As part of my 'try to trick someone into hiring me' campaign, I've been doing the slightest bit of freelance for the Limerick Leader. They were gracious enough to put my rather blog-style opinion article on the front page of their features section, which was nice, so I figure why not share it with you fine people?
The article is here, and I'm chuffed to see that it's already on the 'most popular' stories pane (not that I reckon the traffic is very high on their site) - so feel free to click through and send it up the chart!
Comments of course, are appreciated - either here or there (no registration required on mine however!). Feel free to have a go at my naivety if you'd like. I know I would.
Friday, August 01, 2008
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6 comments:
You Sold Out Man!
...But Its something I wouldn't expect nor need to read in a newspaper.
I mean,Its not exactly news,is it?
You could write about gigs in these music venues that Limerick is "riddled" with.
That would be news.Unfortunately you may have to suffer some awful,awful bands.
Also I don't think "Stab City" is a moniker.
I'm not sure about the blog style of writing either.
What struck me in particular was the little rant you went on about Limerick Bloggers,the "take up our torches and pitchforks" bit.
Thanks for the comments Eoghan, which I'll address in order
I don't think I'm selling out, because I'm not altering my opinion for money. I was told to consider being a little more gentle on the organisations I mentioned, and responded by elaborating on how they fail the city in such an elementary manner.
You're right, it's not news, it's a feature article about the city in which the paper is based, making it relevant. I could write about gigs in the music venues, and I've contemplated doing it as part of my efforts to bolster my portfolio, but I consider myself unqualified for such an endeavour (if you want to do it I'll pass on the contact details for who to get in touch with).
I don't think that 'Stab City' is technically a moniker in the strictest sense of the word, but I'm still happy to use it in the way I did.
You're right to describe the writing as 'blog style', in that there's a certain amount of my personality in it, but it's an opinion article, so I figured why not enjoy myself? The 'rant' near the start of the piece was an attempt to grab the reader's attention. I'm trying to get my name out there, so I see no harm in having fun with my writing before getting down to business.
Excellent article, Sully.
It's very easy to moralise about this cultural/social problem and to spout glib generalisations, but you didn't at all. You suggested some well-thought-out, timely, and realistic steps to alleviate the stigma surrounding Limerick and its unfortunate moniker.
Also, you neatly eviscerated those absurd punitive measures and provided a more positive, more realistic, and more beneficial approach.
To Strange-young-man, I think you may have missed much of the point of the article. It is certainly newsworthy - it's extremely salient, and Sully responded to specific new ideas about combating the negative connotations associated with Limerick City; he rightly rejects these misguided ideas and makes timely suggestions on how to capitalise on the unique opportunities provided by the Internet, specifically Youtube, and generally by the information age in which we live. Now is the time to make a difference. Limerick truly does have an awful image, and it is all too easy to just shrug in habituated apathy and say "it's not newsworthy". The gigs can wait.
Fair play, Sully.
J.
Well Jay-Jigga,We've had this out and I think that raising these issues again was a little shallow.A cheap Shot.
Also,Sully the Sell-out Part was entirely toungue in cheek.I figured you would've gotten it.
I still don't think theres a point to the article.
And don't get we wrong Sul,I think it s great you're being published,I just think you're wasting your time saying what doesn't need to be said.
Hey.
Until a few hours ago, I did not realise you had publicly posted your criticisms on Sully's blog; I thought you had just mentioned it to me. Had that been the case, I wouldn't have brought it up again.
I responded here not to attack you, but to respond to a criticism that I believe has no merit. It was hardly a cheap shot - by any stretch of the imagination.
If you wrote a great article and Sully publicly criticised it, I would have done the exact same thing.
J
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