I'm a liberal pagan living in West, Texas. Yes. That West, Texas.

Monday, May 04, 2009

E-MAIL TO THE DAM NEWS

(as much as I wanted to..the above message wasn't included with the email)

Dear Dallas Morning News,
Or as I call you on my blog when I write about something I have read there...DAM News. I am a subscriber from West, Texas. When I got my bill for this month and saw the $42 due I thought, oh they have made a mistake..I only pay one month at a time..If never occurred to me it was a rate increase, because I never received notification about an increase...TILL I GOT THE FECKING BILL. Excuse my caps and the fecking..But I'm ...well, I'm torn between feeling hurt, angry and betrayed...I haven't felt like this since my last boyfriend dumped me for a braces wearing 19 year old. (me being 45 at the time, I sorta took it personal)..which is how I'm taking this...personal..I have read the DAM News since 1976..Would have read it sooner, but I didn't live in Texas.
I've had home delivery since 1993 and for a short time couldn't afford the delivery but bought it as often as I could every day..What really pisses me off(please excuse the language but at 65 I have little need to impress anyone)
is not more than a month or so ago I had read in 'my DAM News' that another paper had gone under..I freaked.."Oh my, how terrible." I thought..."What if that happened to MY DAM News? That would be awful, I love my paper sooo much and just can't imagine life without getting up every morning and finding my DAM News on my porch. What would I do with out my DAM News".....gee...there I was worrying about losing the paper because they might go tits up...what I should have been worrying about is if my DAM News was thinking about me...Because once I started talking to 'DAM News folks' on the phone I began to see the ugly truth...You don't give a rats red 'butt' if I continue as a paying customer. I was told in a very polite and asskissing way...'.tough shit'...I was told I could get a discount but had to pay for the paper 3 months at a time..I'm a widow on social security $706 is what I get a month..I'm hard pressed to come up with the $20 every month as it is..but I do it...why?...I love my fecking DAM News. I quote the DAM News, I blog about it...my posts are DAM NEWS POST...Everyone knows what that means..the Dallas Morning (AM as in morning)Newspaper report aka yellowdoggranny style..Then they told me ..
'well..you can get just the weekend paper'.....Excuse the feck out of me???????????? what ...? Nothing happens m-f? What about during Football Season? the Friday spread, the Tuesday recap of the Monday game...????
I match wits with the sports casters every season against the spread..I have kicked their asses for the past 5 years them no picking buttorys....there goes a ritual of 15 years down the tubes..What about the crossword puzzles? I do 3 of them a day...I tried doing it on line..it sucks, it bites and it blows...Granted I can read the comics on line..but let me tell you ...that's not the same either..and did you even read your own comics?..did you read non sequitur today?...jeez, you guys are a piece of work..So after all this time...the one thing I look forward to each day(besides waking up) is gone..history..and not because I did anything wrong...I haven't been a bad ole board(well, I have but has NOTHING to do with me getting the paper.)
and being punished...nooooo, I'm being punished for being a loyal, faithful diligent reader for over 30 years...
You have done something that no one has done since the Dodgers left Brooklyn............you broke my fucking heart.

a friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself..jim morrison

jackiesue

21 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

anyone that would like to write to the editor of the dam news here is the address:
communityopinions@dallasnews.com
tell em ydg sent ya.hah

sageweb said...

I will write him..this letter is really good. It deserves front page.

Jan said...

Yes, let's besiege them with buttroy emails.

yellowdoggranny said...

sage:thanks .....a lot..
yeah, jan..sign the emails a buttroy fan of ydg's..hahahah

yellowdoggranny said...

or better yet...write it to dear buttroy:
now that's funny..ha

billy pilgrim said...

why not organize a boycott of buttroy's rag?

PENolan said...

JackieSue - did you just post your own dang phone number on the internet?????

Mouthy Girl said...

Hrumph.

Fuck the DAM News. I hate those buttroys. They should PAY YOU to write a weekly column. What in the hell? This is a travesty.

I understand the whole economy sucking thing. I get it. I'm living it. My local paper now prints only SIX days a week. "You can see the news online." What the hell? What happened to feeling the pages, smelling the ink, and snapping then folding the paper back so you don't have to hold your arms out like a freaking swan in full span?

