This was our motto from The Op. Ed. Project. The goal was to send out our pieces to a state or national news organization. So I did. I chose CNN. A week later they contacted me…they want to use my piece. Holy moly! Holy moly! How many times am I allowed to say that? Holy moly! This was over a week ago and it seemed like it was going to happen fast. I got a little excited and, um….told some people.
But….well, news is fickle. There are things like Libya…people finding their voices all over the world. And then there are a few earthquakes in places where earthquakes aren’t supposed to happen and….and…and….oh well.
So the editor calls me again and has just “a few things for me to do. Ten minutes tops. Can you do it? You dont’ have a life, do you?” How do I tell a SERIOUS news person I have to take my 10 year old to violin practice 5 minutes ago and that my son is 2 hours over his screen time limit because I wanted to tweak another paragraph while doing laundry, filling out school forms, and paying bills online?
I didn’t. I said, “Sure!” and started to sweat and hastily shoved my violin player off on another mom while frantically searching for River Monsters and Dicovery Channel Shark Week re-runs.
The waiting game is on to see if what I have is indeed up to snuff. And I am here to tell you that what you read on CNN is no joke. Every statement I made that wasn’t personal to my own experiences had to be checked once and twice and three times. I did this, but they wanted more. So, I respect their reputation and strive to live up to it or my voice will not be heard through them or anyone else.
Pat, the editor, is likely cleaning up after the earthquake and not sweating my small stuff. And I am checking the number of hours available on Shark Week.
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