Truth fairies (Also: Miner owns shoes!)

Posted by: spacecog

The best thing about doing this little blog? Seeing the telltale footsteps in our traffic logs of Reader staffers stopping by to take a peek. The worst thing? Actually having to read the fucking Reader, or at least portions of it, every week.

I can happily report that this week I didn’t have to wade far into the murky depths to find a little treasure. It comes in the form of a bewildering exchange on the letters page between an irate Reader reader and Reader writer Deanna Isaacs.

By "irate," I of course mean "COMPLETELY INSANE." Seems the letter writer, one Maureen Cole, is furious at Isaacs because in a column several weeks past she referred to weirdo artsy hippie haven Maxworks as "a ragtag commune" and said its Maxwell Street space was rented. Not so, says Cole, who insists it’s a "cooperative" and that it’s owned by its members.

"This must be what it’s like to be senile," Cole complains. "History is one day rewritten under the guise of some merciful recognition." (Huh?) Cole calls Isaacs "a freaking liar" and demands "an apology or retraction from this crucifier of the truth." (Mind you, this incomprehensible diatribe was inspired by a single stray sentence is Isaac’s column. Though, to be fair, I often feel like I’m going senile after reading the Reader for any length of time.)

Anyhoo, this would look like a perfect setup for a witty little rejoinder from Isaacs. Instead, she pulls the old "sorry if I offended you" routine. Then she offers this weirdly namby-pamby defense of her work:

"As far as I know, my account is accurate."

Huh? As far as you know? Shoudn’t you, er, KNOW FOR SURE?

The Reader: All The News That As Far As We Can Tell Is More Or Less Fit To Print.

IN OTHER NEWS: Michael Miner actually engages in some old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting this week, speaking not just to one but to three newsstand owners and one Red Eye street hawker for a piece on that terrible little paper. I didn’t even know Miner owned shoes!