Another story that really needs the photo to drive it home (or to work).
A reader sent me the story, and I said “Eh, kind of humdrum” — until I saw what the driver said, which made the story worth telling. And then I saw the photo, and knew it was truly True fodder.
I write True to make a living, yes, and it’s gratifying that enough people support the publication to make that happen. But there’s another reason, too: I want to change the world just a little bit, on both a micro and a macro scale.
Odd deaths are a staple story type in True, sometimes as a cautionary tale about what not to do, and sometimes as a way to point out how horribly we can treat others. This is one such case, with an update.
Something fairly profound happened to my wife and me Sunday. I have a group of friends that I communicate with regularly via an email list, and Sunday afternoon I shared what happened with them. One asked, “Great story. Will you be sharing it with your readers?”
Episode #20: “Listen to Disco, Save a Life”, from True’s 19 October 2008 issue.
Episode #17: “Politically Incorrect”, from True’s 28 September 2008 issue.
There was no free edition on Friday, August 22. There were definitely reasons for that, and at first I decided I wasn’t going to say all the reasons why. But after thinking about it, and recovering from the problem I’m about to tell you about, I decided I owed you an explanation.
I’m back after being offline for several days while cruising down the Yangtze on a riverboat (more on that in a few days). Meanwhile, a few observations on some things the Chinese are really doing right, healthcare-wise.
A previous post mentioned Hong Kong’s terrible smog (a word the Chinese don’t seem to know, but they understand “air pollution.” Another reader says there’s another term for it that’s spreading like the smog: the “Asian Brown Cloud“).
Sometimes the story just isn’t complete without a photo …or two. From True’s 30 May 2004 issue:
Last week, I ran this in the Author’s Notes area:
Sometimes I think of a funnier tagline after I publish an issue. Sometimes I think of a funnier tagline before I publish it, but I don’t use it — usually because it’s just too nasty. This is one of those cases, so if you don’t like crude, you’ve been warned. Otherwise, on with the story, from the 21 July 2002 column:
A U.S. doctor who reads True was distressed over the story on “exploding head syndrome”.