I am so damn sorry and am attempting to make myself find some modicum of patience until I see some sort of reply from the editor. If he doesn't reply, you are to let me know. I will have my students write to him. How would you like to be an editor and have 78 middle schools emailing you about how their adopted granny can't read her damn newspaper?

TheWayfarer said...

I think that editor would like my e-mail a lot less...
FORTY-TWO FUCKING DOLLARS A MONTH FOR A FISH-WRAP!!!???
It would be a short email, centered on two words, the second of which is "you" and the first rhymes with "suck". And the horse you rode in on...(you get the point).
That's insane, so the temptation to add something like "You and WW2 have something in common...You're both history!" would be overwhelming.

Sue said...

Done! I told them to give you the DAM newspaper already!

Mouthy Girl said...

You know what? Did you think to ask if they had "scholarships" for the newspapers? We have a program like that with my local paper.

People can help out in two ways:
1. Donate money to help people AND teachers get subscriptions for free.

2. Donate weeks that they'll be out of town rather than holding off while they're out or having the papers become a vast wasteland of crap in the front yard while they're out of town.

It's worth a try! Ask 'em!

yellowdoggranny said...

billy:nah, i love the paper to much to boycott them..don't want things to go any worse for them then already.
pen:oh yeah, i think everyone that reads me has my phone number..address and directions to my house..i've put it up here before...i have about 6 or more of my on line buddies that have my number and call me..
buddha:yup..there you go..have all of them write a letter to the editor.
"we want the paper for aunt grandma."..hahahah
ted:hey, i love my DAM News..that's why i take it instead of the real local paper the waco tribune-herald..puppies wont pee on it.
sue:u the girl!...thanks so much..
buddha:i think it's more the distance then anything..im sure if i lived inside the city limits of dallas it would be different, but im 78 miles away..long way to go to deliver..

Heidi said...

Is there any way you can get the paper "secondhand" (e.g., a recycling bin, a neighbor, etc.?)

Anne Johnson said...

Don't worry, Granny. You can get all your Dallas Cowboys news from me. I'll open a whole new blog about the 'boys. Can't promise it will be fair and impartial the way newspapers are....

themom said...

Thanks so much for stopping by my site. Our local papers did the same thing several months ago...and I have been relegated to getting my news online. Which means, my butt never gets very far from this computer. It's a sad commentary on our times. Come back again soon!!

Nan said...

It's a death spiral the corporations started years ago -- papers were profitable, doing better than most industries, but it wasn't enough of a profit for the greedheads -- so they started making cuts and trying to turn every paper in the country into USA Today (minimal content and aimed at 10-year-olds). So fewer people bought the papers. So they cut some more. And then the internet came along and advertisers started abandoning them. There are things they could do to reverse the trend, but when the papers are run by boards of directors that are just interested in selling off assets to make money this week, it's not going to happen. Pretty soon the only print papers we'll be seeing are the small town ones that just publish one or two days per week.

Sling said...

I'm firing off an e-mail,even as we speak!
The DAM news should be keeping you on salary for all the free publicity you give them.

Rox said...

JackieSue, I've said it before but girl, you've got spunk! When I read this email yesterday, I howled because girl, you just say what you need to say! I love that about you! I hope they send you a free subscription. Better yet, they should hire you as a columnist.

more cowbell said...

Listen girl, that was a kickass letter, and I can't wait to hear if you get a response, but get your name, number and address off the damn Internets! Telemarketers, Mormons, vacuum salesmen and serial killers could show up any minute!

yellowdoggranny said...

heidi:nope...there aren't that many people that take the DAM news..or get it delivered.
anne:yeah, like im going to get cowboy news from an squeakle fan..
themom:thank Goddess for my little west news..but that's the thing...it's only west..news..ha..will be back..you stop by too...it gets pretty interesting around here.
nan:you hit the nail right on the head..did you read non sequitur monday?...cracked me up.
sling:i bet there are more people in different parts of the world, including italy and canada,and australia, and england that know about the DAM News than any other texas paper..
rosemary:yeah, got the email...too much...way too much..
rox:dont think there is much chance of that..i'd be surprised if they even respond..
more cowboy..ok...i'll take it off...you guys worry too much..haha

yellowdoggranny said...

i just reread that last one..should be morecowbell..but so used to writing cowboy...hahaha