A Note to Our Readers

Believe it or not, this wasn't intended to be an all night session. We actually had many articles done and a few started before we began working Saturday night. The DVD review of Barbarella was something we sent back and forth to one another (including Rebecca, Betty and C.I.) all week. We did the interview with Ruth Saturday afternoon and had the rough draft of the article done within an hour after the interview. Nine to Five had been sketched out by Ava and C.I.
We'd already done our copying and pasting of Ruth's Morning Edition Report Friday night.

We're not quite sure what happened. But we do think this is a strong edition. And hope you'll find something to be happy or enraged about. (Anything but a middle of the road reaction, please.)

Ava and C.I. wrote the Nine to Five DVD review. They'd already sketched it out but at some point during the night/morning, while we were on a break, they ended up filling in the blanks and writing what they assumed was a rough draft that we'd all add our input to. Reading over it, we felt it said everything that needed to be said. So we left it alone.

We'd pin part of the delay on Ava and C.I. They hated the TV show NUMB3RS and had watched it, having heard talk of the show, thinking they would enjoy it. It was so hideous, they didn't even want to write about it. But they knew readers were expecting a review from them. (And knew it always the most popular feature at The Third Estate Sunday Review.) So they went back to the videotape to watch it again and try to find something worth commenting on.

While they did that, we worked on adding a joke to the "What are you listening to?" feature. Ty pointed out that the current edition of Spin magazine features lists and wondered if our article read like a list. So Dona and Jim devised a joke and worked on trying to be funny with it. The plan was to let you know in this note that it was a joke. When Ava and C.I. finished their TV review and read over it, they were confused and the more we explained it, the more they raised questions like would Dona's parents be okay if it was e-mailed around and they came off looking like something they weren't? So, at the bottom of that feature, we explained that the joke was a joke. If it gets sent to Dona's parents and someone says, "I never knew you were like that!" her parents can e-mail back, "Read to the bottom, you idiot!"

We thank the following for their help with this edition: Dallas who is the reason for our posting of The Code Pink item; Folding Star for allowing us to pull from a book review and participating in the music article; Ruth for allowing us to reprint her Ruth's Morning Edition Report and for granting us an interview; Kat for once again popping out of the blue to help us and provide humor and input as well as for taking part in the music article; Betty for taking part in the musical article and reading over and adding input to the article on Ruth and adding input to the Barbarella review; Rebecca who was there to read over everything until this note and who added input on everything except the two articles done solely by Ava and C.I.; Jess' parents who spoke to us about NPR and PBS this morning as we were preparing our editorial; Ruben for his question that prompted the music article; Common Ills community member Isaiah for graciousness and allowing us to reprint his drawing of Jane Fonda; and two of our professors who read over early drafts on Saturday.

In addition, we thank our mothers on this Mother's Day. We also thank BuzzFlash because though they probably don't realize it, they really did a wonderful thing by highlighting Ruth's entry this Friday. You'd have to hear her voice to realize how much this meant to her and how much it meant to her family and friends. To them, it was probably just another link they found worthwhile, but we'd argue it also served as a wonderful Mother's Day gift for Ruth. So we'll say thank you to BuzzFlash.

As always we'll thank our readers who let us know what they like and what they hate. And we'll note our e-mail address is thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com for anyone who needs to write.

Who didn't we thank?

C.I. Planned or not, C.I.'s a permanent part of The Third Estate Sunday Review. With Ava, C.I. does the TV reviews that readers love. (Some readers loathe them, but we'll assume they lack a sense of humor.) When the rest of us read over Ava and C.I.'s review of NUMB3RS on the heels of their review of Nine to Five, we were blown away. (We laughed especially hard at one joke, but we won't tell you which one because we don't want to spoil it for you.) With Ava and C.I. regularly doing their TV reviews with out any outside input, we question the logic of acting as though C.I. is not a part of The Third Estate Sunday Review. C.I. can hold any opinion, but in our eyes, "You're a member." We'll also note, for anyone not aware, C.I. doesn't watch television. Because of the TV reviews, once a week C.I. turns on the TV. We appreciate the sacrifice as much as we appreciate the reviews C.I. and Ava deliver.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava