Lucky S.Michaels: 04/01/2008

04.15.08

Prepare for The New York Times Review of "Shelter", by Lucky S. Michaels

My Blog Account; The sequence of events resulting in Coverage in The New York Times

.......all the e-mails, phone calls, text messages that i could track down to give insight to how we got from having my book mailed with a press kit and a note to getting all of the necessary material ready to go on press by an unclear deadline. (Most of the work sent is likely going to be overlooked or discarded with the rest of the unsolicited mail, very few make it into the right hands, and even fewer make the final cut when the editing process is through)

(Note that i saw the following e-mail in a FWD: from Rachel on Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 4:01 PM)

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:33 PM (e-mail)

Hi Rachel,

My editor, Patrick *******, passed on to me a copy of "Shelter" with your letter and note. I'm the bureau chief in charge of the City Room blog and I think this would be a great item for us to write. Can you send me some information on how to reach Lucky and are there some images from the book that we could use to make a slideshow on NYTimes.com? (We would need 10 images.)

Please let me know; my contacts are below. Thanks.

Sewell *******

Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 4:01 PM (e-mail)

Hi All,

The New York Times is going to be covering Shelter! They would like to interview Lucky and present a slideshow of images for their City Room blog. Lucky, a reporter named Sewell ******* will be in touch with you and I'm assuming that you can work with him to make a selection of images for the piece (see his email below) but let me know if you have any questions or need anything from me. Be sure you let him know about any upcoming events and let him know the web address for the book and/or Shelter. Sometimes the Times can be finicky about naming websites but at least this way he'll have it.

Congrats!

Rachel

(Included the FWD Message: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:33 PM)

Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 5:46 PM (e-mail)

(Lucky)

FYI, I reread the email Sewell sent me and he'll be in touch with you later this week or early next week so don't panic if you don't hear from him right away.

Rachel

(Note that I saw all of the following e-mails in a single Forward sent to me Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 8:08 PM)

26 Mar 2008, at 22:41 (e-mail)

(gigi)

Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention, but I think that we need to honor the ciyroom blog first since it was brought to them and they committed to it. We'd love to see the book and would have considered it, but my fear is that it's just too late and it's awkward to try to scoop our own paper.

Please let us know first the next time so we can secure it!

Best,

Kira

I look forward to seeing the book.

26 March 2008, (e-mail)(kira & rachel)

but I think this is such a NY story that maybe both can run it? It's the fifth anniversary.

Rachel has already given Lucky ******* contacts to Sewell, so I don't want to create a mess.

I leave it to you to sort it out in a nice way.

Thanks a lot.
Best to all of you.

ciao

gigi

ps. did you view the slideshows on youtube from trolleybooks?

26 March 2008 22:54:32 GMT (e-mail)

(gigi)

We are two totally different sections of the paper, and have never been connected. It would be very unusual for us to have a photo essay in the magazine and then a blog on the city section page. The two don't ever connect. I know it seems like we should all work together because we are one big newspaper, but there are so many facets and it's so huge that it might already be out of our hands. I look forward to seeing the book and definitely let us know first the next time you have a story idea. Thanks.

Best,

Kira

26 March 2008 (e-mail)(kira)

I thought both of you could work on it.

Don't understand why you should feel like playing against each other when in fact one can help the other....

Sorry for not having taken this in my hands before.

ciao
gigi

ps. we are sending you a book anyway.

7 April 2008 15:15:46 BST (e-mail)

Dear Kathy,

thank you for your appreciation of the book Shelter, although I read the rest of your email with a certain sense of desmay, still in the hope that your message might be the result of a misunderstanding. And this pushes me to get back in touch.

I proposed Shelter for your consideration as a feature and not to publish it as a book excerpt. No magazine in the world could commission such a story. Five years of a person life working everyday with such difficult cases as the LGTBQ homeless kids and plus managing to document this in such a photographic mature way.

On top of this, the concept of the shelter was thought by such a distinguish New Yorker as Sylvia Rivera, and it has developed in the heart of Manhattan, where after 5 years three of these shelters are now operating. And April is the 5th anniversary.
These are the reasons why I think the story should be run, and the fact that we publish the book first is just a pure coincidence.

