I wrote to Kai Ryssdal, the host of Marketplace and asked him to do a show on the Student Loan Debt Crisis. I encourage all of you to do the same. (If you would be willing to share your letters, please post them to the comments. I'd be very grateful!)
First things first, so here's basic contact information to send your witty emails:
I sent Kai a letter to this email: commentary@marketplace.org
I also pitched the story and sent it to this address: pitches@marketplace.org
As you will see, when I wrote to Kai, I also pasted my original pitch for his perusal. I've done the same below for the sake of simplicity.
MY LETTER TO KAI RYSSDAL
Dear Kai and E-mail Reading Assistant(s) to Kai,
I hate to even use this term, but you rank among my most favorite, uh, radio personalities. Are you really just a radio personality? I think not!
Normally, I don't use a first-name salutation unless I am really good friends with the person or they are a family member. (The latter group, oftentimes, receives affixed titles such as "Uncle," or "Aunt," or "G-ma." But you get my point). In any event, you and your listeners are aware that you have a delightful sense of humor and a sharp wit - that's why I thought I'd just call you Kai. I hope you don't mind.
Since we're on a first name basis, allow me to introduce myself as such. My name is Cryn, and I am a promotional writer and marketer for Robert Applebaum's Forgive Student Loan Debt Movement. I am also a blogger about the student lending crisis - here's my blog: Education Matters. Forgive Student Loan Debt Movement, started in January 2009 on Facebook, has, as of 10:39 EST on Saturday, August, 22nd, grown to 225,725 members!
Here's the link to the Facebook group and here's a link to Applebaum's site.The movement, however, is not just restricted to the internet. I am a D.C. resident (truth be told, I live in NOVA), so I am taking my efforts to the Hill. I have already had a few conversations with city and state politicians about the movement and Applebaum's proposal to forgive student loan debt. Now is the time to do some old-fashioned grassroots promoting and head up to the Hill and wait in some offices. I'm sure I'll be getting to know some staffers very well in the next coming months, and I look forward to eating cafeteria food alone and reading lots of books. (I think that's why we still have books around - it allows us lunch loners to read and eat without the risk of looking pathetic. It helps all the possible onlookers with lunch partners too. If we lunch loners have a book, they don't take pity upon us).
I pitched your Pitch Office too (pasted pithy pitch below).
I try to be a bit witty myself, but this movement is dead serious. We need your help, Kai! We need you to do a story about this movement! You do an excellent job of reporting about serious issues in a humorous way. Nevertheless, these are issues that matter to your listeners, and they understand the reasons for your delivery. (I studied humor and laughter as a Ph.D. student at Brown, so I've studied these tactics used during the Reformation and so forth).
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Respectfully,
Ms. C. Cryn Johannsen
Promotional Writer and Marketer, Forgive Student Loan Debt
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MY PITCH
Dear Marketplace Friends:
Clearly, you never receive pitches, and I'm glad to be the first one.
Anyhow, I got a great story idea. It's a tale about a guy named Robert Applebaum. You see, he's gotten a whole lot of powerful people and their lobbying friends inside the beltway in a tizzy. (I am proud to say that I'm part of that effort and have been debating heavily with analysts at the College Board over the past few days). But what's this tale all about? It's about the student loan crisis. The College Board was recently written about in an article entitled, "Is Student Loan Debt Really a Problem." That story has not been very popular. The link below will lead you to the outraged public. In that story, two people from the College Board, Patricia Steele and Sandra Baum, argued that the stories circulating around the putative "student loan crisis" are sensationalistic.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2009/08/12/is-student-debt-really-a-problem/comments/
I was one of the first to alert Robert Applebaum, the Founder and Executive Director of the Forgive Student Loan Debt Movement, and he let his supporters know about this article. This article is not the first to be published on the topic. In fact, if you take a look at Applebaum's website here, you'll see that he's posted related pieces. The posters have similar things (there are those who are totally against it too) to say. The ones who support this movement tell their stories of what they owe and how they have decided not to have children, how they can't buy homes, cars - simple things. The haters tell those people that they were "irresponsible" for deciding to go to school. The haters call the debtors "brats," "snobs," etc. As you can see, it's a heated topic.
I also have a blog that's related to education here.
So, you're out of ideas for your next show. I'm the FIRST person to ever suggest a show. Whaddya think? Do you want to do a show on the student lending crisis? It's a hot topic, and it keeps getting hotter . . .
Sincerely,
Ms. C. Cryn Johannsen
Promotional Writer and Marketer, Forgive Student Loan Debt Movement (225,725 supporters and growing!)
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