Feedback

Here are some of the most memorable comments we've received since launching the site, starting with the most recent emails on top. If you've got something to say, email Jon at jonreed@jonreed.net.

Please note that in addition to the feedback section below, there's lots of action to check out elsewhere between Jon and some Blockbuster employees who didn't think much of his Blockbuster skewering.

Dear Mr. Reed,

Having recently glanced through your website, I found much that was thoughtful and intriguing to be read. I particularly enjoyed the review of the latest from Hanoi Rocks. Having been presented their music years ago by an old friend, it was good to know that the band perseveres, even after an extended break.

I enjoyed seeing some of the topics covered under Jon Reed Goes Off on Family and Friends, but could not help but notice a glaring omission. Why fore, do you suppose, have there been no scores of essays written about Jonathan Berger?

As an old friend of 'the greatest writer of his generation,' would not the relationship bear some discussion? Who better to review his poetry, his essays, his general joie de vivre? Who, more than Mr.Reed, could assess the brilliance of Mr. Berger?

Simply food for thought in these starved times.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Berger

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JR responds:

Mr. Berger,

Thank you for your clever and not-overly-fawning tribute to my work as means of promoting your own. Both are worthy causes in their own right.

I would insist on pointing out that I never claimed I was the best writer of our generation, only the most important.

I'm glad you liked the Hanoi Rocks review, your letter is the first sign that the review may have some literary value outside of the small fishbowl of diehard fans who now either worship me or take my name in vain.

You do raise a good point, however. The "Friends and Family" section would be an ideal place for an essay on the evolution of our spectacularly volatile friendship. In said essay, I would pay special attention to the critical role I have played in your own artistic evolution, starting with my incisive edits of your rambling prose while you were still a young pup writing collegiate confessionals for the Toilet Paper, that Hampshire College rag that never quite lived up to its name.

But time is of the essence, and such projects must wait, alas, for a more permissive time. In the meantime, all I can do is recommend your fine web site, www.jonberger.com, to any of my readers who appreciate uncompromising, brave, and often brilliant poetry and prose - not to mention upcoming CDs and other innovations.

Your foil, admirer, and never your detractor,

Jon Reed

re: Garcia piece

Fuck You.

Jake

Thanks for your feedback Jake! Stop by again real soon!

This nice email made my day. Thanks again Bryan.

re: your work is great

Hello Jon Reed,

I am Bryan MacMillan, a 19 Year old student at a local college. I have, only this afternoon, stumbled across your site and it is one of the few needles in the haystack called "the Net". I have spent much of my,time scowering the Internet in the past looking for sites filled with opinionated views which I find relevant in my life and I must say this is one of the best. I have already clocked in roughly 4 hours of pure reading joy and I just wanted to tell you that your writing is art, very powerful and expressive. I may not agree on all facets of your articles, and yet I still do not cast your opinions into the wind because you write with a dignity that is not always present in modern writing. So from one reader, "thank you for the time you have spent creating these engaging articles" and I am sorry to those who cannot see your true reasons for your "writings" because they have been ingrained by society to see the forest for the tree.

Signed,
Bryan MacMillan

re: AT&T

Jon,

I read your letter to "AT&T Executive Complaint Center" on the Internet. I appreciate people who will not stand for the institutionalized stupidity of AT&T & accept glib explanations from low-level bureaucrats.

I'm going round & round with AT&T Broadband on a billing dispute & I looked in my database for telephone numbers to AT&T Corporate Resolution & AT&T Executive Appeals. I found that most of these telephone numbers have been disconnected.

I think these AT&T departments change their telephone numbers periodically so they will be difficult to contact. People who have gotten the shaft from AT&T need to band together and share information so AT&T's "cat-n-mouse" tactics won't work to hide the identities of managers who are charged with dispute resolution.

I'd appreciate any contact information you have for high level contact at AT&T that can get things done. Keep givin' 'em Hell!

Regards,

"Brian"

re: Garcia piece

I immediately in full irishness wanted to say "fuck you" at the start of your piece... alas though you've got it right lad and good on yuh....

John Tully Venice CA

re: Verizon

Hey, I like your site. I came across it when I did a search to see what the word on the street was about Verizon's evil email policy. I wanted to let you know there's a way to get around that (of course, their customer service didn't tell me...had to figure it out). I'm using Verizon DSL now... note there's no stupid verizon email address. Anyway...maybe you already figured it out, but if you want to know the details, let me know.

re: Cinemark

I'm passing your site on to some friends, and to my mom, who recently caused a scene at the movies when they showed commercials. She chanted through all the commercials "NO COMMERCIALS! BOYCOTT THIS CINEMA!" yeah mom!

-Audrey Borowski

Feedback from Friends:

Pat Borelli Comments:

Your site is fucking great. Rachel did a fucking great, great job with it. It's funny that I was just asking you about a web site for your writing. I read some of the Native America at the Threshold piece and really liked it. I hadn't seen it before. When did you write that? Over the next few weeks I'll go through it. Congratulations on that. I liked your opening, "who is jon reed" piece too.

