SPOTTING FAKE NEWS STORIES

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Fake news stories are all over the news these days––in more ways than one.

A friend who will remain nameless (and I'm not talking about fishducky's daughter whose name really is Nameless) said to me a few weeks ago, Did you know that Donald Trump has a secret daughter?

I saw this headline online and knew what it was about. I said, If you mean Tiffany Trump, then she's never been a secret. She's his daughter with Marla Maples, who was his second wife. When they divorced, Marla and Tiffany moved to California. Tiffany graduated from college earlier this year. She didn't make a lot of campaign appearances, but that doesn't make her a secret. It was all over the news when The Donald had an affair with Maples while he was still married to his first wife.

Oh, my friend said.

So let's talk about how to spot a fake news story:

1. Don't look at the headline without reading the attached story. Sometimes the story has nothing to do with the headline.
2. Is the story from a reputable news source? (I realize some of us disagree about which news sources are reputable.)
3. Is the story written in standard English, or is it full of typos and strange syntax?
4. If you're not sure if the story is true, look up some background information. I rely on snopes.com to debunk fake stories.
5. Does the story seem as if it could be true, or does it sound as if it could be someone's fantasy? 

Here's a good example of a crazy fake news story that has caused serious trouble and no doubt has a lot of idiots writhing in condemnation:

FAKE NEWS, REAL CONSEQUENCES An armed man with an assault rifle entered a D.C. pizza restaurant to investigate fake news claims that Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring there. [Marina Fang, HuffPost]

"The restaurant has been the subject of death threats originating from a false right-wing conspiracy theory alleging that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and campaign chairman John Podesta ran a child sex trafficking ring in the back of the restaurant."

No matter how much you hate Hillary Clinton, do you really and truly believe that she ran a child sex trafficking ring? If you do, then I wanna sell you some real estate and a bridge.

Some of the fake stories also appear in emails that continue to be forwarded for years. I used to receive an email regularly that claimed Mr. Rogers had been a military sniper who wore his sweater to cover up his many tattoos. 

I never forwarded the email. It didn't seem "right" to me, so I looked into it. Mr. Rogers was never in the military. He went to the seminary and chose children's television as his ministry.

Other stories are "spins" perpetuated by large companies. When a woman spilled McDonald's coffee in her lap and was so severely burned that doctors weren't sure if she would live, the McDonald's spin machine went into overdrive and had people thinking she was an old fool who opened her coffee while she was driving, got burned, and wanted to become rich from it.

I call bullshit! The woman wasn't driving. Her nephew was, but the car wasn't moving when the two of them opened their cups of coffee. The coffee was so ridiculously hot that the woman's burns really were life threatening.

I've debunked this story a number of times. So have other people. The real story is also told in a documentary.

Yet I still see references to "the world has gone to shit because you spill a little coffee in your lap and sue somebody."

What's gone to shit is our ability to empathize with the person who was harmed, along with our desire to question authority––especially faux authority.

Please don't pass around emails or links to stories that could be fake. Do your homework and let the buck stop with you.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

Thanks, fishducky!

TIP TUESDAY: WHAT BOOKS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

In last week's TIP TUESDAY I urged you to vary your reading as a way of improving your writing.

Now I'd appreciate it if you would tell us what books have influenced your writing. My answers to the questions are in italics. Have you learned from a particular author or authors? I learn a lot from Anne Tyler's writing. I learned from F. Scott Fitzgerald that I will never be "the next" F. Scott Fitzgerald. I don't have it in me.

Do you fall into a rut and read books by the same authors in the same genre, or do you consciously seek variety? I tended to read the same kind of books until I started editing. Editing led me to read about zombies, vampires, and all sorts of paranormal goings on. What's your favorite genre? Literary fiction, but I also read a lot of non-fiction. Is it the same genre in which you write--if you write? I hope my writing is literary fiction, but I don't know if it's good enough to qualify.

Do you want to write but never get around to it? What keeps you from writing? I've been writing, as you know if you've read Chapter One of Which Way Home (incomplete) on my blog. Fear of rejection keeps me from writing, but the larger problem is my lack of experience with writing fiction. I was a newspaper reporter so I'm accustomed to sticking to the facts. I used to write a newspaper column sometimes, too. The columns were usually sentimental family stories or humor, but they were based on reality.

Whether or not you write, what one book do you wish you could say you wrote? I can't limit myself to one choice: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dinner at The Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler, Emma by Jane Austen, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

After this post, TIP TUESDAY will be on hiatus until January.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

Thanks, fishducky.

PENELOPE SPEAKS: MOM MOM IS UNHAPPY

Hello. It is I, Penelope.

Mom Mom is upset. She acts as if I'm to blame, which is not possible. I sympathize with her, but the trouble is not my fault.

After I decided to live the royal life with Mom Mom and Franklin, Mom Mom accused me of leaving wet spots on the rug when she left the house. Not true, of course. It was Franklin.

Mom got a prison for me and made me go inside when she is away. It's true that the prison has a comfy bed. I also get my red Kong when I'm in prison. The Kong has cheese and peanut butter in it. It is quite delicious and makes for an excellent chewing experience.

