Letters: Offices, doctors, Juarez, ads
TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL:We’ll begin our letters segment today at home, because, well, first of all that’s where the heart is — but also, for some, it’s where the work is.
Yesterday, we talked to Jane Berentson, the editor of Inc. Magazine, about the April issue of that magazine, and how it was written, edited and published with the whole staff working from home.
A lot of you wrote to say that working from home is not only nothing new, it’s also just a great alternative. Mary Jane Walsh from Basking Ridge, N.J., wasn’t entirely satisfied with the interview though. She wants to know if Berentson plans to ditch its real offices and go all virtual, all the time.
I did ask that question; it got left on the virtual cutting room floor. So here you go:
Ryssdal: Did anybody come to you in the course of this thing and say, “Hey Jane, are you trying to send us a message here? Is this what we’re looking at with Inc. Magazine, we’re going to cut half the people and everybody else is going to work from home and do it on the cheap?
Jane Berentson: No, not at all. I think there were some people on the outside that speculated about that, but we thought it was a great experiment and just wanted to see what it was like.
We’ve done a bunch of stories the past couple of weeks about the new health care law, including one about the possibility of a doctor shortage as 30 million people who’ll get coverage now try to get care. We mentioned MDs and nurse practitioners, but were reminded that we forgot some folks.
Donna Lee is a physician’s assistant from South Haven, Mich.
Donna Lee: You failed to recognize the role of physician’s assistants in providing primary care services. We are as important as nurse practitioners in extending physician care.
I talked to author and journalist Charles Bowden last week about his new book “Murder City.” It’s about Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and the endemic violence that drugs and, Bowden says, globalization have brought.
Rachel Teagle wrote from San Diego.
Rachel Teagle: Living in Southern California, I am continually amazed by how people actively avoid the truth of the border. Anyone who has crossed the border can attest to the truth of Bowden’s depiction. The border slaps you in the face, and it’s a reality we all need to come to terms with.
Finally, the other day we did a story about how advertisers and marketers are missing a big opportunity: single women. There are a lot of them out there not being advertised to, and they spend a whole lot of money. Most of our mail on that story was by way of thanks for pointing that out.
We did get a critique, though, from one of our Twitter followers: That after the story we didn’t play the right song. This one.
[Beyonce singing “Single Ladies”]
That’s Beyonce. I think that’s a pretty fun song, actually.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
