Behind the scenes of Chicago journalism - gratitude and lack of cooperation
The latest issue of Cook County Chronicle had not one, but two of my articles.
First, there was my article about Centuries & Sleuths bookstore, a bookstore in Chicago suburb of Forest Park. I've seen it referenced by some vendors at Printers Row Lit Fest and other Chicago events. I've always been kind of intrigued by a bookstore that's focused on mystery novels, but I didn't really have an excuse to go there (it isn't that far from the city, but getting there isn't as straight-forward as, say, going to downtown Evanston). That is until I realized that it might make a decent pitch for the Chronicle, which seems to accept most of my ideas, no matter how out there they may be.
What I didn't realize until I actually got there is that the "Centuries" part of the name referred to the store's other big focus area. You see, it isn't just a mystery bookstore. It's a history and mystery bookstore.
Anyway, I had a pretty interesting interview with owner August “Augie” Aleksy, which resulted in an article that remained a top most-read article on the site for six days. But what made it even cooler is that when I went back to the store to give Aleksy a copy of the issue (like I promised during the interview), he was delighted to see me. Apparently, the article resulted in a spike of almost a thousand views on the store's website and Facbeook page, and tons of likes and shares when he put it up on the aforementioned Facebook page.
"THis is the closest we ever got to going viral," he said in wonder.
Aleksy said that he was talking to his friends at the local Chamber of Commerce, who wondered how to heck he managed to score that kind of publicity. And he told them the truth - he didn't do anything. I just showed up.
All that was nice to hear, because, most of the time, when I write an article, i have no idea if it had any impact at all. It's alwyas nice to see that, not only people liked something you wrote, but it got a lot of traction.
My front page article in the same issue, about the opening of the new Washington/Wabash 'L' station, didn't get nearly as much of a reaction. But I wanted to mention to it for another reason entirely.
The behind-the-scenes bullshit.
I knew that, when a new station opens, there had to be a grand opening. But when I looked in the CTA press area, I couldn't find any information about it. I called their press office, who directed me to the Mayor's press office. And the mayor's press office asked me to e-mail them, so that they can put me on the list of contacts who would get the information about when the opening ceremony is happening.
Now, did they ever actually send me that information? No, they did not. I didn't find out when the opening ceremony happened until several hours after the fact, from a press release on the city and CTA websites.
Normally, municipal press people are pretty eager to tell reporters about something as photo oppy as a grand opening and a ribbon cutting, so I was more surprised than anything (though annoyance came close second).
I would up spending that mid-day with ext_4072856, helping f_morgana move to a new apartment. And then, I went to the newly opened station and talked to some passengers, then pulled some official quotes from the press release, which was a win-win, if you ask me.
Another note about the new station. As I've written before, Washington/Wabash station was built to replace the now-demolished Madison/Wabash and the soon-to-be-demolished Randolph/Wabash. As you can see, I got pretty sentimental about Madison/Wabash station, but when I went to Randoph/Wabash station on the last day of operations (on September 2), I didn't really feel sad at all. Thinking about it, it's probably because I used Madison/Wabash way more than I ever did Randolph/Wabash, even after the former closed. As I walked around the station, i realized that there were parts I've never seen before, which certainly couldn't be said for Madison/Wabash.
I still too plenty of pictures. A lost station is still a lost station. But that may be a topic for another post.
We'll see if I get around to it.
First, there was my article about Centuries & Sleuths bookstore, a bookstore in Chicago suburb of Forest Park. I've seen it referenced by some vendors at Printers Row Lit Fest and other Chicago events. I've always been kind of intrigued by a bookstore that's focused on mystery novels, but I didn't really have an excuse to go there (it isn't that far from the city, but getting there isn't as straight-forward as, say, going to downtown Evanston). That is until I realized that it might make a decent pitch for the Chronicle, which seems to accept most of my ideas, no matter how out there they may be.
What I didn't realize until I actually got there is that the "Centuries" part of the name referred to the store's other big focus area. You see, it isn't just a mystery bookstore. It's a history and mystery bookstore.
Anyway, I had a pretty interesting interview with owner August “Augie” Aleksy, which resulted in an article that remained a top most-read article on the site for six days. But what made it even cooler is that when I went back to the store to give Aleksy a copy of the issue (like I promised during the interview), he was delighted to see me. Apparently, the article resulted in a spike of almost a thousand views on the store's website and Facbeook page, and tons of likes and shares when he put it up on the aforementioned Facebook page.
"THis is the closest we ever got to going viral," he said in wonder.
Aleksy said that he was talking to his friends at the local Chamber of Commerce, who wondered how to heck he managed to score that kind of publicity. And he told them the truth - he didn't do anything. I just showed up.
All that was nice to hear, because, most of the time, when I write an article, i have no idea if it had any impact at all. It's alwyas nice to see that, not only people liked something you wrote, but it got a lot of traction.
My front page article in the same issue, about the opening of the new Washington/Wabash 'L' station, didn't get nearly as much of a reaction. But I wanted to mention to it for another reason entirely.
The behind-the-scenes bullshit.
I knew that, when a new station opens, there had to be a grand opening. But when I looked in the CTA press area, I couldn't find any information about it. I called their press office, who directed me to the Mayor's press office. And the mayor's press office asked me to e-mail them, so that they can put me on the list of contacts who would get the information about when the opening ceremony is happening.
Now, did they ever actually send me that information? No, they did not. I didn't find out when the opening ceremony happened until several hours after the fact, from a press release on the city and CTA websites.
Normally, municipal press people are pretty eager to tell reporters about something as photo oppy as a grand opening and a ribbon cutting, so I was more surprised than anything (though annoyance came close second).
I would up spending that mid-day with ext_4072856, helping f_morgana move to a new apartment. And then, I went to the newly opened station and talked to some passengers, then pulled some official quotes from the press release, which was a win-win, if you ask me.
Another note about the new station. As I've written before, Washington/Wabash station was built to replace the now-demolished Madison/Wabash and the soon-to-be-demolished Randolph/Wabash. As you can see, I got pretty sentimental about Madison/Wabash station, but when I went to Randoph/Wabash station on the last day of operations (on September 2), I didn't really feel sad at all. Thinking about it, it's probably because I used Madison/Wabash way more than I ever did Randolph/Wabash, even after the former closed. As I walked around the station, i realized that there were parts I've never seen before, which certainly couldn't be said for Madison/Wabash.
I still too plenty of pictures. A lost station is still a lost station. But that may be a topic for another post.
We'll see if I get around to it.