My First Letter to the Editor, Published by Vanity Fair in 1995

Vanity Fair cover, June 1995

I used to read Vanity Fair pretty regularly in the 1990’s. I’m unsure how that got started, but I liked the pageantry and almost otherworldly insight into the world of the rich and powerful.

So much did I appreciate the magazine that I was compelled to submit a letter to the editor, my very first ever in the summer of 1995. I was living in rural Elkton, Kentucky working as a missionary for the Catholic Diocese of Owensboro.

Ahem.

Anyway, I read the June 1995 issue profiling Courtney Love. And I was pissed because I thought the author was holding her to a different standard than they would any male rock star (or parent.) So I dashed off a letter and mailed it with my catchy phrase “Keep on shocking them, girl.”

It was published in the August 1995 issue. I was so pleased. I’m sure I packed it all up somewhere, but I lost track of the physical copies after awhile. But I never forgot the thrill of seeing my words in print. And it inspired me to write letters elsewhere, mostly newspapers, of course. 25 years later, here we are with 15 years of award-winning blogging under my belt.

Now and back then, I was not a big fan of Courtney Love or Hole. I was living in a very rural part of Kentucky so most music was country with a few pop stations…