appreciate Ava's personal responses and we'll try to rise to her level but no promises. Also remember that we don't respond to any e-mails requesting personal information. That goes for whether you identify yourself as reader or as a member of the press.
(There's been a huge increase in e-mails asking for personal information.) Our note to you each edition is about as personal as we'll get as we explain some of what went into shaping the current edition.

Okay, you say, but why can't you personally respond to the other e-mails?

Well, we're college students going to school and we have academic responsibilities. Some of us also have work responsibilities. We get anywhere from fifty to seventy-five e-mails a day. We all agreed to spend no more than two hours on the e-mails on our assigned day. That time is often taken up just in reading the e-mails. (Ava says she never reads before she responds. She hits reply and reads as she replies. Which means she trashes many drafts if she comes across a request for personal information later in the e-mail.) In a perfect world, we'd answer each and every e-mail. In a perfect world, we'd offer more than our standard six articles a week.

Maybe some day we'll all reach that perfect world, all of us across the globe, but that's not happened yet. And between trying to keep up with the news and our other responsibilites and, let's be honest since we're college kids, dating, we don't have the time to respond to every e-mail. With Ty and Dona attempting to do so this week (and Dona says "I've attempted to do so in past weeks!"), that may prompt the last two hold outs (Jess & Jim) to do so as well. Or they may just decide not to in an effort to be contrary.

We've included two books in our Book Note this edition and we hope you'll find the Book Note of interest. Knowing that it would be a "heavy" edition, we were looking for something additional to provide.

And we have no title for the interview with Cinamon, Ty just saw this. So we'll go back and put a title on that interview.

We hope you have a good week and we hope the media has a good week which would mean going beyond saturation of one story.

-- Jim, Jess, Ty, Dona and Ava