In the spirit of rejection from life, dating, careers, freelance pitches and job openings that this blog is very much full of, I present to you a Rejected Letter to the Editor by Jonathan Cribbs, proprieter of Cribbster [link fixed], and former editor in chief of The Diamondback.
This represents his only swing-and-a-miss for letters to the editor. Two previous letters of his have appeared in The Washington Post — one disputing a Sally Quinn column about DC partying and one taking issue with a Tom Shales column about criticizing the performance of Will Ferrell, John C. Reilley and Jack Black at the Oscars — and one in the Miami Herald defending the ProPublica model of journalism (Read his previous letters here).
J. Edward Cribbs will devastate your newspaper with his letters if you dare run them
Rejected from the AJC:
Someone over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution owes me $7.I clicked on the headline “Suspected ‘rolling meth lab’ busted near Powder Springs” online today with a mix of fascination and excitement.“Rolling meth lab?” I thought.“Drugs dealers are going mobile with meth labs now? I’m certainly clicking on this headline as it is sure to be a tremendous read.”After I finished the story, I realized the AJC had duped me again, sucked me in with a sensational headline that essentially had no basis in fact. Police said in the story they had no idea whether the people in the truck were actually cooking meth in the truck or simply moving it to an undisclosed location. No one in the story said they suspected it was a “rolling” meth lab. So, instead of reading about the glories of progressive methamphetamine production, I was tricked into reading a mere brief about three junkies who were simply hauling around a bunch of buckets and chemicals.I spent $7 on a bowl of chicken teriyaki and rice today, and your editorial carelessness dampened its flavor. Thanks, AJC. Thanks a ton.Jonathan Cribbs
xxx Newnan St.
Atlanta, GA
“Whether or not they were actually cooking [meth] inside the truck, or just transporting materials, remains to be seen,” Pierce said late Tuesday morning. He said investigators had not yet gone through the cab of the pickup.
Side note: the picture above was taken by this guy, probably the best photographer I know (sorry, Annie, maybe you should buy a pitcher more often when we’re out).
Inverted Soapbox 