The Office of Jim Trainer
New Orleans Division
c/o Bernard Pearce
2822 Dumaine St
New Orleans LA
Steve Almond, Journalist
stevealmondjoy.org
6/23/18, 10:21PM
Sir
I have been ruminating over this message too long. I’m sending it tonight, bleeding heart and slipshod as it is. I’ve compromised edified tenets of journalism, and squandered precious time with those two sentences (and my archaic heading) and am wasting more still with this one. I loved Bad Stories. It turned some lights on for me and confirmed a queasiness in my craw about the failed democratization of news media. I have some questions for you, if you wouldn’t mind. If you do, well, I appreciate the time you spent reading this far. Aho, and, here goes.
How am I, as a self-taught journalist and industry outsider (read: punkrocker) supposed to cull sources and material in what Bruce Springsteen has aptly coined a hall of mirrors of authenticity? Ok so it’s just that question, loaded as it is–perhaps that will forgive the filigree and arrogant tone of this letter. Because, Steve, as the dark new century rolls right over the once proud institution of a free press, I will be perpetrating truth and calling it journalism. I won’t mind being viewed as a hack as long as ink is making it to page. I’d just like to know where to get my facts these days, when the truth is a commodity and Google and Zuckerberg are more than happy to oblige me and whatever suits my antisocial-romantic narrative.
As mentioned I won’t mind never being considered a real journalist, and perhaps living out a paltry career on satire sites where the truth can be taken seriously. I suppose if I had a follow up it would be what you’re probably already thinking…should I go to school for it? Just kidding. Thanks for your work and the time it took to come to whatever conclusion you’ve reached about a too-long letter from an ex-Pat punkrocker living in the wasteland about to fall off the edge of the Earth and land where the dollar is strong and healthcare is guaranteed.
Hope to hear from you. Keep fighting. If the kids are united they shall not be divided.
Yours,
Jim Trainer
Going For The Throat
The Coarse Grind
The Flake News
The Republic of Bulgaria
Going for the Throat 
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