Oh well

[sal_amanda]

so the Buffalo News put out a call a few weeks ago for people to send in their own personal stories and thoughts about New Orleans, but they wanted them to be 100 words or less.  so i whipped up a little tidbit, about three paragraphs long, about our evacuated honeymoon and included a bit about Mardi Gras and the KOE.  i then checked the Microsoft Word wordcount and discovered i was at about 350.  damn.  so i pared it down and wound up having to take out the MG stuff, unfortunately, and wound up with about 150 words. 

and week and a half ago, i got a call from the guy at the News telling me how well written my little blurb was and did i have any pictures from any of my trips there that i could send them that very morning.  so i pored over all my pictures and picked out some good ones and e-mailed them in. 

so i got up first today and brought in the paper, grabbing the correct section and checked it out.  well, they had an "overwhelming response" so i should be glad i got in there at all, but they only used my last two sentences and none of my pictures.  i'm just kind of miffed that they had very, very lengthy bits from four News staffers and a couple of longer ones from random citizens.  they could have fit more in if they had been more fair about that.  but whatever. 

anyway.  here's the link to the article if anyone wants to check it out (you can only get it free for ten days):

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050925/1054258.asp

and here's what i actually submitted to them:

            I had my honeymoon in New Orleans in September 2002.  Unfortunately, we only got to stay about 48 hours because of Hurricane Isidore.  While there, we heard stories of Hurricane Camille and all the flooding it caused.  No one seemed to think it was a big deal.  Windows were boarded, but with signs that declared, “We don’t run from hurricanes, we drink hurricanes.”  We felt a little like wimps for leaving. 

            But we went back and went back again.  New Orleans has a draw.  Even during Mardi Gras, when it is cramped with people, it never seems to dislike its tourists like other cities do.  The whole world is embraced there with its beautiful and magical spirit.  It’s easy to love New Orleans when it loves you right back.

 

Comments

[i-am-solid.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Your submission was oodles better than most of the ones that went on forever. And did someone really say the city was "classless and colorless"? Oh my - they were wearing tourist-tinted glasses.

[sal_amanda]

thank you!!! i was really very annoyed upon reading it. i also think some of my pictures were better, too.

[i-am-solid.livejournal.com]

WTF? I didn't see any pictures online! But since they weren't of me wearing my pasties anyway, who cares?

[sal_amanda]

on the front of the page, they had a collage of generic pictures of New Orleans stuff. where they continued the stories, they had someones wedding picture in Jackson Square (which was not fabulous quality) and somebody's kid eating a beignet.

i was thinking that maybe they were thinking that discussing evacuating hurricanes might be a sensitive area, but if that's the case, then they missed my point completely.

[jessakeenie.livejournal.com]

i think your words were perfect. they should have run it "as is."

[sal_amanda]

well, i certainly agree. i don't even think the last two sentences are as powerful when taken out of context like that.