tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post4479690323247822851..comments2023-07-04T03:16:31.036-07:00Comments on Lawson Valley Confidential: A Response to Raftery's Far East EditorialLawson Valley Confidentialhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335273840381507724noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-64750566067532420642013-03-26T10:05:00.669-07:002013-03-26T10:05:00.669-07:00Just saw this - were you able to get your comments...Just saw this - were you able to get your comments posted on our site? Sometimes the spam filter catches real people. Rest assured that we have allowed a robust debate on this story (as on all stories) including views that were critical of ECM, as well as those that were supportive. If anyone posts a comment that doesn't appear on any story, email editor@eastcountymagazine.org. Miriam Rafteryhttp://www.eastcountymagazine.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-1577309609303641792012-12-08T22:41:37.670-08:002012-12-08T22:41:37.670-08:00I think that the comment which was the most tellin...I think that the comment which was the most telling in the ECM review was: "I’ve lived in East County for over 50 years and this is not the East County that I know," It was very early and seems to be so entirely the wrong way to approach an anthology. For one, fifty years is quite a long time, a lot longer than many of the contributors have been living. To some, stories about grandchildren or going to the five and dime or camping in the Cuyamacas would be just as foreign. The project didn't seem to be about 'providing a positive and endearing picture of East County to promote tourism' so much as a venue for East County residents to relate their encounters with the region. I have an essay (as opposed to a poem) about a driveby shooting outside a kitchen staff Christmas party in Spring Valley that I completely forgot to submit, and is just as valid a representation of the area because that is where it happened. I know, because I was there.<br /><br />Though, I think Ms. Raftery is slightly at a disadvantage in how she judged the anthology, coming from a journalistic perspective. Editing a literary magazine or anthology is quite different from a newspaper. Literary publications don't have quotas for 'home' and 'sports' and 'classifieds.' For this project they likely weren't thinking "We need to fill up that space with something uplifting about gardening." They had (I'm only assuming, not being a part of the editing) their criteria to consider something East County enough, and then looked for the best they could find. The reason a lot of literary journals are so eclectic is because they have excellence as their main criteria, regardless of tone. Zebulonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14150884989715466896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-70874710826654610042012-12-04T21:11:41.614-08:002012-12-04T21:11:41.614-08:00"The Far East" contains a great deal of ..."The Far East" contains a great deal of brilliant writing. Several of the brief fictions are powerful pieces. Several of the contributors are award-winning writers. Who would have thught there were so many powerful writers to have come out of East County? There are lyrical pieces about the East County back country but much of the work, especially the fiction, is gritty, urban, unprettified contemporary American fiction. And the package is handsome & beautifully designed. I thought the photography and paintings were very strong, some of it gorgeous. In all, a terrific collection by East County writers and artists. What a nice project honoring the talent in our communities!Steve Kowithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612347328949498522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-2841234224905575712012-12-04T18:08:41.611-08:002012-12-04T18:08:41.611-08:00I get what you're saying, whoever you are. I g...I get what you're saying, whoever you are. I got trapped in a too rapid response. So, for that I'm sorry. I'd delete that last line if I could. AJ Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02765836513403665199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-11010498965779097482012-12-04T17:01:15.890-08:002012-12-04T17:01:15.890-08:00@AJ HAyes: "Sometimes there is more beauty in...@AJ HAyes: "Sometimes there is more beauty in a single human life than in four thousand acres of scrub brush." Ugh, what drivel. The fact that people put down "scrub brush" in this way is exactly the reason we have an ecological crisis. Stop dissing nature, or you'll quickly find that ecological catastrophe has extinguished innumerable copies of that supposedly all-important "single human life." Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-88754364676432037482012-12-04T14:56:01.392-08:002012-12-04T14:56:01.392-08:00So, the affection and admiration I feel for Juan a...So, the affection and admiration I feel for Juan and Javier in my poem Both Our Flags Got Eagles On Them is, to you, disrespectful of cultures? <br />So, the tragedy of that beautiful mom and her son and the choices she is forced to make to support him in Hooker On The Court make them ugly? <br />Or did you even bother to listen to or read either of those pieces? <br />I am sorry that you're offended by them but I will never apologize for them.<br />Sometimes there is more beauty in a single human life than in four thousand acres of scrub brush.<br />AJ Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02765836513403665199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-19575630145229693992012-12-04T14:50:34.401-08:002012-12-04T14:50:34.401-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.AJ Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02765836513403665199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-23064036043257559872012-12-04T13:14:28.815-08:002012-12-04T13:14:28.815-08:00"You got me on the phony deer; I didn't k..."You got me on the phony deer; I didn't know it was a fake under that snow. Though that makes it worse in a way; they didn't have any real wildlife except a squirrel"<br /><br />There was also a snake eating a lizard.<br /><br />Mattnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498896807194840313.post-10304259523084031192012-12-04T02:32:05.731-08:002012-12-04T02:32:05.731-08:00Leslie - We DID post what you sent us before the c...Leslie - We DID post what you sent us before the contest to encourage people to enter,back in September: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/11148. I also mentioned it in our newsletter to our subscribers. What more could you expect? We have 150,000 readers. Stories scroll off the homepage quickly so you're right, a small ad on the top might have reached more people for minimal cost to the project sponsors.<br /><br />Several have commented that there are some nature photos on the project website. That's true, but they are not in the book, and it's the BOOK that I reviewed. It still bothers me greatly to see such a skewed view of our region in a print book purporting to show the "soul" of East County.<br /><br />This project is to include displays at El Cajon and La Mesa Centennials. I wonder how those cities will feel when they see how they were portrayed? <br /><br />There IS a journalism component to the project; they even had a story published on Huffington Post. Justin writes for CityBeat, I've been told. Besides the public entries they did ask professional poets to write poetry, so it wouldn't have been a stretch to ask professional photographers or artists to supplement whatever the public sent in. Journalists familiar with East County could also have suggested people with interesting stories to tell who were left out, such as tribal elders.<br /><br />You got me on the phony deer; I didn't know it was a fake under that snow. Though that makes it worse in a way; they didn't have any real wildlife except a squirrel. <br /><br />Some people do see humor in the book, but to me it isn't funny to ridicule a region and its people. Highlighting mostly negative stereotypes of East County to me is as bad as telling racist or sexist jokes; as editor of East County Magazine I hear all the time from people how sick they are of San Diegans treating East County residents with disrespect. This just seems to be an extension of that, though you're free to disagree of course.<br /><br />We've asked our webmaster to help you post on the site; our spam filter is being over zealous. If anyone else has that problem, let us know.<br /><br />MiriamMiriam Rafteryhttp://www.eastcountymagazine.orgnoreply@blogger.com