Going Places

While it is nice that the newspaper editors often print letters that I write, sometimes their editing of such letters completely loses what the letter is about. That happened to me in yesterday's paper. I know that I can write well, as I've had many things published (regrettably, not for pay!). I had one article printed in the monthly newsletter of WMNF, Tampa, where I was a volunteer DJ; one or 2 in the monthly newsletter of FoFF (the Friends of Florida Folk [music); some things used in church bulletins and on church web sites and other web sites; a few poems and articles published in the "Braille Forum" (the monthly magazine of the American Council of the Blind); and for over 7 years, I edited and wrote for the weekly bulletin of the church I attended.

So it was with amazed irritation that a letter I fired off on October 2 had the first paragraph reworded so that the meaning was totally different. For once, I wasn't griping about our bus service; I was fussing about all the "grand plans" for metro Birmingham and ... well ... here is what was printed in yesterday's (yes, the BIG Sunday paper! - not hidden in some obscure place in a week day paper):

"In reading the newspaper recently, I noticed that many of the events in metro Birmingham had one thing in common: They highlighted the failure of public transportation."

Here is my original first paragraph:

"In reading today's paper, I noticed that most of the plans for metro Birmingham have one thing in common: better public transportation failed. Why?"

I know that bus management is doing the best they can with the funding they have, but as was in the business section of the paper recently, help to build a better metro transit system is never a priority. It's as if those of us who must ride the bus are not worth anything, yet we pay taxes just like everyone else. Grrr!!!