Letters to the Editor

[kag]

In high school I had a teacher who inspired me. She demanded that her students read the newspaper and keep up with current events. She also told us that if we read only one page of the newspaper every day, it should be the letters to the editor. I've been an avid reader of LTTE's ever since.

I have also been an avid WRITER of LTTE's since adulthood, and as a way of getting your voice heard in the community, I highly recommend it.

One of my pet topics is school funding, and after writing several letters on the topic I had one of our local bus drivers approach me at a restaurant. He congratulated me, told me to "keep up the good work" and asked my opinion on a coming school board election. Now, that's powerful messaging.

In these days when Democrats and liberals (not always the same thing, unfortunately) seem to be drowned out by the teabaggers, I would love to see more DUers write Letters to the Editor of their local papers. And if you have never done so, here are a few tips:

1. Keep it SHORT. Long letters almost NEVER get printed. 300 words is the limit for a lot of papers, but even shorter and your chances increase.

2. Keep it respectful. You can get your point across without being offensive. I know it's difficult these days to resist the urge to virtually "scream" and tell the teabaggers EXACTLY what you think of them ("lying pieces of vile shit", for instance) but those phrases have very little chance of making it onto the printed page.

3. Keep it local. Local stories have a much better chance of getting published.

4. OR comment on a recently published story. If you want to comment on national issues, it helps to write your letter in response to a story or another letter that has been printed recently.

5. Proofread. Nobdy liks to reed sumthng wth a lot uv errrrs. Espshally editers.

If you think no one will read your carefully crafted blood-sweat-and-tears-on-a-page, you're wrong. These days, even if it doesn't make it into the printed paper, most papers put virtually all of their letters into a letters "blog", and some of us letter nerds even read those.

So, come on DU. Let's get writing!

[zbdent]

1. I write them, the Akron Beacon Journal just doesn't print them as often as I'd like

Latest one printed was Friday ...

http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/119459654.html

[kag]

2. Way to go!

So, which letter was yours? Can I guess? Was it the one about the Republicans and bin Laden?

I know that not all of mine get published either (although they DO go into the LTTE "blog"). The Boulder Daily Camera, where I send almost all of my letters, has a limit of one letter per month. However, I actually had two printed within a couple of weeks of each other once. I think it was because I was writing an opinion that the editors shared, but mine (the second one) was the only one that came in.

It can be a little schizophrenic, but it helps to have thick skin. I forgot to mention that as one of my "tips."

[zbdent]

4. DING!!!

Forgot to mention it ...

Third one down ...

you should see the spin in the discussion group (click the link) about how it wasn't really the same thing ...

[kag]

5. So you are a...

"poor wretch" with a "desperate need to be heard" too, huh? Yup, that sounds a lot like what I get in the Camera. It's funny, too. Boulder is supposed to be such a liberal community, but the "comment" writers are always the loud-mouthed teabaggers who call me names and try to cut me down. Frankly, I like to have fun with it.

Here's a link to today's "comments" in the DC. I'm "mom":

http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_17803623

[crickets]

3. K&R