On: Jimmy's World

* This was meant to go out at 0600 Friday, but some how I forgot to actually publish it. I blame pregnancy brain.

I don't know if many of you ever read the article "Jimmy's World", in the Washington Post on September 28, 1980. It won a Pulitzer Prize, that was later returned when the truth of the article came to light. Click here for the article.

Maybe it’s because I write fiction myself that the first half of the article actually sounded like the beginning of a story, not of an article in a well respected newspaper. The details were too flowery for me to not question the legitimacy of it. I’m not saying journalist don’t have a way with words, but there tends to be a more clinical feel to every article I’ve ever read. 

Whereas, a lot of people wouldn’t believe it, because the thought of a child being shot up by an adult, and none of the adults doing anything about it, seems too horrible and farfetched, that isn’t what rings false for me. Granted, that could be, because I’ve seen the track marks first hand on a child who was much younger than eight (the daughter of a neighbor who, thanks to police intervention no longer has access to the poor child). This world is a horrible and terrifying place a lot of the time.

Which does bring me to another thing I found questionable, and had I not already suspected the article of being a mostly well done work of fiction, would have made me (especially if I was an editor) wonder about the authenticity of the article. Where was the police intervention? Where was the school or CPS? I realize in the 80’s things weren’t like they are now, but even then, as a child in San Diego, I remember my teacher showing up on my doorstep with my homework when I missed more than one day of class.  

What are you thoughts and insights into this article? I'd love to know. 

R.S.

On Bacon, Journalism, and Editing

Welcome back to my humble digital abode. I've been mysteriously MIA in recent weeks from both the blog and Twitter. This has a lot to do with being back in school, not to mention dealing with every day life and the day job.

I'm sorry. I really am, and I'll try to be a better author, blogger, and blog reader. Maybe I should even get into that whole commenting on blogs I read thing. I hear that works wonders for networking. :)

My first journalism class is moving along smoothly (now, anyway). The beginning was touch and go, but it looks like the professor might not be as bad as originally considered. I find that I'm actually looking forward to working on the final project (which I've already started--kinda).

In other news, bizarre and unimportant, but curious all the same...

I've recently wondered what the obsession with Bacon is. It seems like it should be the mascot for 2012. Hasn't that greasy mass of artery clogging fat been around since the *dawn of time (or at the bare minimum since people were hiking through the prairies in covered wagons--)?

I'm not a huge fan of bacon myself, but the thought of eating bacon flavored anything just makes my stomach rumble--and not in a good way. Yet, everywhere I look there is something about bacon. Equating it to money, baking with it, creating huge artistic creations around it--it's crazy. Could someone explain this to me?

As for editing... ummm... I should be doing that. I've got first round edits done and just have to finish making the corrections, but I keep putting it off. I know, I'm a bad, bad, writer. I'll be better about that too.

What have you been putting off recently that you should be doing? What are your thoughts on bacon?

R.S.

* Now, in all fairness I didn't actually research when bacon was invented, so no snarling or biting at my inaccurate timeline. :)