Letters: Divorce insurance, technology, meaningful jobs
TEXT OF STORY
Tess Vigeland: From your calls to our inbox, mail lady and senior producer Deb Clark is here. Hey, it’s been a while.
Deb Clark: It has. Things have been piling up in mail land. I was all set to go last week, and then I lost my voice.
Vigeland: Yeah, you sounded like a 12-year-old boy going through puberty.
Clark: Thank you.
Vigeland: So given what we talked about a few minutes ago, how much did you spend trying to fight it?
Clark: Believe it or not, nothing. But that’s only because I’ve spent so much over time that I have shelves filled with every remedy known to man.
Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about you, or your interview with Nick Bilton.
Vigeland: The New York Times writer and author of the book “I Live in the Future and Here’s how it Works.”
Clark: Right, a lot of people like this one I think. And several people wrote in about this one, including Nancy Clemens from Roseville, Minn. She said she was concerned that face-to-face communication was becoming more difficult as so many spend time living in simulated worlds and techno-games. She did say though she was fascinated by technology nonetheless.
Vigeland: Good point, I suppose.
Clark: Yeah. Brian Burke from Santa Monica enjoyed the interview. He said it was all just a bit of malarkey.
Brian Burke: Look, it’s got links, real links! And video games are really just narratives, it’s gotta be good right? You know, Hamlet, Leer, Grand Theft Auto? It’s all the same. And “Call of Duty II” is a history lesson. As far as the books title, doesn’t that sound a bit audacious? I mean, despite all braggadocio, Nick Bilton still lives among us and the future is yet to be.
Clark: Of course, if it wasn’t yet to be, it wouldn’t be the future, right?
Vigeland: You’re getting all meta on me.
Clark: Yes, that’s me, meta.
Anyway, another attention-getter was Jeff Tyler’s story about the crush of fundraising solicitations at the end of the year. Many people did not like us calling them junk mail.
Vigeland: Oh c’mon, how ’bout that lady who got like 800 solicitations in one year? That’s ridiculous.
Clark: Sarah Schacht said she laughed out loud when she heard the story.
Sarah Schacht: At that moment, I was writing an e-mail to supporters of the organization that I direct. And the subject title was “This is not a fundraising letter. It’s an update.” And unlike most nonprofits, I don’t view our supporters as ATMs. I view them as partners in getting our often difficult work done. Thanks for a great story and capturing the end-of-the-year madness in the nonprofit world.
Vigeland: I suppose they wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work, right? So somebody must be responding to those things.
Clark: That’s true, and I think Jeff said that too. Another hot button topic was the interview you did about buying divorce insurance.
Vigeland: We are such romantics on this show.
Clark: I know. So ere’s a couple of comments on our Facebook page: Nancy Hammer said “I think marriage licenses should have to be renewed every four years. That would be the cheaper way to go.”
Vigeland: Here’s my favorite, though: Mary Stockton Bradley asked, “Can I take a policy on someone else’s marriage?”
Clark: Ouch. I don’t think she’s a friend of mine.
OK, so let’s end with another story we ran last week. Reporter Eve Troeh talked about trying to find a meaningful job in this recession, not just any old job.
Vigeland: But who can really afford to be picky?
Clark: Indeed, that’s sort of what Venise Battle of Philadelphia had to say:
Venise Battle: I believe people are supposed to find their purpose in life. So finding a purpose-driven career is just part of the game. It’s feasibility, however, seems harder to attain every month. Bills need to get paid and people have to eat. Deciding between any random opportunity or waiting for one’s dream job puts people I know and love between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes, I wonder if dream jobs, like houses, comprise part of the vanishing American dream.
Clark: Speaking of vanishing, time for me to do just that.
Vigeland: Thanks Deb.
Clark: You’re welcome Tess.
Vigeland: Let us have it, folks. Post on our Facebook page.
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