the author's response

Hey lucky readers. I am all about transparency. So you can read my emails! From a defensive journalist...yawn. 


One thing that no longer surprises me is the quickness of reply you get from journalists. They either a. have no life or b. love getting mail. 


Here is the response I got from my Dessa letter minutes after I emailed him:


You should read the Artist of the Year package in yesterday's newspaper, for which Dessa was a runnerup -- and not to mention all the earlier things i've written on her (I think she'd count me among her earliest supporters) -- and then get back to me.

Her wardrobe change at the Blowout was significant and noteworthy: it symbolized the switch from her harder-edged hip-hop to the jazzier more songwriterly material on her album. I know she'd agree it was a noteworthy thing, or she wouldn't have gone through the unenviable task of changing clothes in First Ave's puny, musty backstage area.

Thanks for the comments, and for reading us ... there's a lot more to read on Dessa, though.


And a few minutes later: 


Also, the thing that ran in vita.mn was a shorter, edited version of a review I wrote online, which had more detail.


Ok. So. 
1. Any previous and future writings he does on Dessa negates anything questionable he writes in the present.
2. No, I did not remind him of previous critique he got. 
3. This sort of response is so typical of the privileged getting called out. Instead of engaging with me and discussing the many things I brought up, he shoved his latest article in my face as a way to signal he is ok. Look! I wrote about Dessa again. Thus, I am awesome and not sexist. 
4. Readers are not expected to make judgement about an article by reading everything else a journalist has written. That's like me asking my professor to read my previous work in case she doesn't like the way I write this month. Look! I am so much better when I write in the spring!  I am not sure how reading more about Dessa will absolve my query. Reading more of his writing about Dessa? Or just anything about Dessa? I am confused. 


Overall, I was not shocked by his defensive response. Especially when I had another writer's response to compare it to. Ok, full disclosure: in my feminist rage blackout, I sent the letter to a writer at the wrong publication (I know, I know). But she was very cool. Although she figured out I messed up, she took the time to explain that she was a feminist and took that sort of critique very seriously. She then went on to explain that her coverage could have been better. And I wasn't even talking about her writing! 


In summary, women journalists are better at emailing me.