Last summer, I wrote about finding a file on an old hard drive where I listed stuff I want to do and things I’d like to do. The eighth item on the list (excluding items I crossed out) was “Have a letter published in a magazine or newspaper.” And here’s what I said about it in that blog post:
I sent a letter to The Monticello Times, and a reporter called back and asked to interview me. Plus, I’ve had entire articles published in newsletters, magazines, and books, so even though I don’t think I’ve accomplished this task per se, I’ve kind of trumped it.
Well, now I have accomplished it. When I was paging through the February 20th issue of The Villager, I happened upon this letter…
I wrote a response letter a few days later. It didn’t appear in the next issue (06 March), so I figured they just weren’t going to publish my letter. That’s okay…it’s happened before. In fact, about four years ago, I wrote a letter to the Pioneer Press and one of their staff members even called me a few days later asking about shortening my letter in a certain spot, and I said that was fine. Alas, they didn’t publish it.
But then the March 20th issue arrived on our doorstep (in fact, three copies arrived…not sure if that was just a weird paperboy mistake, or if it was intentional). And, when I got to page 11, here’s what I found…
Continued on the next column…
I don’t think I could have responded to that in less than twenty pages. You did an amazing job at staying focused on only a few points, with just a few sentences dedicated to each. That had to be pretty difficult. Good job.
Thanks, David. I appreciate you commendation.
Yeah, staying succinct is, I believe, key to getting a letter published. An equally lamentable letter was published last fall relating to legalizing gay marriage; I sent off a response letter that was 500+ words long. Needless to say, it was not published. The response letters that were published were much, much shorter and still managed to cover all the main points.
There were two other letters in the recent issue that responded to Hukriede’s letter, and they covered some of the points I had to omit. For example, one woman wrote that she is both a liberal (politically) and a Christian, and thus takes umbrage at Hukriede’s insinuation that the two worldviews are mutually exclusive.
I agree with David. Nice job! You got your point across very efficiently!
Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Hukriede! Christianity receives more criticism in the US only because Christians try to legislate their beliefs, completely ignoring separation of church and state and those Americans who do no share their beliefs. He blames the demonization of Christianity on liberals when the different sects of Christians do this best by referring to Christians from other sects as “Baby Christians”, “or “not Christian enough” and by referring to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Mormons and Catholics as “cult followers”. Someone’s been stroking Mr. Hukriede’s Persecution Complex. Stop seeing yourself as a victim, sir, and see yourself as part of the solution by fighting to preserve separation of church and state.