Elvis is alive.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 2:10PM Let me introduce you to a little thing called the inverted pyramid. It's a method of writing in which the most important piece of news comes first.
For instance, Elvis is alive. All the other details - like he's sober, owns a karaoke bar in Kentucky and still wears sequins - follow in declining order of importance.
When Kent and I met, I was about six weeks shy of moving to Chicago to start journalism school at Northwestern. He didn't take my classes but he sure heard everything about them. Later, he didn't work alongside me in my newsroom when I got a job at a North Carolina paper. But he might as well have because I bored - and sometimes fascinated - him with absolutely every detail.
He listened to me bitch for HOURS about newspaper politics and the politicians I covered. He accompanied me on assignments: Fourth of July parades, news conferences, election night parties. He even drove me around the outskirts of Fort Bragg the day after the 9/11 attacks.
He's known me for 14 years and we're about to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary so YOU'D THINK HE'D KNOW HOW TO LEAD WITH THE NEWS.
Alas, he does not.
(It's not lost on me that I am not actually leading with the news here either but it's my blog and traditional news rules don't apply.)
He was tap tap tapping away at the computer last night, preparing for an early morning meeting, when I went to bed. This morning, when he came to wake me up and let me know he was leaving, I can't recall what he said. But I know it wasn't, "I SAW A MOUSE LAST NIGHT!"
I'd remember that headline.
So, I went about my morning with nary a thought of the mice. I thought Fabian, the mouse slayer, fixed the problem yesterday what with the exhaustive stuffing of every crevice in the house. Did I tell you he used an entire box and then some of copper meshing? He did.
Unlike yesterday, I wasn't haunted by streaks and shadows and real honking mice jumping at me in the bathroom.
The house calmed down, the kids went off for quiet time and I got my computer out per daily custom. I logged on to my web site -- again, all a part of the ritual - and there I saw Kent's comment on yesterday's post. About the mouse! In the house! Last night!
I should say that in addition to our quick, unmemorable exchange this morning at the crack of dawn, we also traded e-mails. And I assure you, there was no mention of mice in the e-mails either.
I called him at work and got the lowdown on the vermin. He did manage to give me four of journalism's Five Ws: the who, what, where and when of the story. I suppose the why is obvious: it's cold outside and the mice want warmth. And food.
And to mess with my head.
If the mouse siege goes on much longer, I tell you what the next headline will be: WOMAN GOES INSANE.
Reader Comments (2)
ELVIS IS ALIVE! I spent Friday night with him. Actually my son's AP US History class held a Great American dinner theater last Friday night and he dressed up as Elvis. I got to eat with the likes of Jullia Childs, Samuel Adams, Abe Lincoln, Babe Ruth, and my son, Elvis, to name just a few. Although this had nothing to do with Mice, I wanted to share my Elvis story, just kinda thought it was funny you should mention him today. It was really cool! The teacher reminds me of Mr. Abrahm's class, how hard and demanding his class was, but my son's teacher, Mr Spain (kinda funny he teachs US history) is way cooler and fun but still very hard and demanding.
I like the hard and demanding. But didn't like Mr. Abrahm's because he tended toward the demeaning too. He used to make merciless fun of Mike for not being an academic star and that always bugged me.
The dinner theater sounds like a great night! I hope your son dressed in sequins, slicked his hair and said "Ah, thank you. Thank you very much." as he grabbed the mic.