Letter from Matildakay - By N.L. Belardes
Along with the very kind comments on the n.l.-belton controversy blog comes this surprising letter received today from matildakay.com
She makes a valid point about the power of blogs and letters to the editor...
Nick,
You know... I've been thinking about you taking a stand against Belton. I think it takes more guts and principle to take a stand against someone or something and stick to it than it does to back down and make an apology.
One thing I love about you is that you stick to your guns and you stand up and fight against injustice done to you or the people you care about or even causes in the community like Jerry's pizza and the Kookoonauts attack.
You're not afraid to be confrontational and that is good. If you were afraid of controversy you would never have written a book about the Lords of Bakersfield. You always knew this book would be controversial. And you can handle the controversy. You have been from the beginning confrontational on your blog. Even though you mostly write positive pieces about bands there are the occasional confrontational pieces: Nate Berg, Jerry's Pizza, Vesper, and the like... Even the Rob Ruiz/DIM piece wasn't a bad article, it just wasn't sugar coated nice-nice crap, it was honest. You even took a stand against the BPD when your boys were attacked. I think some people are afraid of being confrontational and of having any kind of bad press and therefore are afraid for you that you might get bad press out of this Belton thing. But that is their problem not yours…
What's the difference between writing a letter to the editor of the paper complaining about Belton the "entertainment writer" not writing about local authors and writing the article on the blog? The difference is that the blog is immediate, it’s uncensored and reaches an immediate and broad audience. If you wrote a letter to the editor, it would have to go through channels, be edited and then still may not even be published in the paper much less receive a response or see any action taken on your behalf. Your blog is more powerful than a letter to the editor that a normal citizen without your blog and audience would write. Your blog may not see any action by getting Belton or the Californian to write an article or review about the book. But it will stir up things and make people aware of just how little our "entertainment writer" (who is getting paid to write about local arts, music, theater and authors), is actually willing to do just that, her job.
Her analogy of passing out gum is outrageous!!! She writes on her own blog about how she is being rejected by big time publishers. Noveltown offered to publish her work and she can't even support local authors in this town! She wants help, wants to be published, but she won't support other local authors! She has no sense of community or loyalty to the local literary, arts or music scene in Bakersfield and that is what she is being paid to write about. It's no wonder that bands can't get write-ups by her (Kenny's rant) and she always claims to be a one-woman show as her excuse for not doing write-ups. The real reason is she doesn't care about the local scenes; that is why she writes about her social life of riding around in a limo bar-hopping and about fashion she hates, to meet her quota of articles that she must write to get paid.
I admire the stand you are taking with Belton.
Matildakay
She makes a valid point about the power of blogs and letters to the editor...
Nick,
You know... I've been thinking about you taking a stand against Belton. I think it takes more guts and principle to take a stand against someone or something and stick to it than it does to back down and make an apology.
One thing I love about you is that you stick to your guns and you stand up and fight against injustice done to you or the people you care about or even causes in the community like Jerry's pizza and the Kookoonauts attack.
You're not afraid to be confrontational and that is good. If you were afraid of controversy you would never have written a book about the Lords of Bakersfield. You always knew this book would be controversial. And you can handle the controversy. You have been from the beginning confrontational on your blog. Even though you mostly write positive pieces about bands there are the occasional confrontational pieces: Nate Berg, Jerry's Pizza, Vesper, and the like... Even the Rob Ruiz/DIM piece wasn't a bad article, it just wasn't sugar coated nice-nice crap, it was honest. You even took a stand against the BPD when your boys were attacked. I think some people are afraid of being confrontational and of having any kind of bad press and therefore are afraid for you that you might get bad press out of this Belton thing. But that is their problem not yours…
What's the difference between writing a letter to the editor of the paper complaining about Belton the "entertainment writer" not writing about local authors and writing the article on the blog? The difference is that the blog is immediate, it’s uncensored and reaches an immediate and broad audience. If you wrote a letter to the editor, it would have to go through channels, be edited and then still may not even be published in the paper much less receive a response or see any action taken on your behalf. Your blog is more powerful than a letter to the editor that a normal citizen without your blog and audience would write. Your blog may not see any action by getting Belton or the Californian to write an article or review about the book. But it will stir up things and make people aware of just how little our "entertainment writer" (who is getting paid to write about local arts, music, theater and authors), is actually willing to do just that, her job.
Her analogy of passing out gum is outrageous!!! She writes on her own blog about how she is being rejected by big time publishers. Noveltown offered to publish her work and she can't even support local authors in this town! She wants help, wants to be published, but she won't support other local authors! She has no sense of community or loyalty to the local literary, arts or music scene in Bakersfield and that is what she is being paid to write about. It's no wonder that bands can't get write-ups by her (Kenny's rant) and she always claims to be a one-woman show as her excuse for not doing write-ups. The real reason is she doesn't care about the local scenes; that is why she writes about her social life of riding around in a limo bar-hopping and about fashion she hates, to meet her quota of articles that she must write to get paid.
I admire the stand you are taking with Belton.
Matildakay
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Thursday, November 10, 2005.
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