From the Editors

November 17, 2009

We want to hear about the unique, unusual, creative, strange, interesting ways you and your family, friends, and household pets celebrate the holidays. Is there an accidental custom your family has turned into a time-honored tradition? A special meal? A sibling-only field trip to the roller derby? Tell us all about it.

For this month’s Of Recent Note: Tell us your nontraditional holiday traditions.

Email your answer to bridget@themorningnews.org by Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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October 25, 2009

Let’s celebrate the age-old art of scaring yourself silly. This month, we’re wondering: What was your first scary cinema experience like—in theaters or at home, eagerly anticipated or forced into viewing by your much heartier friends/evil older siblings?

For this month’s Of Recent Note: Tell us about the first time you saw a horror movie.

Email your answer to bridget@themorningnews.org by Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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September 17, 2009

With the imminent release of the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are, we’re caught up in a wave of nostalgia, and our thoughts turn to the bookshelves of our youth. For this month’s Of Recent Note we want you to tell us: What is your most beloved children’s book?

Email your answer to bridget@themorningnews.org by Sunday, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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August 25, 2009

Maybe it’s fitting all the luggage into the trunk of the car, or picking the right time in the movie to go to the bathroom, or knowing when fruit is ripe, or getting a great deal on car insurance. For this month’s Of Recent Note we want you to tell us: What’s your hidden talent?

Email your answer to bridget@themorningnews.org by Monday, August 31, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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August 10, 2009

Six years ago this Friday, a major power grid failed and a stripe of Northeastern North America was plunged into darkness. For a special anniversary Of Recent Note we want you to tell us: What are your memories of the 2003 blackout?

Email your story to bridget@themorningnews.org by Thursday, August 13, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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July 26, 2009

From our president’s citizenship to the moon landing to rent control, conspiracy theories are eating up headlines. For this month’s Of Recent Note we want you to tell us: What is your favorite conspiracy theory?

Maybe your uncle told you about it, maybe it was Fox News, or maybe you just KNOW. Whatever your source, please send your shadowy plot to bridget@themorningnews.org by Sunday, August 2, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words.

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June 22, 2009

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Road House is no Citizen Kane (though some may argue it’s a poor man’s Casablanca), but we both know which one you’re going to stop to watch when you’re channel-surfing past TNT. (Swayze, of course.) The critics may often be right, but they’re not paying your cable bill.

For this month’s Of Recent Note we want you to tell us: What are your favorite worst movies?

Please send your entries to bridget@themorningnews.org by Sunday, June 28, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words, and please include a link to your web site.

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May 27, 2009

This month’s Of Recent Note topic is:

Recession Confessions

Are you stealing paper as well as pens from the office? Furnishing your apartment with castoffs? Attending parties you wouldn’t normally attend just for the free food? Have you become a coupon clipper? Maybe you’re not proud of them, but they help—tell us your coping mechanisms.

Please send your entries to bridget@themorningnews.org by Sunday, May 31, at 10 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words, and please include a link to your web site.

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May 23, 2009

This month’s Of Recent Note topic is:

What have you been paranoid about lately?

There’s always job loss and pandemics to worry about, and zoo carousels that go much faster than a zoo carousel ought to go, and two-year-old nieces who can run up and down the stairs faster than you can. And then there’s sunburn and ghosts and fax machines. These are by no means all real-life examples.

Please send your entries to bridget@themorningnews.org by Wednesday, May 27, at 10 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words, and please include a link to your web site.

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April 17, 2009

This month’s Of Recent Note topic is:

Your Favorite Print Periodicals

The ones you love—whether thriving, surviving, or recently defunct.

Tell us about your morning coffee with the New York Sun, your favorite section of the Seattle P-I, the vice-like grip you have on the last Washington Post Book World— or how the “Outlook” section isn’t bad, either. Tell us about the Timeses, the Posts, the Globes you love, the monthly or weekly (or downgraded to quarterly) magazines you delight in finding in your mailbox, or how you’ve saved all your past issues of Real Simple and plan to sell them for profit on eBay.

Please send your entries to bridget@themorningnews.org by Wednesday, April 22, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words, and please include a link to your web site.

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April 13, 2009

TMN is looking for an intern for Summer 2009. The internship is unpaid and done where you like. You’re required to supply your own computer, web connection, and green visor. Most likely your work will include helping out with the headlines and a few editorial projects, but it also can involve grunt stuff like handling merchandise fulfillment, or fun stuff like shopping for beer at the Retreat. Probably 10-20 hours a week of work.

Here’s what our three most recent interns have to say about the experience:

I’ve been an intern for a number of places, and wow most of them sucked. You do tons of work and all you get is a lot of really awkward no-eye-contact, am I right? Well, not so at TMN. First off, most of the work is actually pretty fun and rewarding. Second, the staff really is the coolest bunch of people you’ll ever meet in your life. They’ll look you in the eye, listen to you talk, remember your name. It’s incredible! So apply now. You won’t regret it.—Matthew Robison

TMN people are the nicest, funniest people you’ll ever meet, and TMN projects are the nicest, funnest, most challenging work you’ll ever do. TMN will make you use the internet in ways you never did before, and never in the oh-god-I-just-spent-three-hours-on-YouTube kind of way. You couldn’t ask for a better summer job.—Nozlee Samadzadeh

An internship with TMN is hugely enriching. The whole TMN family is warm and friendly. Interns have a unique opportunity to soak up expertise from a fantastic pool of people, and work on projects that will leave you invigorated and inspired. Dive in! It’s quite possibly the best way to spend a summer.—Mike Smith

The candidate we’re looking for has good web chops, a wide taste in reading materials, and an interest in online publishing. Applications should include a CV and a paragraph or two on why you want to work for TMN, any relevant experience, and how you came to start reading the site. Please keep things brief. Bonus points if you can name the song Andrew and Rosecrans sang in the drunk karaoke video that once appeared in this space.

Send us everything via email to talk@themorningnews.org by midnight, Monday, April 27. Thanks!

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March 18, 2009

This month’s Of Recent Note topic is:

Your Favorite Thing About the Recession

Maybe it’s that you’re suddenly thankful for your thankless job. Maybe it’s that Restaurant Week turned into Restaurant Month and then Restaurant Forever. Maybe it’s your shiny new stimulus check. Or maybe it’s all the sales—and if so, which ones?

Please send your entries to bridget@themorningnews.org by Tuesday, March 24, Monday, March 30, at 9 p.m. Eastern. Entries should be around 150 words, and please include a link to your web site.

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