Monday, April 20, 2009

35 Cents A Word And Hate Mail!



That's a really good price per word, by the way. The column from which this headline was taken is an interesting read, too. A snippet:

The way the envelope was addressed should have been enough to warn me that the letter inside was not amorous in nature.

To the left of the postmarked stamp, in formal but shaky cursive, my new correspondent had written "President, Bitch of the Year Club" immediately beneath my correctly-spelled name. This was unfortunate; there could be no mistake to whom he was referring.

Sent care of the daily newspaper for which I had just written my first weekly column, the envelope had no doubt spawned photocopies that were already circulating widely throughout the newsroom.

..

Inside, the letter itself was unequivocal. In the same painstaking hand, the writer repeated my name in full and charged: You are a dog Faced Slut who likes to run off at the mouth

The random capitalization and complete absence of punctuation enhanced the disarming directness of the message, which continued: I hope some Bull Dyk gives you some B+D so Stick a Sock in it.

mmm.

What caused all that anger was a piece the author, Shari Graydon, wrote about "the peculiar sizing practices of women's clothing manufacturers," a topic we all know makes feelings run high. I guess.

I can't help wondering what Ms. Graydon's feelings would be after a few years as a feminist blogger. Heh. But of course the point she makes is an important one: You need to subtract the cost of the hate mail from that princessly 35 cents per word.