Letter From the Editor
Mood:
bright
Topic: Writing

In one of my favorite childhood movies, Harriet the Spy (starring Michelle Trachtenberg, based off of the 1964 novel by Louise Fitzhugh), gets chosen to be newspaper editor even after her classmates found and read her spy notebook which contained all sorts of dirt on them. For the first issue of Harriet's paper, she writes a letter from the editor:
"I am on a mission to be a great writer. A good friend once told me that all great writers try to see everything. Okay, here goes: I knew this guy once. He used to be a bajillionaire. Now he rides a bike. Want to know the freaky part? He says the bike's better. Please write in if you think he's lying.
There's a difference between looking at stuff and really seeing it...to really see, you've got to get a closer look. I've noticed that, sometimes, stuff you think is broken forever is actually totally fixable. But some stuff is supposed to fall apart...
For those of you who don't know, a retraction is when a newspaper takes something back. This newspaper would like to retract certain statements in a certain notebook which may have hurt certain people's feelings..."
Well, Harriet M. Welsch is a better woman than I, because here at The Witty Writer empire, we don't do retractions.
Many times throughout my writing career, I've been asked to correct myself because I've pissed someone off. There was the time in high school when I wrote an editorial about the lack of wheelchair accessibility in the building, the time in college when I wrote about greeks being fake (after the infamous DePauw incident) or a lead singer being hot, and the time I spilled my guts on a blog over a 30-Day Breakup Guide.
But, with nearly 500 readers a day, this blog cannot nor will not please everyone. In fact, there is only one person it aims to please:
Me.
Blog: (noun) a website on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative.
Opinion: (noun) a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
So for the record, this little collection of writing which I've kept for nearly three years is a blog created using my opinions. I have not, nor will I never, pretend my opinions are facts—I'm not a complete idiot.
Trust me, when readers (you all) don't like something I've said, you make sure I know it. You leave me comments, you e-mail me (wittywriter7@gmail.com), you call me and you text me.
But I have learned two things about people who disagree with things I write:
1. They are avid readers.
When I wrote a series of columns in college, my dad told me getting a letter to the editor was the biggest compliment. As a writer, of course I want to think everyone reads every word I put down—but let's face facts, people don't read much beyond the first line of an article. So instead of being insulted by a reader ranting off about something I said, it's actually quite flattering. Not only did that person read all that I had to say, they thought about it and felt so strongly over it, they had to let me know in some fashion. Chances are, after a reader spills his/her guts to a writer, they are going to read the next installment to see if the writer acknowledges him/her.
And so a fan is born. What better reason to write than to spark passion?
2. They have nerves—that were just destroyed.
Meet my new writer hero, Michael Hastings. His article, The Runaway General, appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, issue 1108/1109 in late July of this year.
The article is about Gen. Stanley McChrystal—President Obama's top commander in Afghanistan (at the time). Like most articles in Rolling Stone, this one was raw, leaving no quote off-the-record. After what I assume was a fabulous interview, came the release of McChrystal's true feelings—calling President Obama "uncomfortable and intimidated", sandwiched between childish remarks about Vice President Joe Biden. The article also explores McChrystal's past which is infamous for breaking the rules and ignoring authority.
Only days later, McChrystal was fired for insubordination after his disrespectful remarks about the president and other leaders. Hastings became the most well-known journalist in a matter of seconds—telling the public that nothing McChrystal said was off-the-record.
Yet, less than a month later, Hastings was denied permission to embed with a military unit in Afghanistan.
The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Although embeds are not a right, what does the military have to hide? The fact they can't respect authority or aren't taking things as seriously as they should, perhaps? Oops, touched a nerve on the guilty party. Although everyone has a right to withhold information, what does that ultimately say—no comment.
I've had people say, write, and publish things about me that aren't true. But I don't feel the need to prove anyone wrong—I'm the only one that must be happy with the person I am.
While all comments and complaints are welcome my way, know that I've figured you out. As usual, Shakespeare's Hamlet can explain it better than me: "The lady doth protest too much." The subjects persistent denial of something is an overcompensation for the truth.
As always, I appreciate all of my readers. But if I'm pissing you off enough, I'm certainly not forcing you to read a damn thing.
"Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away."-Elvis Presley
Sincerely yours,
Holly A. Phillips
Editor-In-Chief
Witty Writer
Posted by wittywriter7
at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, August 20, 2010 7:42 AM CDT