Epic Fail.

Dear Ruth Franklin and The New Republic, 

I would first like to take this opportunity to say that i thoroughly enjoy reading your editorials. Your writing has been a part of a large chunk of my AP Language & Composition grade this semester. I've read your takes on everything from the Holocaust to Jersey Shore and have found that we have the same opinion on everything. You are an excellent voice for young women.
After reading THE READ: Washed Up, I was told to shape an argument on your thoughts and feelings in the article via outline. The article was hard hitting, blunt, and hilarious. It's about time that writers speak up about how absurd television is getting. I was wondering: Have you written anything similar to Washed Up? (http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/78178/jersey-shore-snooki-novel-disaster)

I must admit, I felt pretty awkward e-mailing a professional not only because it comes off as creepy and stalkerish, but also because it was an assignment rather than a choice. Still I was a little excited to get a reply. So when I heard "you've got mail!" I bolted back to my inbox only to find this:

"Out of Office AutoReply
Dear Sir/Madam:

Thank you for your letter/submission to The New Republic. We read through each email and value your participation and time, although we do not respond to every query. Letters will be published according to interest and may be edited for space and clarity.  The number of submissions we commission from outside writers is necessarily small, and there is often duplication of a topic already treated in our pages or in preparation by one of our staff writers. For these reasons we must often decline an article idea in spite of its innate quality.  We do promptly contact any writer whose submission is accepted.
Thank you, again, for your interest in The New Republic.
Sincerely,
The Editors"

Rejected. From this experience I learned that Ruth and the rest of the editors are quite used to creeps like me. Yes, I was pretty mad because I didn't know how to make a riveting blog post based off of an automatic response; however, this experience relates back to the article THE READ: Washed Up. Franklin's whole argument is that the tanning buffoons are not intelligent enough to deserve their status. In my opinion however, Ruth Franklin, an Ivy League Graduate and reputable writer does deserve the right to be selective over which emails she reads. In this scenario, I'm the Snookie. I'm sure Ms. Franklin is also getting emails from politicians and highly educated personnel, and they're clearly ranked higher than me on a successful editors to do list. Maybe someday, after getting an awe worthy education and not starring on a ludacris reality show,  Ruth will find me worthy of a real, heartfelt reply.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Dear Melissa, Thanks for your message. I'm glad to hear you've been finding my writing useful in your classes! You're actually not the first high school student to respond this way to my piece on "Jersey Shore." I haven't written anything else quite as pop-culture-oriented, but I did publish a column about the HBO show "Treme" last spring. It should turn up if you search at the TNR site. I hope you'll continue reading the magazine! All best, Ruth Franklin

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There's hope in the world! Well I would right something different to tie in the advice she gave me with the article or something, but I'm just going to analyze the broad fact that I received a reply. My pity party self (as seen in the paragraph above my freak out) never would've expected this. My subconscious tells me that people with any social status are above and therefore don't have to talk to me, or even acknowledge my presence, but Ruth did. A very educated and established woman took time to show that she appreciated my work. I think that's what separates celebrities from TV from famous writers: writers, who have the education that I'm striving to gain, fully understand how difficult putting your thoughts on paper is and they applaud any attempt, even from a sixteen year old. It feels amazing to get a reply back. Snookie couldn't make me feel this good.