I hit send and haven’t heard back: my e-mail to local columnist

On Sunday, I ripped through the morning’s paper. Looking for news. Hockey news. Because Saturday had been a big day in Minnesota hockey. And I wanted to read about it.

But I couldn’t. Because no one wrote about it.

There was one measly reference to HDM2012 in the Wild’s recap. But nothing significant.

So, I took matters into my own hands. Or so I’d like to think. And expressed my freedom of speech; my opinion on the lack of hockey coverage.

Here is the real letter I e-mailed to a local columnist on Sunday evening. I have yet to hear back from him. Do you think my e-mail warrants a response?

________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sports Columnist,

Though I’m of the Facebook, iPhone, and online news generation, I am a loyal ink-on-my-fingers newspaper reader. More specifically, as a Minnesota hockey supporter and fan, I thoroughly enjoy soaking in the sports section every high school, college, and NHL season.

Not only do I read the game highlights and stats, information necessary for any sports fan, I ponder the prose and poetry found in the family-friendly stories of real hockey kids, moms, dads, coaches, teammates, and fans. Stories that Minnesotans live and breathe.

Sadly, the day after a heart-warming Hockey Day Minnesota, I opened my Pioneer Press to find no such stories. No anecdotes about Jack Jablonski. No  photos of ice rinks and rink rats captured by photojournalists. No sentimental or thought-provoking words written for readers to absorb.

Was Hockey Day Minnesota 2012 not newsworthy?

Are the people and places of Minnesota hockey not deserving of articles and word counts?

If a story as big as the 130-some thousand dollars raised for the Jack Jablonski fund doesn’t make the cut, what other hockey stories will the Pioneer Press overlook and ignore?

Sports writers and journalists, like yourself, talk about traditions and legacies. But traditions must be passed on. And I believe that your position and platform in Minnesota is a mighty place to share those stories of tradition and sportsmanship to the hockey kids, moms, dads, coaches, teammates, and fans. Stories that they, that we, as Minnesotans, can relate to.

Patiently waiting real Minnesota hockey stories,

Megan Nyberg

Sent from my iPhone

French Fry Friday: Study Hour

universitychic.com

By now, everyone is back. Back to the daily grind. Back to books, bus stops, cafeteria food, 30+ page syllabi, and studying.

Studying the basics – math, reading, writing, science, social studies.

Studying the specifics – organic chemistry, abnormal psychology, microeconomics, Renaissance art, linear algebra.

Studying at the kitchen table, in a den, on a couch, at a friend’s house, in the Suburban, at a desk.

Stressed out with assignments and looming tests, kids of all ages are looking at the year before them wondering if it will ever end.

When your life is forced to revolve around homework, papers, tests, and projects, studying seems like the only thing to do. Mainly because it is the only thing you can do. Especially in college.

Those were the days – the nights – of endless reading, writing, studying. The marathon weeks of non-stop studying. Just for one test. That sleepy look plastered to your face 24/7. So exhausted that everything someone said was funny. Because everything at 2 am is funny when you have to wake up at 5 am. Period.

Sitting uncomfortably, hunched over in desk chairs that came with the “fully furnished” room. Desks built without ergonomics in mind. Bunk beds too close to the ceiling. Hard floors that no rug could soften. Futons and couches slipcovered and accented with pillows. Doors that opened and slammed welcoming friends and roommates at all hours of the day.

Studying. Wherever you study, enjoy it. Because one day, it really will be over. And you’ll wonder why you stressed in the first place. But you’ll be glad you spent the time in study hour. Because it pays off.

To all you students – have a French Fry Friday Study Hour kind of day!

the problem with bookstores these days

Books, like newspapers, are how I enjoy reading.

I don’t own an e-reader. I am clueless when it comes to apps and iPads. Yes, I know how to read words from a screen. I do it all day long at work and home.

So, going digital in my reading would not necessarily be difficult.

It’s just. I crave the tangible. The sensory experience of book reading. Visually captivating, curiosity piquing book covers stamped with well-known and first-discovery authors. The smell of the paper, manufactured and sweet, as you turn it page-by-page. The feel of the pages – smooth and silky. The crinkles and whooses of the paper as you delve into the plot and cheer on the protagonist. The weight of the book as it rests on your lap, the way it wants to snap shut before your very eyes, as your arms and hands strive to keep the story open.

Going digital would definitely be difficult for this reader.

Because I love collecting and accomplishing story after story. Learning and loving characters and places I can only dream of visiting. Voices of authors flitting about in my head, bringing a smile to my face whenever I recollect on their genius lines and thought-provoking words.

So, because I will never go 100% digital when it comes to my reading, I adore bookstores.

Wait. That was a premature statement. Because I don’t adore the bookstores that actually exist.

And herein lies my problem with the modern bookstore.

It’s not a bookstore.

When books are crammed and jammed onto shelves, stifled behind novelty toys, CD’s and DVD’s, it is not a bookstore.

When coffee shops and cafes are the main attraction, it is not a bookstore.

When a worker does not greet or welcome, it is not a bookstore.

When teen science fiction and fantasy overrun every single area of the store, with the exact same cover art and titles, it is not a bookstore.

When diet books, cook books, and healthy living titles pop up on every shelf, it is not a bookstore.

And that’s the problem with bookstores these days.

They aren’t accessible. They are not a book-lovers paradise. They are a cheap, quick-stop-mega-store for everything remotely book-related cop-out of a bookstore. A mere imitation of what a true bookstore should look like.

