A Victim of Poor Journalism

Well, if finally happened, I have been a victim od bad journalism. In all the times I have appeared in print, this is the first time someone royally mucked up. A Green Card Lottery story appeared in the paper today. Front page no less. I had expected the article to come out last week, but I gues it kept getting bumped. I had no idea I was going to be the only person stated, I had assumed the writer had other people she had interviewed. But that is not the problem. She made three egrregious errors:

1) I am in fact Armenian, not Kuwaiti. I was only born in Kuwait, not a natural citizen. I am very guarded about my background and what people think or mistake me for. I clarified this to her three times, but i guess she did not get it.

2) I am a grad student in literature, not theatre. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it;s just incorrect. I also clarified this one three times. I even remember her reacting with surprise that i was NOT pursuing theatre in school.

3) I never said my only options were a green card or "to get married."

3) And the most important and dangerous one, I never attended USF on an expired visa. The visa expired while I was already in the status to change over to permanent resident. Unfortunately, the way it is worded makes it seem as if I lived here illegally with an unlawful status, according to INS regulations. I doubt anyone will come after me for it because my documents prove otherwise, but that is a wee bit scary.

So there you have it. Now I am not freakishly paranoid about this, the trib is well know for its sloppy and slipshod reporting. I just wish she would have gotten the info right since I spoke to her on three different occasions and double checked all the info. Ironically, I talked to my lawyer who was also quoted in the paper and he found it funny that his information was incorrect as well. Oh well.

On another note, I am really seriously considering my NY plans more and more. Aside from Tucker constantly nagging me about it, I really do feel that it is time I move on. The Elf and I have even considered rooming together. Not sure how serious that plan/suggestion is, or if it will actually happen, but I would actually really like the situation of it. Granted, I MUCH prefer living on my own because my experiences living with others has been shitty, but there are certain people I would make a concession for.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 14, 2002 at 10:50 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.