Sorry for insisting like this, but I can assure it's not for personal gains.

In whichever case, you remain a highly respected friend and my note is not meant to be polemic.

Yours
gigi

Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 8:08 PM (e-mail)

Dear Gigi,

I totally appreciate the additional detail you have given me. I wish I could tell you that we have the extra pages for work produced independently of The Times Magazine, but unfortunately we do not.

Kira mentioned that you might be doing something with The Times web which is a great idea, because of course they have more flexible space than we do on the printed page.

Take care,

Kathy

Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 8:08 PM (e-mail)

(lucky)

this is the exchange with Kathy.

Begin forwarded message:

******* (FWD messages from 26 Mar 2008, at 22:41-Wed through Apr 9, 2008 at 8:08 PM)

(gigi)

(Note I did not see this next e-mail until... Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:21 AM)

Monday, April 14, 2008 6:35 PM (e-mail)

Rachel,

I plan to call Lucky tomorrow, but in the meantime, an important
request: We'd like to get some high-resolution images from the book to
run as a slideshow on the Web -- and possibly, to run in print as
well. Is this possible and have you/Lucky already picked out images
you are OK with reproducing for publicity purposes? Please let me know
-- I am also cc'ing Emily *******, Metro Web producer for The Times, and
Becky *******, a Times photo editor who works with Metro -- please cc
them on any images (or let me know if you have an FTP site where we
can download the images).

Thanks much,

Sewell

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 (Marsha P. Johnson Center 10am-6pm shift "normally")

Arrive to work at the Marsha P. Johnson Center for the day expecting a normal shift until my whole day and week was changed with 1 phone call (leading to many more calls and e-mails and text messages... which lead to this blog)

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:21 AM (e-mail)

HI Lucky,

Please see message forwarded below (FWD from Monday, April 14, 2008 6:35 PM) re publicity images for Shelter. Rachel, as you probably know, is away for a few weeks, so if you have any questions email me at *******

Thanks.

Best,

Shoshana (prestal)

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:27 AM 00:03:04

(received.phone.call) 1-111-111-1 New York Times Reporter Sewell

The Phone Call from the New York Times reporter came completely unexpected after being passed the informational e-mails less than an hour before before the call was over. Everything that i was expected to do would begin with a 3 minute phone call and end by the next morning. I was first informed that The New York Times needed 10 high-res images uploaded to the FTP today and that he would call me at the end of his busy day for the interview and to make myself available at 5pm for about 30 minutes. I told him i was unsure of the possibility of getting it all done in a day due to not being properly informed and that it may take a few days. He said it pretty much needed to be done by his deadline in the morning and he hoped I could find a way to help them in whatever way I could as they would be waiting on the uploads. (Prior warning of deadlines are typically better than finding out last minute by the only others that could be of assistance but are unable to be contacted during the race against time. The stress of reorganizing everything, in an already packed schedule, to allow this task to be the top priority and be done ASAP plus the added anxiety of the pending interview via the phone is enough to make most anybody second guess every action you make until it is clear that its done)

As quick as he was on the line giving me all that information condensed to a minute, he was transferring me to his co-worker's (Emily) line to discuss the details of uploading to the New York Times FTP... She said she needed them today and i could upload them to their FTP if not already on an FTP that she could access.. then proceeded to orate the details of the FTP Server, Account and Password... which i kindly requested in an e-mail to assure that when the time came nothing was miscommunicated or spelled etc. not to mention the shock of it all preventing me from thinking fast enough to even know how it was executable in far less than a normal business day.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:33 PM 00:00:06

(dialed.phone.call) 212-796-2428
... no answer

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:42 PM (e-mail)

Hi Lucky -

Thanks so much for carving time out of your busy day for us! When you have a moment, here's the information for our FTP site:

*******
*********
***********

Inside the "incoming" folder is another one called "Lucky Photos for Shelter Post". Will all photos have caption and credit information imbedded or will you send me a separate doc with that? Please call with any questions or if you think you won't have time to shoot this over.

