A note to our readers

Hey --

Sunday and we've got another edition. Somehow Someway. We thank all the people who worked on this edition including Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.



And what have we got?

• Truest statement of the week -- We went with one that you really need to hear, for the tone.
• Truest statement of the week II -- And this one was an obvious choice for many reasons.
• Editorial: Where it stands -- The thing with this edition was that everyone wanted to be done quickly. Didn't happen that way for us (Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I. and me, Jim) but everyone else went to bed long, long ago. This piece was the left overs and scraps of about seven pieces and Elaine, who had asked for Abby Road to be played in our final hour of writing, suggested we run it together like the suite on side two (vinyl) of the Beatles Abby Road. It worked.
  
• Katha Pollitt, Bronze Booby Winner -- Why so high up with the Bronze Booby? Well we did get some input. Hadn't planned on it. But Ty's boyfriend was waking up and wondered what we'd come up with. His fresh set of eyes insisted this and the next piece had to be moved up high in the mix. But not that high in the mix!

TV: Skimming the Surface -- As I was typing this, Dona asked me, "You didn't write anything about Ava and C.I., how come?" It's not there. We forgot to publish it. Readers are freaking out right now as I type this asking, "What the f**k? Four years of never missing a week and they do it this week and we don't even get a note of apology or explanation!" Ava and C.I. didn't take the week off. We just rushed through publishing and forgot to post their article. They cover three TV shows in this and, readers, a request from me (Jim), please stop making requests for Ava and C.I. in e-mails. A) It's not happening. B) They've already got friends who are sure that any and every bit of praise online could make the difference in a cancellation or a renewal. Those friends are begging them for mentions. And they're having to say "no" because they've got to work each week with what fits. That's why a planned article that was announced for this week got pushed back to next week. I love this one but, honestly, did have to look up RD Laing. Sorry. I won't pretend I know everything because I don't. Read this and enjoy. I was talking about how everyone wanted to be done quickly this weekend. As a result, that meant short features where possible which meant pushing off on Ava and C.I. We asked them if they could do a lengthy article this week? They hadn't planned on it but managed to pull it off. We thank them.

• The Katrina goes to . . . -- Back to where we were. The Bronze Booby and the Katrina were judged by Ty's boyfriend to be too strong to bury in the mix.
  
• From The (Male) Vault: Sexism rules at Pacifica -- This one is basically a reader e-mail. Ty was hoping to include it in our roundtable but we didn't have time. So we wrote some stuff quickly to run with it and called it a "short article."
  
  
  
• Roundtable -- The roundtable. There were so many things Ty wanted to cover and there was only one topic from the e-mails we got to. But it did make for a very interesting roundtable.
  
  
  
• The non-fashion plate
• -- Mike and C.I. brought this back over. It was actually an idea Betty pitched last week that we wrote and rewrote every way we knew how but couldn't get anything out of it. What was the difference? Two dead soldiers in Iraq (US soldiers) and three pages of fluff in the "international" section of Saturday's New York Times.
  
  No surprise -- Shocked is really a bit much, all things considered.
  
  
• With or without a village, it takes an idiot . . .... -- While Ava and C.I. worked on the TV commentary, we wrote this brief article (and worked on illustrations).
  
  
• Don't Steal These Looks! -- Rebecca and Betty largely did this. We offered them a byline on this because it's really them but they took a pass. We'll credit them here.
  
  
• ETAN -- ETAN article reposted here.
  
  
• Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Betty, Kat, Rebecca, Marcia, Ruth, Cedric, Stan and Wally wrote this and we thank them for it.

And that's what we got. We thank everyone and we're glad to say that even though it was long for us signing the note, we were able to say night-night to everyone else by one in the morning.

And one more thing. Kat's "Kat's Korner: When you build your house . . ." went up this morning. It's epic and about Stevie Nicks' new live album. Don't miss the review, don't miss the album, both are wonderful.

ADDED: And one more article this fine Sunday: F**K YOU, MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD. This was written by Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I., Wally and myself. And Wally typed it up. We hadn't planned on this but an outraged e-mail came in over Matthew Rothschild's latest embarrassment (he really needs to be placed in a home). Ty was reading the e-mail to us right after we finished the note. Wally happened to walk through and as we offered twenty excuses for not writing about it, he said, "I'll type!" With that kind offer, we had to make the time. According to Mad Matty Roth, it is now "McCarthyism" to refuse to allow known bombers -- who do not regret their past actions -- to speak at your facilities. Reality check, in 2008 a lot of people learned a lot of things about Bill and Bernardine which they didn't know before.


-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.