Dear Somerville Journal

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Before posting a story giving credit where none is due, please check your sources.

While we appreciate the coverage and the sentiment behind your article on Veteran's Day,

The City Did Not Hold This Event. The Post itself did and paid for everything out of its own pocket.

I know that the commander of The Post made attempts to contact your offices yesterday to clear this up, but I also wanted to set the record straight.

Thank you very much.

::EDIT:: For those pointing out the quality of the article in question, my S/O just noted that..."A severely ADHD rabbit could have written it better"

IAWTS 100%.

Comments

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Was that article written by an 8 year old? I had to read it twice to figure it out. What the hell was the part about people talking to each other? Did it even belong in the story?

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I think the idea was that there were some officials there, but no one really from the public, so it was politicians grandstanding in front of one another.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

But see, that would have been an incorrect statement too.

The Veterans' Day events happen every year and every year, a select number of local politicians deign to show up. The first time I attended, they grandstanded in front of me (as a newcomer) and not one another.

I think the concern voiced by Alderman Pero was that there wasn't a real showing by the general populace which, well, there never is.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

That was the article, yes...and that line totally lost me too.

Isn't talking to each other usually what people do when they gather in one place for a common cause?

[kpht.livejournal.com]

LOL.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wasn't going to read it until you said that. Now my brain hurts, and I'm wondering how long the Journal has been taking its writing lessons from the stereotypic Livejournal entry.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I think that this is even worse than a typical LJ entry. I have to wonder if the "reporter" in question had 10 too many before transcribing his notes?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

this article makes the nondenomination baby diety cry.

"He evoked previous Veteran’s Days, in which ... the veterans interacted with citizens and civilians"

yes, those veteran's days of yore, when people could TALK TO ACTUAL VETERANS - a rare breed, seldom seen in the wild.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Well, everyone knows that veterans today are neither citizens nor are they civilians, no matter how long they've been out of the military.

And if they're still in...well...good luck hunting one.

To catch one in the wild may requre rigging a trap baited with a home cooked meal and a warm bath.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i hear beef jerky and those foil-wrapped tuna pockets work for bait in a pinch.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Because it's important to point out that there were both citizens AND civilians there.

[ron_newman]

I'm not very happy with the state of Somerville Journal reporting these days. The paper tells us that Share Group is leaving Davis Square, but not why. It says that the Winter Hill Star Market is closing, but not why. The article about Progressive Democrats of Somerville last week was inaccurate enough that one of our members is drafting a letter, which may be published next week.

Meanwhile, if you want to see the public turn out for a veteran-related event, the annual Memorial Day parade is a better bet.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

What can we do about this? It's telling that someone without a major in Journalism or English can still make a better reporter/investigative reporter than those supposedly qualified to do so.

I don't like to see local newspapers go under, but with reporting like this, it's easy to see why they do.

I would like to see a huge change and help out in any way that I can with making local news a viable source of...well...local news!

[ron_newman]

This press release on the city website seems to say that the city held an event outside the VFW post on November 10; this was separate from the event that the post sponsored on November 11. Does that sound right to you, hellgirl13 ?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

No, it doesn't. The post has an all day event on the 10th to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday. This event, every year, is privately financed and funded by one particular member. Each of us gives money back to him personally (whatever we can afford), but he ends up spending anywhere from 3k - 5k out of his own pocket to have a cake cutting ceremony and a recognition of one or more Marines in the area.

My old landlords mother who is in her nineties usually cuts the cake. She was a Marine in WWII.

This event on the 10th lasts all day and well into the night and draws politicians, post members that you never see otherwise, families, friends and military men and women in town, on leave.

The city has nothing to do with the events on the 10th or the 11th at The Post, other than to show up, partake of food and drink and mingle and celebrate.

Shocking!

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

I am shocked, mortified, and appalled that the quality of the Somerville Journal is being called into question.

Re: Shocking!

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. It's a terrible thing and almost too much to believe or bear, but there it is.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

How did this happen?

You don't get future Pulitzer-winners for $22,000/year these days.

It is more and more of a ship of fools over there, but you can't make bricks without straw.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

God only knows.

I guess not, which is a crying shame.

True...but it seems that in this case, the preferred manufacturing method also involves using excrement as the glue that holds it all together. Dung bricks do work nicely if left in the sun to dry long enough.

[ron_newman]

Letter: Article on Progressive Dems misleading, by Jake Beal. I can't find online the original article that this responds to.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Apparently, their political cartoonist isn't any better. ROFL!

Give the Political Cartoonist a Dictionary (http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/opinions/x1720548267)

Celebrating an Iraq deployment?

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

And they must really hate this Kantrell Robinson. They list his deployment to Iraq under "Celebrations".


http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/lifestyle/celebrations/x1908582631
Somerville Journal Celebrations RSS

Kantrell deployed to Iraq
Mon Dec 03, 2007, 10:20 AM EST
Somerville -

Somerville - Army Pfc. Kantrell L. Robinson has deployed to Iraq to support the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Re: Celebrating an Iraq deployment?

[ron_newman]

Yeah, I'd think that his safe return to the US will be a much more appopriate thing to celebrate.

Re: Celebrating an Iraq deployment?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I noticed the article earlier but didn't notice the section it was filed under.

Great googly moogly.

Re: Celebrating an Iraq deployment?

[somjournal.livejournal.com]

Friends -- thank you for the constructive criticism.

And I also appreciate you pointing out that the "Celebrations" tab we have is just stupid. Someone elsewhere made the decision that "Milestones" and "People" wasn't easy to understand, so when a soldier gets shipped off, I put it under "homepage" "news" and the poorly-named "celebrations."

I also have to say that I need you to give a shout at somerville@cnc.com if you want one of us to correct a poorly-worded story or something that is inaccurate. There are very few of us trying to cover your city, and in the middle of all of it, we're not going to know you're having a problem if you're only talking about it over here amongst yourselves.

Long-story short: We're imperfect, and we can get better with your help.