Best,
Emily

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:16 PM 00:00:04

(dialed.phone.call) Kate
... no answer attempt # 1

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:17 PM 00:00:03

(dialed.phone.call) Kate
... was going to talk about the New York Times tasks that had come up and inform her of my shift change and status of the things i was working on and needed to move later or re-assign for the day, but alas no answer attempt # 2

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:18 PM 00:04:24

(dialed.phone.call) MCCNY
Talked with William regarding the tasks for the day and the status of them thus far, also informing him of attempting to reach kate regarding the New York Times situation and needing to leave before hearing back from her later in the day(due to the timeliness and importance of the new assignment and its deadline). Got the okay to go in the event of not hearing back in time as long as i follow-up as soon as she could be contacted.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:26 PM

(sent.text.message)Kate
Call me.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 1:55 PM (e-mail)

Sewell,

call my cell phone for the interview. ******* i am going to work on sorting and uploading images to the nytimes ftp

Lucky

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 2:00 PM

Left the Johnson Center to head to Brooklyn to get my hard drives and bring back to a mac computer of a fellow photographer who could give editing opinions for the selection and owns a better computer with faster processing speed than mine which was the only way to get the job done before the next day after working on uploads all night...

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 3:02 PM 00:02:24

(received.phone.call) Kate
Kate was returning my call to get the news about my altered schedule for the day and to confirm that we could reschedule our 3pm Tuesday meeting for Thursday at 3pm for this week. Also gave the lo-down of what all was in the works and covered and to what extent before i left, letting her know i tied up the essential tasks and moved the rest of the workday to wed and thurs and made sure Tanino could cover the supervision until Kate's arrival for the evening supervision shift.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 5:29 PM 00:00:57

(received.phone.call) 1-111-111-1 New York Times Reporter Sewell

Called my cell to inform me that his co-worker was still waiting on the images to be uploaded to the FTP and put off the interview until i got them uploading. guess he did not realize i had to drop everything at work, then get home to pick up hard drives, then get to a friend/colleague to get his advice, assistance, and to use his mac which is brand new with a much higher processing speed than my home PC. At that point i was getting them renamed and copyright info on the MetaData and hadn't even opened the FTP site to start uploads.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:06 PM 00:01:46

(received.phone.call) 1-111-111-1 New York Times Reporter Sewell

Called to reschedule the interview for after a panel discussion he was out the door for at a college in the city. Informed me that he would call from home about 8:30 and apologized for the crazy busy day that he was having and the one he figured i was having as well.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:10 PM 00:01:30

(dialed.phone.call) John
I was leaving a voicemail about the new interview time and volunteering to mentor a client of our Homeless Youth Service program, when a call came in...

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:11 PM 00:09:50

(recieved.phone.call) John
He dropped the phone while picking up my call, or something of the sort. we talked about him mentoring Mellisa next tue instead of this week due to her being sick and having enough volunteers at the Johnson Center according to Tanino's update. Said I would call back when done with interview to tell him how it went... the sequence of events had him in bed way before i was done working or even starting this blog.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:21 PM 00:17:16

(dialed.phone.call) Clare
While i was rushing the work on the files to get them done by the 6:30PM deadline and interview, i saw a tab flashing clare's name which told me that she saw me online and was trying to IM me, i would imagine due to my lack of calling her today as planned... this was to no avail as i did not feel comfortable stopping the uploading to read or message her back. So i called quickly, while not missing a beat of the task at hand, to inform her of the good news the busy news and the coming follow-up call when life resumed at a normal pace... i owe you a call and will soon.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:52 PM 00:02:54

(dialed.phone.call) Tanino
Touched base to let him know the interview hadn't happened as planned and i was waiting for it and finishing the files to add to the FTP. Informed him of the now 8:30pm interview and told him i would call when done and avoid calling due to not knowing the exact time and length of the pending call.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:55 PM 00:00:04

(dialed.phone.call) Kate
(no answer)...see next call

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:56 PM 00:01:30

(dialed.phone.call) 212-222-6003 Johnson Center
Got ahold of Kate to let her know of the progress and talk about the rest of the week's altered shift/s.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 8:27 PM 02:07:14

(received.phone.call) New York Times Reporter, Sewell (cell phone number)

Now that he was home and ready to do the interview properly, i had no idea what would follow and was shocked when over 2 hours later i was ending the call, which was...

