Outside Worcester

Back in July, when I first heard about the advent of a new monthly magazine called "Inside Worcester", I sent out an e-mail so that I could subscribe. Looking back on it now, the one line e-mail response I got back should've been enough of a warning... "Hi, Jeff, Thanks. I will may [sic] you a subscription form. Thanks for the feedback. ROD LEE."

Truly, a minor bit of functional illiteracy. I often make the same kind of mistakes here. It happens easily enough when you don't have an editor.

He did "may" me a subscription form right away, though, so I took a scan of it and made a post about it here.

I was very pleased to see a former T&G staffer out there creating something out of thin air. It promised to be something special, too, because on WTAG he made the comment, "I know where all the bodies are buried." And I gotta tell ya, I'd really like to read what someone who knows where all the bodies are buried in this town might have to say! So, I decided that I would give him whatever meager help I could by making a very positive, supportive post.

I wasn't very impressed with the delivery of the first issue, though. But, being a patient guy, I still stuck to my decision to be as positive and supportive as I could for this fledgling publication by posting about it here. I didn't bemoan the lateness of the premiere August issue not showing up in my mailbox until August was nearly over. I figured that it was much too early in the life of this publication to make any kind of negative comment about it at all... at the time. But at this stage of my complete dissatisfaction, I feel much more willing to point out that the last week of August is when the October issue of any competent monthly magazine you want to subscribe to will be about to find its way into your mailbox.

Mostly, though, I didn't want to be critical of the vapid promotional articles that could hardly be differentiated from the advertising, or the garish look of the whole thing. I just wanted to focus on the postiive. Somebody was trying something new. It was being done by a former T&G journalist... and a former T&G journalist who was saying that he knows where all the bodies are buried in this town. I really wanted to see this thing succeed so that, sooner or later, I could enjoy that implied promise of learning where all the bodies are buried in this town...

It was annoying to see, however, that the premiere issue presented a second bit of evidence that Mr Lee may well be a functional illiterate.

There were no markers placed on any locations where any bodies might be buried, either.

The second issue suffered from the same problems as the first issue. It didn't show up in my mailbox until the 28th of September. I was very annoyed by that because it was obvious the issue was available to others well before that. But, again, I decided to ignore the negative and focus on the positive and be a shill for this whole enterprise again, albeit with a mention of the "deadline-itis" Mr Lee appeared to be suffering from.

By the third issue, however, my patience with this joke of a magazine was exhausted. I posted about the fact that I hadn't gotten my October subscription issue on November 16th. The first comment to that post complained of having tried to subscribe, but their subscription check was sent back! And the second commenter said they had gotten their October issue three weeks earlier!

I sent Mr Lee an e-mail the same day that said, "It's the middle of November, and I haven't yet received my October issue."

I got a reply the next day that said, "Apologies, Jeff. You should have. I am dropping a copy in the mail today. ROD LEE."

It arrived in my mailbox a couple of days later, but I didn't bother posting about it because, let's face it, I had pretty much shot my wad of "nice" and "supportive" on this guy, and to be completely fair about it... there was absolutely nothing in that issue I found interesting at all.

And, again, no markers were placed on any locations where any bodies might be buried. I was beginning to feel ripped off at that point. But I'm a patient guy, and I decided to give it yet another chance...

On December 5th, I sent Mr Lee a fairly long and entirely supportive e-mail, calling attention to the fact that I hadn't received my November issue. A few hours later, though, the November issue arrived here.

It was truly a disappointment to have wasted any time reading it, however. No buried bodies, just a bunch of overly heavy stock glossy pages, very badly laid out, and impossible to differentiate between the ads and the so-called "journalism" squeezed in between them.

And that was the last issue I've ever gotten on my one year subscription. It's now the second week of March, and I've run out of any slightest interest in either chasing Mr Lee for the product I paid for, or asking for a refund, for that matter. When I get ripped off, I'd rather tell everybody about it.

The best review that "Inside Worcester" can ever hope for was done by Mike, a couple of months ago.

The argument Mike makes is one that I would tend to go one better on, however: That the InCity Times is positioned a lot higher on any ranking of Worcester publications than Rod Lee's bizarre attempt at showing "how it's done".

At this point, I would add that since the mailing address for "Inside Worcester" is all the way down in Linwood, he should think about changing the name of that garish piece of junk to "Outside Worcester"... Linwood is, after all, much closer to Rhode Island than it is to Worcester.