In the Nov. 28 issue, Mountain Xpress stated the verified pick-up rate of their publication. This has absolutely no verification of the reading percentage! Now that you have fired the best columnist you’ve ever had, I may pick up a weekly copy to clip out the Calendar of Events only, and virtually no scanning of all the ads or comments or articles. Furthermore, I sometimes pick up a couple of extra copies for neighbors, and then find that they are either out of town or have already gotten one—or don’t want one—and so your verification count is increasingly invalid.
So readers, take note that Mountain Xpress is only quoting their production and return, but has not and cannot verify that even one issue has been read.
As to the firing of Cecil Bothwell—who was the greatest asset Mountain Xpress has ever had, in my 20-year view—[this] has greatly diminished your publication. Your loss is Bothwell’s gain, as it has given him time and encouragement to utilize his talents elsewhere!
— Ruth Beard
Asheville
Shucks, that means you won’t be able to read your own letter.
I wish the “OMG U FIRED CECIL” people and the DoDo idiots would all get together and investigate why it is that they live such sad existences.
Cecil Bothwell will be remembered as a hardworking and modest man. He had simple needs. He was forthright and honest, a person with humble beginnings who placed a great value on education and friendship. I will remember him as a man who was content with what life had given him. He never asked for much and , he lived a simple life. His early life was marked with many obstacles and hardships. He worked as a cook in various small towns in Saskatchewan, where he learned to speak and write English.
He lived in Saskatchewan, becoming prematurely grey in his 20’s. He didn’t talk much of this period of his life. From the bits and pieces he shared , it was a very difficult time for him. However, he did learn the game of curling, a favorite Saskatchewan sport. His love of curling never left him. Up to his last days, it was the only event he thoroughly enjoyed to watch on TV. He even timed his meals around the curling schedules. It gave him great pride whenever Canada won the world titles.He took pride in his abilities and in the respect he had earned in the community.Cecil Bothwell was a man who touched each of our lives in different ways. I will remember him growing snow peas in the garden. I will remember him teaching. I will remember him laughing at how hot it is in the summer, how cold it is in the winter, how rainy it is in the spring, and how windy it is in the fall. Just from his daily walks, he’d gotten to know everyone in the neighborhood, and everyone had gotten to know him. I don’t think his small town roots ever left him. He was a man who held basic values of trust, honesty, integrity, and friendship.
It is so difficult for my generation to understand the hardships endured by those who walked before us. Seldom do we recognize the sacrifices made for us. Hearing stories of Cecil Bothwell’s life, I cannot imagine what it must have been like. Such a life is not lived without courage, determination, and perseverance. It’s true that the battles and times we face now are different than those of the past, but we can always draw from the knowledge that we too can find inner strength during hard times just as he did.His legacy is in his family and his friends. His legacy is the people that he has helped, and in the lives that he has touched. He has left us a history. A history of pride in culture and of pride in family. And now this history is in our hands to carry on where he left off.
Its come to my attention that Cecil has taken a job with the New York Times where he will continue his career. Good Luck Cecil!
Cecil who?
So Jason, are you saying that Cecil is a Masshole?
marc
light&hope;, you possess a fine writing talent and, as the author of many books, I give you this comment sincerely.
I am undeserving of your praise, but thanks. It was the least I could do for Cecil.
Wait — did Cecil die or something? Did you just deliver a eulogy? Is he no longer “forthright and honest”? Does he still have “simple needs”, or are they super-complex now here in the present tense? Could you be more dramatic? Can Ralph Roberts mention more often that he is the author of many books in case some of us forget every few hours or so?
What killed Cecil — was it the fact that on the day he was supposed to unveil his big Medford story that “the Xpress was too timid to publish,” he had to put off publishing it for another week while the Citizen-Times ran about 10 full pages on the Bobby Medford scandal?
“I will remember him laughing at how hot it is in the summer, how cold it is in the winter, how rainy it is in the spring, and how windy it is in the fall.”
Isn’t that clinically insane behavior?
Rest in peace, Cecil!!!!! You were the best!!!!
Hey, ‘I’ll say it,’ of COURSE I can mention it more often, it’s in the Writers Covenant. In 30 years of writing, I’ve found that the successful writers self-promote… it’s called marketing and it works. Modesty pays no bills.
So there. ;-)
righton Ralph
In a sense, leaving your old life behind is a little like dying. Please just wish him well and stop insulting someone you don’t know anything about! Oh, and how many books have you written?
Right On Ralph!
I read the last issue. Well, some of it.