So, I was in the newspaper office...

Today I hung around the local newspaper office.  It's really fun in there, and I'm just kind of watching over everybody's shoulders and learning what goes into creating a newspaper.  And...they have a whole bunch of cabinets with bound editions of newspapers over the years, and I got to look at the 1944 edition!  It was so awesome!  I barely scratched the surface (only going from January through early March '44) but it was so cool!  The pages are yellowing and crackling, so I was extremely careful.  I mentally kicked myself so many times for not bringing a camera, or I would have had loads to show you guys!  Next time I'll bring one.

Anyway, here are a few clips of ads and things that I wrote down:

An ad for women's shoes saying, "Not rationed!"

"Toilet paper: 3 rolls for 19 cents!"  That one cracked me up.

This bit was in the column about our service men and women.  A young man wrote to his folks back home (in our local town) and this was at the end of his letter: "I hope you will have a big Christmas over there, but I guess it will be just another day for us over here.  Send me some candy and peanuts if you can get them[...]and don't worry about me."  

I also saw in a service column a notification of a local couple's son who was a casualty.  He was only twenty years, and my eyes started stinging when I read the announcement.  

I also saw an obituary for a lady who was 85 years old: "...survived by 5 sons, 2 daughters, 16 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren."  Can you imagine???

I saw an ad that made me smile: "Six novels added to City Library."  I guess they were the newest bestsellers.  

Another ad offered free pick-up for dead and crippled animals: "Our army needs the vital material they contain for munitions."  

"Buy bonds.  Let's be soldiers at home!"

"Local soldier in Italy nursed back to health by [our county's name] girl!"  That was a really neat story.  A soldier, who was progressing worse in his condition, in Italy met a nurse and discovered they were both from the same hometown here in Texas.

Then I saw a column about a soldier from my community [a tiny community no one has really heard of] who was honored twice with the silver star!

"This is 1944!  What will you do to make it the victory year?"

Anyway, that was my little journey into the past today, and I saw a lot more stuff like that.  I had a lot of fun, and the newspaper office is awesome!  They have an old typewriter sitting on the table and vintage cameras and film in the window!  Go on, be jealous...  Well, that is, unless you're really not. 

And in that light, I will bid you so long.

-Editor

Update on Magazines

So far I've gotten two rejection letters from the three I've submitted to...  I'm still waiting to hear back from the final one, so I've got my fingers crossed.  If they reject that too, I'll just have to keep trying.

Cheers.

Lit Magazines

So, I've submitted some of my work to three Literary Magazines--Goblin Fruit, Jabberwocky, and Ideomancer--and I'm eagerly awaiting their reply.  It's a high hope, but I really would like to get some stuff in print, and lit magazines seem like the place to start.  The only things I've ever published are in the local newspaper, so I'm really excited about this.  Hopefully I'll receive a reply soon!

I'll let you all know what the outcome is!

-Editor

Musical Theatre!

I dream of being on Broadway.  I don't care if I'm in the ensemble, or don't have any lines, I just want to be on Broadway!  And then, someday, I'll have a major role (hopefully) and I'll perform it in front of thousands of people...  And then I'll go on to the West End!  And live in London for a while...

Ah, if only.  Right now, I'm stuck somewhere that doesn't have any opportunities for me to act in musical theatre.  And no matter how much I want to, I just can't audition for a musical.  But it's like an urge that I cannot ignore and it's driving me crazy!

I recently went to San Antonio with my bestie, and we went to The Majestic Theatre downtown and saw Billy Elliot!  It just stopped its run on Broadway and is on tour, and I just had to go see it!  We had so much fun, and the musical was simply amazing!  It was really incredible and it is now my (new) favorite musical!  But it is hard to explain to someone who has never heard of it, and once you do try and explain it to them ("...Oh, yeah, it's about this boy living in NE England who ditches boxing for dance during the big miner's strike of the 1980s...") you lose an enthusiast.  But once you see it, it's really quite unbelievable!  The dancing is amazing!  And the cast is really talented!

I am so glad I went, and I had so much fun with my bestie!  We had a great time.  And now I really, really want to be in another musical!  I had such a blast!  I now have my playbill tacked up to my wall.

So...that's how we spent our weekend.  Go on, be jealous...  Unless you have no desire to see a Broadway musical, or Billy Elliot, or haven't heard of it at all...in which case, you don't know how much you're missing out.

-Editor