The longest, most comprehensive interview about the book "Shelter", my biographical information, and my history from birth to the book's Pub Date. Much of my life story was chronicled and he brought clarity to each detailed piece of information from my past, like no other has typically been able to or interested in following due to the confusing narrative of my life.

Half-way through the interview, my phone began to ring... there was no point in even checking the caller ID as no call was more important than the one i was in the middle of. It rang until it went to Voicemail.

I feel as though everything important in my entire life was condensed to 2 hours somehow unfathomable to me. Due to an obvious lack of relevance for the New York Times Piece/s; the only thing left out was my relationship history, aside from his matter-of-fact way of asking about my gender identity and the primary gender of my sexual partner/s. All the key roles in my life up to the book being published were talked about at least briefly, which means if you read this blog more than anybody else probably does, then you were talked about for a few minutes and usually more during my interview by a New York Times reporter, and then all our experiences were squished in and summed up to the best of my ability, and likely generalized in the notes/ or transcribed recording. They may run none of it, but you may be mentioned. The New York Times holds all the cards now, so if any or all get left out of the article, just now you were at least part of the story, just not included in the final edit of the NEWS.

Haven't gotten feedback about the images i selected to send yet. more blogging tomorrow maybe... maybe not... this whole writing stuff is less rewarding than using my camera/s.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 9:42 PM 00:00:00

(received.phone.call) Tanino

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 10:39 PM 00:00:41

(dialed.phone.call) Voicemail
Tanino... leaving a message to call him back to hear all about the interview... was clearly excited to hear the news, and couldn't wait guessing that it could be finished, yet knew there was a chance he may have been calling at a bad time which he realized during the message, accounted for and then asked for a call back when i got a chance. This posting is the call he didn't get so i don't have to repeat it to everybody over and over tomorrow and the coming week/s

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 10:41 PM

(sent.text.message) Tanino
Just finished now... Will call you after a beer. You called in the middle.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 10:59 PM

(received.text.message) John
Hey there - hope all went well with interview... Talk to you tomorrow.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:02 PM

(sent.text.message) John
Just finished and am relaxing. drinking and destressing after a 2 hour interview.

Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:17 PM 00:43:58

(received.phone.call) New York Times Reporter, Sewell (cell phone)

Sewell needed more detailed background info on myself and the main characters after having finished reading a good majority of the text from "Shelter" Also needed me to track down the Gigi's last name with correct spelling which is not in the book, meaning i had to get my hands on the contract at home... said i would would text it when i had found it.
he said "The piece is coming along great, I think you will be pleased with it."

Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 12:08 AM

(sent.text.message) Tanino
Just got done with another long interview session with NyT. Will call tomorrow to tell all as he may call again to get it done by morning.

Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 12:15 AM

Packed up my hard drives and headed home for a last name and to blog it all before the New York Times comes out with a Blog in the city room of NewYorkTimes.com with a slideshow on the blog. Then to be followed by a written piece and just a couple images in the New York Times Paper due out most likely in Friday's paper or at least by this weekend.... look for it and get a copy. Hope this day was worth the end product/s...

Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 1:26 AM

(sent.text.message) New York Times Reporter, Sewell (cell phone)

Gigi *******

(last name was included in the text message... read the article to find it if it appears)

Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 2:27 AM

(received.text.message) New York Times Reporter, Sewell (cell phone)
Thanks much

Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 7:27 AM

Of course The New York Times pieces that will come out will be worth every minute of Tue, Apr 15, 2008 and all of the work dating back to April 3rd of 2003. BLOG took me until 6:52 AM

Happy (Belated) 5 Year Anniversary to Sylvia's Place
...and a huge congratulations to all of our youth(current and alumni) who have done something to improve their life by finding Sylvia's Place and then working on each step needed for the significant, life-changing accomplishments that come by loving and allowing yourself to Be Love.

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