3-star award: a math lesson
A few weeks back, Standard news editor Charlie Johnson did a cordial story recognizing Thomas B. Vaughn and me for being Three-Star letter winners with The Tennessean. Spinning off Johnson?s piece, allow me to share with you a special Three-Star story.
Each daily edition of The Tennessean publishes seven to nine letters to the editor (depending on length) on its editorial page, and those letters address a broad gamut of subjects: sports, social, legal, political, military, etc., at all levels, local, national, and world. The best, most thought-provoking letter for that particular day, as chosen by the editorial staff, is printed at the top of the page and is designated by three stars.
Spring of each year, a banquet is thrown for the Three-Star letter winners of the previous year. (For example, the Three-Star winners in 2005 attended a banquet April 29, 2006.) The last few years, the Three-Star Forum Banquet has been held at the posh Maxwell House Hotel located in Nashville?s Metro Center area ??and a gala event it is! Approximately 365 Three-Star winners gather in a large ballroom; a Tennessean staff member hosts each table; a superb three-course meal is served; a top-notch pianist entertains the crowd; a guest speaker is featured; and the evening indexes with each Three-Star winner afforded the opportunity to stand at a microphone and, for exactly one minute, address the crowd, or anyone in particular, on any subject.
To be a Three-Star winner with The Tennessean, indeed, is a “feather” in any writer?s cap. I won my first Three-Star award back in 1999, and it concerned the death of Chicago Bears? running back Walter Payton. Payton, the NFL?s all-time leading rusher, just had died from liver cancer, Nov. 1, 1999. After reading about Payton?s death, I submitted to The Tennessean a letter praising Payton not only for his accomplishments on the gridiron, but for the courage and dignity he displayed in battling his disease up until the very end.
A couple days after submitting the Payton letter, I purchased that day?s edition of The Tennessean, turned to the editorial section and ? lo and behold ??learned that I had won a Three-Star award for my letter about Payton! Along with an immediate surge of literary accomplishment, I was congratulated by several friends over the course of the next few days and went about my business as usual.
A few weeks later, via postal mail, I received an official letter from The Tennessean. Opening the letter, I couldn?t believe my eyes: It was a check made out to me, payment for winning the Three-Star award for my letter about Walter Payton! I hopped inside my car and headed straight to the bank. Arriving at the bank, I strolled inside and approached an available teller. Endorsing the back of the check, I handed it to the teller and said, “Cash, please.” Smiling, she took the check and commenced processing it. While she processed the check, I thought to myself, “This isn?t bad, $400 for a 250-word letter to the editor.”
As I pondered my new-found wealth, I heard the teller say, “There you are, sir.” However, much to my dismay, when I reached to claim my stash, I saw there only were four $1 bills, not four $100 bills as I?d expected. I asked the teller if it was some kind of joke, and she replied that if there was a joke, the joke was on me. (I was acquainted with the teller, by the way.) Come to find out, amidst all the excitement, I had overlooked the position of the decimal point and had mistaken the check to be $400, when, in fact, it was $4.
Lesson learned: Always count the decimal points before counting your money.
Mike Vinson is a local columnist who can be reached at [email protected].