Quotes and newspapers

Posted by Reyesuela on April 16, 2002 at 13:32:22:

In Reply to: An article about Robin Lee Hatcher that may surprise you posted by LLB on April 11, 2002 at 13:25:16:

Whatever you think of RLH's stance (and I'm divided, just so everyone knows I'm not a militant partisan of either camp), I've had some pretty nasty experiences with the press, myself, so I tend to sympathize with her defense of what she meant, and I REALLY wouldn't take the sex-addiction thing at face value.

Last year, I was planning on graduating early (until I tacked on a major), and because of my crazy schedule and huge number of activities, a friend of mine who worked for the college newspaper asked me if I'd be interested in having a human interest story done on me. I said, "Why not?"

Well, they sent out a freak of a girl in the middle of finals. She met me as I was coming back from my Span 444 final, and I looked AWFUL because when I shut of my alarm, I accidentally hit the "hour" button. I'd thought I was an hour late for my final, so I dashed down to take it in the sweats and T-shirt I'd word to sleep in, not even brushing my hair. (This is a rather typical stunt of mine--I've always been an airhead. ;-) )

So the interviewer started in on my course load (27 credits that semester, all upper-division courses in English, Spanish, mathematics, and physics) and asked many of the expected questions about my dancing and writing, but it went downhill VERY fast from there.

I'd explained what happened that day before the interview began, but she asked, "Do you always dress like that?" anyway. I said no, of course not, but I wear what I wear not to impress anybody but because I like it, and I dragged out a few of my favorite outfits--all fashionable and slightly skimpy without being trendy.

Then she started going really weird. "Do you ever go out?" (clearly expecting a 'no') I said, "I've gone out every single Friday this semester, and a good deal of the Saturdays, too. I have dance five days a week, so I don't do much partying then, but I go down to party in Indy once or twice a month in addition to my usual weekend activities."

"Do you have any friends?" she asked. Getting ticked, I said, "Yeah. Do you? I have a boyfriend of more than a year and friends here, from my extracurricular activities, and from my old dorm and classes." (Hello?)

"So, why's your hair like that?" (It was waist-length and thick.) "Because most people used to be wearing their short, and I want to be different. Plus it feels sexy to have really long hair, and I'm too lazy in the morning to spend half an hour on a hard-to-manage do. Now that more people have really long hair, though, I probably going to cut it and dye it red." (I did. ;-) )

Finally, at the end of the interview, I said, "You're trying to make me into some sort of super-studious freak, and it's not going to work. I'm insanely ambitious, yes, but when it comes to studying, I read everything really fast and thoroughly ONCE, and that's it for me. If you're trying to make it look like academics is my life, good luck, 'cuz you'll be lying, and I won't be too particularly thrilled if I see that int he newspaper."

Needless to say, she did not write the article.

The article was finally re-researched and written by my friend, who only put one quote out of context. She asked me, "What's the difference between you and other people who have ambitions like yours? How do you actually do it?" I said, "I’m sure almost everyone in the world has thought ‘Oh, I’d like to write a novel,’ but I have actually sat down and done it." Then I went on to say that there's a big difference between wanting something and doing something, and that's the only thing that seperated me from folks who have regular classloads and few activities. In the article, the quote was put in in isolation, making me sound much more breezily arrogant than it was intended, but other than that, she did a great job.

However, I can easily imagine what the article would have been like if the first girl had written it, no matter how carefully I sidestepped her leading questions!

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: Whatever you think of RLH's stance (and I'm divided, just so everyone knows I'm not a militant partisan of either camp), I've had some pretty nasty experiences with the press, myself, so I tend to sympathize with her defense of what she meant, and I REALLY wouldn't take the sex-addiction thing at face value. : : Last year, I was planning on graduating early (until I tacked on a major), and because of my crazy schedule and huge number of activities, a friend of mine who worked for the college newspaper asked me if I'd be interested in having a human interest story done on me. I said, "Why not?" : Well, they sent out a freak of a girl in the middle of finals. She met me as I was coming back from my Span 444 final, and I looked AWFUL because when I shut of my alarm, I accidentally hit the "hour" button. I'd thought I was an hour late for my final, so I dashed down to take it in the sweats and T-shirt I'd word to sleep in, not even brushing my hair. (This is a rather typical stunt of mine--I've always been an airhead. ;-) ) : So the interviewer started in on my course load (27 credits that semester, all upper-division courses in English, Spanish, mathematics, and physics) and asked many of the expected questions about my dancing and writing, but it went downhill VERY fast from there. : I'd explained what happened that day before the interview began, but she asked, "Do you always dress like that?" anyway. I said no, of course not, but I wear what I wear not to impress anybody but because I like it, and I dragged out a few of my favorite outfits--all fashionable and slightly skimpy without being trendy. : Then she started going really weird. "Do you ever go out?" (clearly expecting a 'no') I said, "I've gone out every single Friday this semester, and a good deal of the Saturdays, too. I have dance five days a week, so I don't do much partying then, but I go down to party in Indy once or twice a month in addition to my usual weekend activities." : "Do you have any friends?" she asked. Getting ticked, I said, "Yeah. Do you? I have a boyfriend of more than a year and friends here, from my extracurricular activities, and from my old dorm and classes." (Hello?) : "So, why's your hair like that?" (It was waist-length and thick.) "Because most people used to be wearing their short, and I want to be different. Plus it feels sexy to have really long hair, and I'm too lazy in the morning to spend half an hour on a hard-to-manage do. Now that more people have really long hair, though, I probably going to cut it and dye it red." (I did. ;-) ) : Finally, at the end of the interview, I said, "You're trying to make me into some sort of super-studious freak, and it's not going to work. I'm insanely ambitious, yes, but when it comes to studying, I read everything really fast and thoroughly ONCE, and that's it for me. If you're trying to make it look like academics is my life, good luck, 'cuz you'll be lying, and I won't be too particularly thrilled if I see that int he newspaper." : Needless to say, she did not write the article. : The article was finally re-researched and written by my friend, who only put one quote out of context. She asked me, "What's the difference between you and other people who have ambitions like yours? How do you actually do it?" I said, "I’m sure almost everyone in the world has thought ‘Oh, I’d like to write a novel,’ but I have actually sat down and done it." Then I went on to say that there's a big difference between wanting something and doing something, and that's the only thing that seperated me from folks who have regular classloads and few activities. In the article, the quote was put in in isolation, making me sound much more breezily arrogant than it was intended, but other than that, she did a great job. : However, I can easily imagine what the article would have been like if the first girl had written it, no matter how carefully I sidestepped her leading questions!