Help Me, Wanda

After almost a dozen e-mails and a few phone calls, I am set to interview comedian Wanda Sykes on Friday. Sometimes there is so much effort involved in arranging a short telephone interview - I am beginning to understand why the nasty paparazzi exists. If you're not frighteningly aggressive, no one even pays attention. And I don't want to behave like a crazed stalker in order to get my seven hundred words. It is not my style. But I try to remember that no one outside of this county has even heard of my little newspaper; why should they talk to me? In this case, the answer is that Sykes is appearing at the university at the end of the month and I am, after all, part of the local press.

So Wanda, please do not forget to call as scheduled. Please, digital recorder, record BOTH parts of the telephone conversation rather than just my voice as you disastrously did ten days ago while interviewing an elderly jazz musician. I cried after that one, which I understand is not very professional. Please have everything go smoothly, for once.

NTD