The Price of Publicity

Things continue to go very well with the studio. My work for the OHL All-Star Classic was the subject of a front-page article and photo in The Saginaw News about two weeks ago. It was pretty strange being on the other side of the lens and having a reporter ask me all sorts of questions. And then when I saw that I was on the front page? Very surreal, but a lot of fun. People attending the game recognized me and said hello and complimented my work. Not too shabby, right?

One day last week--long since the article had been forgotten by everyone except me--I bring in the mail and there is a handwritten envelope addressed to me. I figure it's another dumb mortgage offer (they love the handwritten envelopes because somewhere, somebody wrote that you get a better response to handwritten envelopes, no doubt), but when I open the envelope out falls a copy of the photo of me from the paper. There is also a handwritten note, written on a yellow legal pad in what seems to be an older woman's writing. It says:


Hi Shawn,

I saw this picture of you in the Saginaw News on 1-30-07.

I have one question to ask: Don't you think you are getting to old to have that long dirty looking hair? And that silly hair on your face, you sure could use a razor.

a Reader of the News


I almost fell off the couch laughing. The photo may not have driven prospective clients to my website, but it apparently drove somebody's grandmother to complain about my appearance. I guess you really can't please everyone, can you?