Mom Mom said that the wet spots went away when I was in prison. Bah, humbug!

In spite of the soft bed and my yummy Kong, I do not like prison. I do not belong there.

Someone else agreed with me––I know not who it could be––and decided to destroy my prison. First, Someone chewed on the front of the prison so it had holes in it and sometimes, if I happened to be in the mood, I could open the metal door myself and greet Mom Mom when she got home.

Mom Mom put something that tasted bad on the prison. Someone stopped chewing on it.

But today, Mom Mom went to the post office. While she was gone, Someone decided to remove the metal side of the prison.

Of course, I departed through the opening. When Mom Mom came in the front door, she said (in quite a disdainful manner), What are YOU doing here, Penelope?

Then she found the metal piece on the floor. Here's the metal piece. Mom Mom put it on top of the prison.

Mom Mom was quite pleased to find that I Franklin did not create wet spots on the floor. However, she was quite unhappy when she discovered that Someone had chewed on the Martha Stewart bedspread that she thinks is so pretty.

Can you see that the Martha Stewart bedspread is a bit torn? It also has a small hole in it. Mom Mom was so irritated that she did not bother to photograph the hole.

No matter. It is a small hole.

Obviously, I shall no longer be in prison when Mom Mom goes away. HA!

Franklin had better not leave wet spots on the floor.

I guess you know that Stella girl lives here now. I ignore her. Even when she sleeps in my chair with me. Even though it is quite cozy and cuddly.

I am Her Royal Highness The Princess Penelope. That Stella girl probably wants to be royalty, but I do not believe it is possible for her to have a title.

That is all. Goodbye.

MOVIE WEEKEND: GENIUS

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Today I present for your viewing consideration the movie Genius (2016, Rated PG-13, Available on DVD), which focuses on the relationship between Scribner's editor Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth) and author Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law).

As the man who discovered and helped to develop F. Scott Fitzgerald's talent, Maxwell Perkins is probably the most famous editor in America, and most likely the only editor whose name is well known to book lovers (other than da Junebug). Besides editing Fitzgerald's work, Perkins served as editor for Ernest Hemingway (Fitzgerald recommended Hemingway to Perkins), Erskine Caldwell, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Alan Paton, and James Joyce, among others.

But in Genius, it's Thomas Wolfe who bursts onto the literary scene and becomes almost a son to Perkins, who was the father of five daughter with his wife Louise (Laura Linney).  The problem is that Wolfe has logorrhea. Perkins struggles to get Wolfe to cut his epic tomes because he is a man who is in love with words and thus has a fear and loathing of cutting a single line. Perkins gets Wolfe to cut some pages. Wolfe writes eighty more. It's a battle for the ages, but it results in the bestsellers Look Homeward, Angel and Of Time and The River.

Genius has a stellar cast, with Nicole Kidman as Aline Bernstein, the woman eighteen years older than Wolfe who fell in love with him, left her husband and children for him, and financed the beginnings of his writing career. Laura Linney and Colin Firth are always good, but it's Jude Law as the manic Wolfe who stands out. I wasn't even sure that the actor onscreen was Law until the credits rolled. He was that lost in the role.

I was most pleased to hear Perkins tell Wolfe what I know to be true as an editor––that the book belongs to the author and it is the editor's job to get good books into the hands of the reading public.

Although this film is well made with a sepia overcast that seems appropriate for New York in the 1930s, I do not know if it would be of interest to the average movie goer. I do think it will be loved by writers, editors, and people who have any interest in classic literature.

Genius earns The Janie Junebug Seal of Highest Writerly Approval. At the very least, I think it will make you want to learn more about Thomas Wolfe and about Max Perkins and the relationships he had with the authors whose works he edited. I do not think this movie would be of any interest to children.

I must admit I have never read anything by Thomas Wolfe. I'm going to add Look Homeward, Angel to my Amazon wish list.

I watched Genius on a DVD very kindly sent to me by my friends at Netflix.

Happy viewing!


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

Maxwell Perkins and Colin Firth

Thomas Wolfe and Jude Law

Wolfe died from tuberculosis of the brain at the age of thirty-eight. When Perkins learns of Wolfe's impending death, he states:

Maxwell Evarts Perkins: The surgeon said his brain was filled with tumors. A myriad of tumors. That's the word he used, "myriad." I think Tom would like that. The plural of "myriad" is "myriads," by the way.

Even when we are grief stricken, we editors do not forget correct word usage. 

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE . . .

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

 Stella

Stella yawns.
"I'm so tired of people fawning over me."

You might have noticed that I've mentioned Stella on my blog several times recently. For example, she was here during Hurricane Matthew:

"If I hide my face between my paws,
the hurricane won't see me."

Stella has been Favorite Young Man's favorite dog for many years. She has developed some health concerns (don't we all as we get older?) and needs more time and care than he can give her.

So Stella has joined our pack.

We're not sure how old she is, but she's 10+ years. She is mostly boxer, maybe with a little American bulldog.

