Some feedback I got from a teacher

I got this e-mail from a teacher about my Saturday column entitled, "Shaker joints not so bad." Following is my response to her.

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Perhaps because at 34 I'm an "old fogey"... or

perhaps before reading your article on Saturday I spent part of the morning explaining to my seven year old daughter why some wacko would leave a "nasty picture" on the slide at the park on 8th street... or

perhaps it's because my 12 year old son happily delivers the NonPareil each day and then comes home to digest the great knowledge he has disseminated across the neighborhood...0r

perhaps it's because I haven't lived here all that long and so was mistaken about the generally accepted community standards of the people of Council Bluffs...or

perhaps it's just because I still believe in "all the news that's fit to print"...

Whatever the reason - I think you crossed the line with Saturday's column on, of all things, the proper etiquette for strip club visits. I have chosen to believe that you must have simply had writer's block and so dug into an old file labeled "Column ideas to bring repulsive pictures to the minds of my readers". Whatever could have possessed you to think that the subscribers of the Council Bluffs paper wanted to learn how many places across this great land that you have visited "jiggle joints"? The article might have been great advice for a fraternity newsletter or even as a side-bar in Playboy but not in our community newspaper.

Last week I received an advertisement from the Omaha World Herald encouraging me to use their Newspapers in Education program. I had thought about seeing if Council Bluffs had a similar program for my high school classroom, but if your column is what is getting by the NonPareil editors, I think I'll stick with Omaha.

Greg, I believe that you can do better! Please do!

Ruthie Oberg
Council Bluffs, IA

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you're right. you probably haven't been living here long enough.

Forcing my opinions on other people is my job. That's what I get paid for. That is not, however, what a teacher gets paid for. I find it offensive that you would suggest "sticking" with the Omaha paper which is widely known to never cover ANYTHING in this community unless it's murder, severe animal neglect, pedophilia, bizarre hickishness or strip club related. They also have some of the worst, most boring and NonPoignant columnists I've ever read. And all because you disagree with me. I am the only Council Bluffs born and raised columnist that any of these Council Bluffs kids has ever seen. I am routinely discussed in classrooms and have even been read from the pulpit and invited to speak at churches.

I can assure you that this community finds my subject matter plenty acceptible and if you'd like to see some comments from other teachers, school board members and students FROM council bluffs that i count as friends and fans, I'd be happy to pass them along.

You did give me a good column idea though.

thanks for reading,
greg jerrett