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I admit to having an ego. I think I’m pretty good at what I do and I’m not afraid to say so.
I also am not above critism mind you, and I was lucky enough to experience both birds with the same stone recently.
The students in Barb Rollins’ reading class sent me a beavy of letters
sharing their thoughts about this publication and the job I’m/we’re
doing.
We donate a stack of papers for her students to read each week free of
charge. Her students, probably without any prodding (or encouragement)
at all, then took it upon themselves to send me letters of thanks for
the generous donation.
Rebecca Sabo said of The Argus: “I don’t really read much. I mostly
read for book reports. The only other time I read really is the paper
on Wednesday. My teacher makes me read it though.”
Honesty is the best policy I always say Rebecca and even if you’re forced kicking and screaming to do so...thanks for reading.
I will address a few points Rebecca makes later in her letter to me.
She thinks we should be entirely in color, and thinks we should put in
more comics.
Well, the comics cost money and you just don’t see that trend in the
newspaper business much anymore. It is a dying reality which never
really took a firm hold in the weekly newspapers. And about having full
color on every page. That is a cost measure as well. First of all our
printing plant, along with every other plant in America doesn’t have
the ability to produce a newspaper in full color. There is a formula
based on press configurations etc...so the color is always on the same
pages. That being said, it is not within the limits of our printing
presses to do so on every page of the paper. Where I came from in
Granite Falls, they “pay” for their color so if there is color anywhere
at all in the paper they will only do so if an advertiser would like
color.
So in my experience we do quite a bit more color than I am used to. However, I agree it does make a page more interesting.
Kody Steele took the opportunity to point out mistakes we’ve made.
He writes: “My name is spelled with a ‘K’ ody instead of a ‘C’ ha-ha.
Oh well.” He does however state that “...if he were a ‘million air’ he
would give it all to you guys.”
He then goes on to tell us to keep up the good work and that he can’t wait to read the paper next week.
If I were a ‘million air’ I would give it all to Kody too and sorry about the ‘c’ thing... ‘K’ all the way!
The public record is always a fun thing in this business. I have been
threatened more times than I care to recount by someone who got into
some trouble and didn’t wish to see that trouble extended beyond the
courts for all the public to behold.
I have to say I’ve never, in 10 years of working in the newspaper
business, read a court report/public record. I however, get angry at
the cars in front of me when they slow down for an accident on the side
of the road, and only occasionally look at those scenes. I get that I
am not in the norm.
Kody put it best when summing up the public record. “I love reading the
public records because I love to make fun of my relatives when their in
it.”
I am sure they love it too when you do that Kody, keep up the good work.
Kody, of course, also put it best when he said: “I love seeing the headlines of the storys. You guys are so clever.”
You’re right Kody. We are so clever thank you for noticing. For those
of you who missed it, the headlines I would point out as examples are:
City looking at getting rid of the stink...at waste treatment plant.
and: Things shaping up nicely for new owners of shapes. Both of those
headlines were in last weeks paper. See, he’s right, we’re so clever!
Tara Klinski writes: “I especially like to read the public record because I am nosey like that.”
Abe Diersen likes the public record “because he likes to see who did what and to see if I know any person who did something.”
Well, I liked reading all of the students thoughts and opinions about
our publication and the things we’re doing wrong, well and right. Thank
you to all who enjoy what we do here...even if you’re forced to.
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