She has difficulty walking because of a problem with a disk in her back. She tends to drag her back legs and fall frequently. 

Stella and I have visited kind Dr. Chick twice. She's on two medications to improve her motor function, but they come with a price. They are damaging her liver, so we're going to pick up another medication to help with that.

The medicine will shorten her life, but improve it for the time being.

Sunday was a beautiful day. The weather was ideal. Willy Dunne Wooters and I were in the backyard with the dogs. Franklin and Penelope frolicked and chased each other. To my surprise, Stella joined them--very briefly. Then she ran to me, stood on her hind legs, and put one front paw on my leg.

Stella still has a lot of spirit. We're happy to have her in spite of a little pee-pee problem with the living room rug.

She stays close to me. When Penelope sits in the chair next to me, Stella often hops up to join her so they can nap side-by-side. I'd like to take a photo of them, but Penelope is so camera shy that she moves the second she sees I'm about to "capture" her image.

But now we are a party of four.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

TIP TUESDAY: READ

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

When I took the class required to become an accredited writing tutor, our professor told us that people don't learn to write by diagramming sentences (thank God for that because I don't remember how to do it).

Instead, people learn to write by writing.

I want to go one step farther: People learn to write by reading.

I've heard many professors and writers say that the best way to learn to write is by reading the great stylists. Of course, they meant Thackeray.

I don't think you have to read Thackeray, but I do think you need to read great writers and read a variety of genres.

Are you in love with mystery novels? Then put aside your mysteries for a few months to read Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler.

You read every vampire story that bites you? Try Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov.

Read widely. Read something to which you've never been exposed. Never read The Great Gatsby? Check it out and know what it is to write lyrically.

Expand your book horizons. Soak up Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.

How many books have you read from the Modern Library's choices and Readers' Choices for The One Hundred Greatest Novels?

It's not that I want you to stop reading your favorite books. It's that I don't want you to become stuck in a rut. And although imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, don't try to write like your favorite writer. Learn from writers of so many genres and styles that you're able to write like yourself.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug


How I approach writing:

Thanks for sharing the chickens with us, fishducky.

OY WITH THE POODLES ALREADY

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

You already know what I did on Black Friday. Went shopping.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

I watched all four episodes of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Netflix Streaming. It pretty much made my year.

Here's my summary of the episodes, followed by my review. No spoilers.

Winter. Coffee. I smell snow. La la la la la la. Lorelai. Rory. Lane. Rory. Cabbage. Lorelai. Kirk. Ooo-ber. Lorelai. Rory. Paul or Pete or Somebody. Luke. Lifetime movies. Grandpa. To absent friends. Coffee. Taylor. Emily. Berta. Paris. Surrogates. Rory. Logan. London. Rory. Lane. Paris. Zach. Red dress, full skirt, lucky outfit. Therapy. Town troubador. Paul Anka. No. Gypsy. Lorelai. Emily. Spring. Lorelai. Angry Emily. Sorry. Rory. Naomi. Book. Dragonfly Inn. Michel. Rory. Logan. Lorelai. Luke. Eraserhead. Emily. Luke. Franchise. Chilton. Rory. Paris. Headmaster. Rory. Teach. New York. Wookiee. Editing. Sandee Says. Sandee says no. Summer. Pool. Lorelai. Rory. You're back. I'm not back. Lorelai. Luke. Stars Hollow Gazette. Lorelai. Michel. Stars Hollow Musical. Babette. Gypsy. Sophie. Rory. Jess!!! Cemetery. Rory. Lorelai. Book. Rory. Lane. Kinky Boots. It's never or now. Luke. Lorelai. Kitchen. Wild. The book. Fall. Motel. Lorelai. Backpack. Jess. Luke. Rory. Logan. Colin. Finn. Robert. I'll be damned.  I get by with a little help from my friends. Scotch. Rooftop. Hit golf balls. Dancing. Lorelai. Trail. Rory. Logan. Lorelai. Trail. Emily. That day he went to the mall. Lorelai. Luke. Emily. DAR. Because it isn't home anymore. Dean!!!!! Rory. Sookie!!! Lorelai. Cakes. Rory. Lorelai. Drop the the. Jess. Luke. Rory. Jess. (I cry.) Rory. Lorelai. Michel. Luke. Lane. Final Four Words. La la la la la la.


There now! I bet that piqued your interest, and if you've already watched the shows, you know I pretty much covered everything.

My review:

Bad--Tries to get in everyone ever on the show but doesn't have nearly enough Sookie. We barely see Christopher, and he's one hot dude.

Good--Pretty much everything else.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life earns The Janie Junebug Highest and Most Biggest Amazingest Seal of Happy Approval, especially because I am the real Lorelai Gilmore so I make a lot of money from my show. And now that I know the Famous Final Four Words, I know we must have more episodes, or at least one movie.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug



This sequence is from the final episode. It's the only part of this post that might be considered a spoiler. If you don't want to see Rory with her "friends" from Yale--Robert, Colin, Finn, and Logan--then don't watch.





Now that I've worn out, I've worn out the world . . .