Thanks to readers emails, I discovered Refinery29 ran my essay After the Fire, unauthorized, w/out compensating me, *and w/out even crediting me.* Its credited to Nerve. Which is fascinating, b/c I dont recall Nerve living through the agony of TJs death. Below Ive included the email I just sent Refinery29 and to @BenReininga, who doesnt allow his name to be tagged, apparently, but w/ whom Ive been Facebook friends for years. Weve followed each other on Twitter nearly as long. Im the only person on the planet w/ my name. He was the Nerve editor on After the Fire and was the editor on the Refiniery29 incarnation. I.e. he could have contacted me myriad ways had he chosen to do so. Heres the essay, now called The First Year: Learning to Cope After My Boyfriend Died. Please, everyone, take screenshots of this: refinery29/nerve/26 Ben, Imagine my surprise when I started receiving email from readers, saying how much said essay means to them. Several are from others whose partners have died. I checked my Google alerts. Nothing from Refinery 29. I searched for my name on Refinery 29. Nothing. One reader included the title. I searched for that and, of course, said essay appeared. Ben, we worked so well together at Nerve. Weve been Facebook friends for years and, also, have followed each other on Twitter nearly as long. I considered you a colleague and a friend. You and I talked on the phone several times when you edited my essays at Nerve. You *know* how deeply personal this essay is to me. How could you possibly, in good conscience, run it again w/out telling me? And to run it uncredited? And unauthorized and w/out compensation? Is this how Refinery 29 operates? Next week is the five year anniversary of TJs death. My first book comes out soon from Future Tense Books and, most importantly, Im engaged. Im happy again. You could have approached me and we could have figured something out. Nerve owns the rights on its site. It cannot, by law, re-purpose a writers work w/out notifying them and compensating them. And yes, I saved all my original emails from when Nerve first ran the piece. Nerve didnt write the piece. I did. And given the agony I lived with for years after TJs death, its cruel youd credit it to Nerve. Jesus, Ben. Youre better than this. Perhaps the most inane part? That essay won Most Notable Essays of 2011 in Best American Essays 2012. It was an honor to be listed among Joan Didion, Christopher Hitchens, and Junot Diaz. How do you intend to financially compensate me? Also, human decency might prompt you to apologize. Litsa Dremousis litsadremousis Litsa Dremousis is the author of Altitude Sickness, a wry and candid examination of the inanity of rock and mountain climbing and the mainstream culture that venerates them. Future Tense Books, October 2014. Her essay After the Fire was selected as one of the Most Notable Essays of 2011 by Best American Essays 2012. She’s a Contributing Editor at the literary site The Weeklings, which partners with Salon and has received praise from The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, Slate, and others. The Seattle Weekly named her one of 50 Women Who Rock Seattle. Her work appears in The Believer, BlackBook, Esquire, Jezebel, McSweeneys, Men’s Health Monkeybicycle, MSN, New York Magazine, Nerve, Nylon, The Onions A.V. Club, Paste, Poets & Writers, Salon, Slate, The Weeklings, on NPR, KUOW, and additional venues. She has interviewed Sherman Alexie, The Black Keys, Betty Davis (the legendary, reclusive soul singer), Death Cab for Cutie, Estelle, Ron Jeremy, Janelle Monae, Alanis Morissette, Kelly Rowland, Wanda Sykes, Rufus Wainwright, Ann Wilson and several dozen others. Contact her at litsa.dremousis@gmail. Twitter @LitsaDremousis.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 01:03:48 +0000
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