Diary of a Mad Editor

Archive for October, 2008

Studs Terkel, Dead at 96

“I want a language that speaks the truth.”

“I think it’s realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: ‘I despair. The world’s no good.’ That’s a perverse idealist. It’s practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That’s very realistic. ”

“Someone who does an act. In a democratic society, you’re supposed to be an activist; that is, you participate. It could be a letter written to an editor. “ — Studs Terkel

Noted American writer, historian and activist, Studs Terkel died peacefully in his Chicago home today. He was 96.

Terkel was born in New York City in 1912 to Russian-Jewish parents, but lived most of his life in Chicago. He earned a law degree from the University of Chicago, but was never a practicing lawyer. Instead, Terkel joined the Federal Writer’s Project working in radio as an actor and newscaster during the Great Depression. This eventually lead to him having his own long-running radio show which ran from 1952 to 1997. During the 1950s, he was among the writers blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer.

Studs Terkel is probably best known for bestselling, award-winning oral histories. Among them, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression and “The Good War” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to his writing, Terkel was a passionate advocate for peace and social justice. He shall be missed.

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A New Promotion for Avid Sportsmen

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You can see more details on this offer by visiting the Nikon ATB Promotion Details Page. Once you have made your purchase, register your gift card by filling out the Nikon ATB rebate form on NikonProGear.com and follow the directions provided to redeem your card for whatever cool gear is to your liking.

He’s Says He Was Only Joking, but I’m Thinking He’s Just a Joke

You ever hear the saying, “when you’ve dug yourself into a hole, quit digging”? Well . . . that’s some good advice for Mr. Dean Grondo, wannabe story writer who was featured in a previous post, “He Must’ve Written His Story in Crayon.” Grondo decided to respond to that post with the following comment:

“You guys are makin’ me giggle
I think Cindy and everybody missed the part where it says,
‘Due to time constraints I’m forced to use this form letter and I offer my apoligy for this.’
It’s a fucking joke!
Sorry Cindy, whoever you are, that my apparently bad joke screwed with your head. But, how could you guys not know that this was a joke?!!!!!!!!!!Insofar as my FALLOUT from all this….
Boo Fucking Hoo”

— Dean Grondo

Don’t get me wrong, people — I sincerely love comments and wish I got more of them, but explain to me how this comment helps Dean Grondo argue his case. He must belong to the wine of the month club (read: “whine”). I don’t believe Grondo was “joking” when he responded to Cindy’s rejection of his story and I will get to that in a moment. First, though, let’s assume for the time being that Grondo was joking. What was the point of his joke? Why would anyone receiving his “joke” find it amusing? I’ve stated this before and I guess it’s one of those things I’ll be repeating over and over (because you can’t repeat things often enough for the brain dead fucking retarded among us), but if you absolutely must respond to a rejection, respond with a polite “thank you” for taking the time to read the submission. Because a little good will goes a long way.

Now I don’t believe this “joke” was intended as a joke because it obviously was made solely to amuse the douchebag who sent it and not intended to entertain Cindy. And considering the nature of Grondo’s rejected story (according to Cindy because, like I stated in the post, I didn’t read it) Grondo either didn’t read or intentionally disregarded Yellow Mama’s submission guidelines, which in itself can and does ruffle the feathers of a hard-working editor. So we have a guy who doesn’t respect editors, who doesn’t respect the submission process and thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to attack editors who don’t automatically bow down before his awesome ego.

Grondo should’ve taken my advice and simply apologized for being an asshole. Of course, I’ve never met a genuine asshole who was at all apologetic about being an asshole so I didn’t really expect an act of contrition from him. But, even an asshole should know when he’s beat. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Grondo should just shut up and wear it. Because, while I can’t speak for Cindy, I can certainly do this until they drag my corpse away. So if he thinks he knows what fallout is . . . just keep digging that hole, brother.