Patrick Borelli

Mark Scoggins on Blockbuster:

My problem with blockfuckster is that in the name of "family values," they refuse to stock some material (and not just porn), and they actually censor other things. For example, some years ago I came home to see that my roommate and his girlfriend were watching "The Bad Lieutenant" (a challenging if not very good film), I said, "What are you watching?" He said, "'The Bad Lieutenant.'" I said, "Dude, you need to turn that off and take it back to the store. That's not "'The Bad Lieutenant.'" They had cut out some of the more interesting and important scenes, slapped an R instead of an NC-17 on it, and put it out there for all of America.

I may have to put up with big corporations controlling most media (unfortunately we don't have that problem here, but they do in Tulsa), but I won't tolerate a company trying to sell me morals along with my videos (or pizza a la Dominos - Weren't both company's owned at one time by the same guy - Wayne Huizenga?) If blockbuster is the only choice for me, I don't watch movies.

Tim Brown Comments:

I went to your site and have read practically every page, and I must say I really enjoyed myself. More specifically, I should break the awards down to separate categories: Winner of "Piece with the Most Practical Value" goes to the Informal Writing Guide. I am in the process of researching and writing content on "Folk" art for a website I am building, and I found your tips succinct, illuminating and empathetic. It also made it glaringly clear that I am in need of some such editor. Taking home the trophy for "Pure Entertainment Value" is the Corporate America section -- there's the humorist spirit of Don Novello as Lazlo Toth laced throughout, with appropriate sprinklings of righteous indignation and spicy political commentary. When you wrote Cinemark and enticed them into your complaint with a line like "I don't think my living room furniture is as comfortable as those chairs", it's gotta be entertainment! I laughed out loud! My favorite, however, was the wonderful little dystopian slice-of-life in "Blockbusted". Whilst reading that article, part of me screamed "Jon, get the fuck out of there and never go back!", while the other side pleaded "Jon, please go back and write another installment!" It casts a clear eye to what we have become, but tempers the bitterness with an acknowledgement that we are as much a part of the problem for being there as they are; in a sense, despite it all we'll still all here together--a notion that I can certainly appreciate.

Scott Wigton comments:

Very cool site! (I almost never use an exclamation -- is there something in your writing guide about that?) I look forward to exploring this site more in depth and certainly will in the coming days. I like what you and, I presume, Rachel have done with it.

I liked your anti-corporate rant -- just don't put it on any resumes.

Hey... I have now visited several times and was impressed by the content. I liked your essay on good writing. Helped me, actually.

Grant Medley comments:

Jon, this is a great site. Rachael has done a awesome job setting it out. It flows well. I just spent about half an hour on it, as I was eating my (until recently) frozen burritos at my desk overlooking a very green SE Tulsa. Here's some comments: Jon is a man of the people. There needs to be more feedback opportunities. I wanted to respond to your Entitlement 101 essay, but had to amble about until your "Meet Jon Reed" article before I found a way to send you an email. [Webmaster's note: Done. Thanks for the suggestion.]

Rachael claims to look better than you in a bikini. While this is probably true, I think that's a statement best left to the observer: get out there & pose for a shot yourself.

Grant Medley

Morris comments:

Loved the entitlement article. Personally, I go a little farther, being a Puritan and believing that too much sex is a big part of the equation. Living in Northampton has always been very strange for me since I went through engineering on the monk program and literally disdained anything that looked like fun. In recent years, mainly through my Hebrew studies, I've met plenty smart young Jewish kids attending poison ivy schools, and they have an incredibly high medicated rate. My theory is they aren't stupid enough to believe that they deserve the standard of living they enjoy and that they understand on some level that it isn't ethical or even moral. Closest thing to work most of them ever see are cherry internships, the nonpaying variety that self-select the rich. Unresolvable conflicts result in neurosis, and thanks to the miracle of school shrinks, frightened parents, and modern pharmacology, these kids will graduate into lives of fast track mediocrity rather than tackling the basic issue - that they are shorting their futures for feeling too good too young. It's gotten to the point that I wish the founding brothers hadn't put "pursuit of happiness" down on parchment, but they never could have guessed it would turn into an end-all, or that the dissipated class could ever become a majority. By the way, I understand the hypocrite and Puritan are often used as synonyms and I don't claim to live up to my own standards, but I believe standards are important, lest we all aspire to the sewer and never even make street level.

Morris

Comments from Jon's Mom:

Hey, Rachel--What a great website. It is such a tribute to you that through your persistence this has all come about. Three cheers for both of you, figuring out this whole corporate America stuff. And a lot of Jon's writing I had never seen. I really had to laugh at the great writing in Jon's letter to the Cinema company--that the only patrons left would be two Jeeps watching their debut!!! I can see why you have believed in this stuff. (I can't remember if I ever saw the Jerry Garcia piece. Very nice. Thanks so much--more than thanks.) It's about LIFE and claiming it. go girl!! peace and lots of love, Greta

It's your mom, Jon! Hooray for you, and thanks--more than thanks--to Rachel for helping to get the REAL Jon back in print! Wow! Go for it, man. peace and all love, Mom