Opinion

James Giago Davies: Now and again I get an email from a reader

Friday, March 31, 2017

James Giago Davies. Photo courtesy Native Sun News Today

Now and again I get some e-mail
Just remember, this guy asked for it
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today

Every once in a while you get such a lulu of a letter from a person who didn’t like something you wrote you eventually have to share it. This letter was actually an e-mail sent to me in October 2016, and was prefaced with “Personal-Not to the editor.”

I read it, responded accordingly, but the guy who sent me the e-mail, Jonathan Whitehawk, Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma AIM, apparently was not satisfied with that and resent his e-mail by post, writing: “This letter was sent last Fall via email but I have noticed you not addressing it in your column so in the event you did not receive it I am sending it again by post.”

Oops, poor Jonathan Whitehawk needs some basic clarifying in his life. I never responded in print because he said it was personal. I kept it personal. I sent him a prompt e-mail reply, which he forgot I sent, otherwise he would have known I received his e-mail. I know he has a problem with attention to name detail because he called me Davis instead of Davies, so maybe he was waiting for an e-mail from a guy named Davis, and if he was, that would explain some stuff.

He opens his letter with “you write fairly well for an iyeska.” That’s probably not the best way to introduce yourself to a person, and what is he saying here, iyeska as a general rule don’t write well? Considering he displays no talent for writing at all in his letter, how does he even determine I write well?

He says when I write about sports and pets it’s usually interesting, but when I write about history and recent events I “derail myself.” Meaning, he’s not threatened by sports or pets, but when I write about that other stuff, since it doesn’t jibe with what he believes, I derail myself. He says “like many writers trying to make a point, you think you have to juxtapose, create a red herring or effect a phony comparison. Must be a Giago thing.”