Why I Will Never Be a Journalist
If you read Ragtime, you may have noticed a rather long article in today's Prince about a rise in arrests for public urination at Princeton. If you were an inquisitive sort, you may have wondered: how exactly does a hard-hitting journalist/reporter go about finding sources for a piece on public urination? Does he catch people en flagrante? Or does he just send an email around, hoping for something/someone to bite?
Well, now we know: he sends an email out. In this email, he includes gem-like questions such as "Have you ahd [sic] any personal experiences with public urination?"
Um, yes, I have. And usually it involves peeing directly on Prince reporters.
After the jump: the email in full. It will blow your mind and make you extremely happy that you never joined your college daily.
Hi [name redacted],
I'm writing an article on Princeton Borough's crackdown on public urination. I know you have a lot on your mind now as far as the borough is concerned, but I was hoping you'd be able to answer these questions:
- What do you do at [redacted] and the other eating clubs to make sure people don't urinate publicly?
- Has the crackdown on public urination affected you or your club?
- Have you ahd any personal experiences with public urination?
We're on a pretty fast cycle, so we never have much time for these articles. If you get this email in the next few hours and you're willing to help out, do you think you could answer it or give me a call?
I will have to hand in my article at 8.
Thanks a lot.
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October 15th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
So what? I mean the picture of the sign is hilarious but why is this supposed to blow my mind? You know, the real reason you will never be a Journalist, Savage, is because you live-and-die in the tipster mailbox. How about hitting the streets and digging up info on what we all REALLY care around here, an update on Vaynor for christsakes!
October 15th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
if you really care so much about “vaynor,” you could
1) find him yourself
2) spell his name correctly
October 15th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
i forgot how funny typos are for some people around eher.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
y96…so that should make you…around 34, right? and you’re still reading blogs on the ivy league? at 3 in the afternoon?
October 15th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
@ y’96: You’ve been out of school for ELEVEN years at this point, and yet you’ve found nothing better to do than read a story that got old eight months ago. Savage, write a story about y’96, the 33 year old never-was who is the geriatric of ivygate and waxes poetic on the “good times” he never had at yale because he sucks - if he did, in fact, go to yale.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I mean the story says 103 summons for public urination just this year…thats a lot
October 15th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
This is pretty standard stuff for a college daily — which might be your point, but zzzzzzzzzzzzz…
October 15th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
@steve-o: It’s safe to assume you’re so hostile because you know that you too will probably end up being ~30 festering in a small office, right? I mean, yeah, it’s pathetic, but wow, do you have any idea how constipated you sound?
October 15th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
That article was amazing. Very well written, researched, and quite interesting. Hats off to Mendy Fisch, the author.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Thanks mom!
October 15th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I’d like to think the women’s studies department would soon be all over denouncing this sign and demanding more inclusive ones that forbid she-pee as well.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Give the kid a break. He’s a freshman who asked a question that was a bit out of line and certainly something that I (assuming I were Scharf, the fucker who forwarded this to you) would not answer but would not have sent as a tip to a mediocre snarkblog.
Typos are typos and they happen all the time. In fact, they are FAR more common in the pages of the Nass than they are in the Prince. If this were truly an unbiased blog on the Ivy League, it would take a look at how the Nass fell from David Remnick’s brilliance into the shitrag it is today. Even the Verbatims suck. Yeah there’s a niche readership, but it consists primarily of the Nass staff and its unwashed Terrace/Ivy hangers on.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
@ joec1324: I know EXACTLY how constipated i sound.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:12 am
to the author- you are very good at making people’s day!! its not just being chased by dogs and ‘awkward hugs’….miss you!! i think you would make an excellant journalist, actually.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Yes, I am the “fucker” who forwarded this to Ivygate. Why does that make me a “fucker”? I don’t have a problem with the way Mendy handled this article, his final copy was hilarious. I think the fact that the Prince considered a bunch of people peeing in public in the Borough (a vast majority of the incidents in question were off campus) to be newsworthy is simply ridiculous.
Eating club presidents are being rounded up, and the Prince is worried about drunk townies pissing by Ivy Inn?
October 16th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Will, what this amounts to is that the prince has NOTHING to write about. In my opinion, they should just print a Street section five days a week stick to what it is best at reporting on: Recollections of shady encounters at terrace (http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/09/27/arts/18711.shtml) and dorm rooms modelled after the bedrooms of mistresses of german philosophers (http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/09/27/arts/18720.shtml).
Next up, an entire issue on why b zeppos’s room screams Hannah Arendt.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:04 am
@ kit kat: There’s no denying that there’s a large contingent of people with poor hygiene at Terrace. They’re the heart and soul of the organization. But seriously, are there really that many “unwashed” people at Ivy these days?