As true as the sky is blue bookstore like The Shop Around the Corner (You’ve Got Mail 1998). Thirteen years ago, that movie hit theaters. I watched, wearing my jean-overalls and Doc Marten-type oxfords, as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks brilliantly played out Nora Ephron’s adaptation of the old-time movie, The Shop Around the Corner. And Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen Kelly, resonated with a part of my 12-year-old book-wormish-self. And it stuck.

Counted as my top-favorite movie, You’ve Got Mail opened my eyes to the wonder of small-town bookstores. Of local mom-and-pop shops that seek to deliver products of such high-quality, no one can compete with them.

Except for, like in the movie, the mega-bookstore. The store to eat all other stores out of house and home.

Today’s modern bookstore.

With the way the world is today, an even tougher book market (in every facet of the book business), will the tiny-hole-in-the-wall bookstores ever make a comeback? Will we ever be able to experience the beauty of tranquility as we search through neatly organized bookshelves in aesthetically pleasing stores owned and operated by people just as passionate about books as the patrons who browse them?

When will we realize that our need-to-have-it-now society is killing bookstores the way bookstores were meant to be?

Will there ever be a bookstore story that ends on a happy note?

Meg Ryan’s idyllic, feel-good-down-to-your-toes children’s bookstore movie-set was just that. A movie set. A figment of Nora Ephron’s imagination brought to life by Hollywood. Is that what it takes to get a book-lover’s bookstore? A movie script and Hollywood?

I fear it is.

Because bookstores today are not actually bookstores. And that’s a problem. The main problem with bookstores these days.

French Fry Friday: 90′s

igamestats.com

Sometimes I think back to simpler times. The 1990′s.

I smile. I laugh. I cringe.

When I realize those were good days. When I realize those were fun times. When I realize what I wore.

Today’s French Fry Friday is a tribute to the 90′s – to leggings, big glasses, and scrunchies.

Brands and trends we used to love (and wear):

Esprit. Guess. Gap. Z. Cavaricci. Jelly Shoes. Umbro soccer shorts. “Swishy” pants w/matching jackets. Oversized Nike/Adidas sweatshirts. Starter Jackets. Fubu. Structure. Jean bib overalls (from the Gap). Baggy jeans. Flannel shirts. Doc Martens. Stick-on earrings (ears, cheeks, etc.). Slap bracelets. Slip on shoes. Sneakers with Velcro. Leggings w/ white socks. BUM.

Things we watched with characters we loved:

Full House. Step By Step. Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. Sister, Sister. Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Home Improvement. Saved By the Bell. Nickelodeon – game shows, Clarissa Explains It All, Doug, The Rugrats, Hey Dude, Salute Your Shorts, ETC. Family Matters. California Dreams. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wishbone. Arthur. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Flintstones. The Jetsons.

Movies we paid to go see:

Home Alone (still a classic). The Addam’s Family. Hook. Beethoven. The Mighty Ducks. Free Willy. Mrs. Doubtfire. Rookie of the Year. The Sandlot (love it). The Little Rascals. Richie Rich. The Big Green. Heavyweights. It Takes Two. First Kid. Matilda. Air Bud. Space Jam. George of the Jungle. Jack Frost. Mighty Joe Young. The Parent Trap. The Baby-Sitters Club. Clueless.

Food we ate in the 90′s:

Koala Yummies. Gushers. Ringpops. Laffy Taffy. Surge. Bugles. Fruit by the Foot. Warheads. Push Pops. Pizza Rolls. Bubble Tape. Ritz Air Crisps. Lunchables. Pop Rocks. Shock Tarts.Fruity Pebbles. Frosted Flakes. Yo-J. Spaghetti-O’s.Dunkaroos. Hi-C. Fruit Roll-ups. Pizza Bagel Bites.

Things we had to have:

Giga Pets. Gack. Bouncy balls. Skip It. Tamagatchis. Super Soakers. Spirograph. Koosh ball. Pogs. Beanie Babies. Pokemon. Barbie. Power Rangers. G.I. Joe’s. Legos. Furby. Roller Blades. Monopoly. Candy Land. Connect Four. Ker-Plunk. Clue. Girl Talk. Jenga. Sorry. Pretty Pretty Princess. Life. Yikes Pencils. Lisa Frank. Caboodles. Lip Smackers. Super Nintendo. Huffy Bikes.

Books we read as kids:

Berenstein Bears. Where’s Waldo? Goosebumps. The Baby-Sitter’s Club. The Boxcar Children. Judy Blume Books. The Little House on the Prairie. Mercer Mayer books. Amelia Bedelia.

We said what?

Psych. As If. Don’t have a cow. Take a chill pill. Why don’t you marry it. Talk to the hand. Phat. Dawg. NOT (at the end of a sentence). Whack. Whatever. Whoa. Say what? Fine then, be like that. Smack. Don’t even go there. Cool your jets. Did I do that? (thanks to Urkel). How Rude (Stephanie Tanner). Whoop there it is. True that. Off the hook. Oh Snap.

Music we listened to on the radio, Walkman’s, and Boomboxes:

Spice Girls. Ace of Base. Backstreet Boys. ‘N Sync. Hanson. Celine Dion. Ricky Martin. Smash Mouth. Mambo No. 5. Chumbawumba. Hold On – Wilson Phillips. Sugar Ray. House of Pain – Jump Around. TLC. EMF – Unbelievable. Mariah Carey. Cher – Believe. The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 miles). Deana Carter – Strawberry Wine. Trisha Yearwood. Jo Dee Messina. Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart. Dixie Chicks – There’s Your Trouble.

The 90′s. Love it. Hate it. I don’t care.

But everything mentioned in this post – made you smile.

Have a French Fry Friday 1990′s kind of day!