Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle locates my long-lost twin, Matthew Shay

Bio from book jacket with photo that looks a lot like me (and Matthew)
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle has apparently found my long-lost twin, Matthew.

On today’s WTE op-ed pages, Matthew Shay penned a rational argument for the Marketplace Fairness Act “which would require online retailers to to comply with state sales tax laws.” I didn’t find too much to argue with in the editorial, although I'm not totally up-to-speed on internet retailing and the tax laws in all 50 states.

But I didn’t write it. Matthew did.

The reason I think he’s my long-lost twin is the head shot accompanying the article. He looks exactly like me. He has the same chiseled good looks and is wearing the same glasses. The haircut is reminiscent of the one I had several years ago right before a friend took a photo that looks a lot like this one for my book jacket. I can’t see much of it but the shirt also looks very familiar.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that it was me. In fact, several people asked me already today if I had switched jobs from arts administrator to president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. I haven’t, although I’m open to offers. Another friend just wondered if the paper had gotten my name and job title wrong. I said, that couldn’t happen, could it? I wondered if the editors had just pulled the wrong photo to go with the article. Could it be? I tried calling the newsroom but no answer. Lots going on today so the newsroom must be deserted. 

I concluded that Matthew must be my twin. I’m glad to discover him, at long last, on the op-ed pages of the WTE. I wish him well with the Marketplace Fairness Act. Matt – can I call you Matt? – feel free to call any time so we can get reacquainted. We have a lot to talk about.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome another brother

Ken M. said...

Just another fine example of the in-depth and detailed research the WTE puts into their journalism. I'd like to see the WTE do a formal, published correction of the incident, but I doubt they'd even get that right!

Michael Shay said...

Called the WTE newsroom yesterday and finally got through to editor Mark Borgard. I alerted him to the mistake and he said the paper would print a correction. We'll see what happens.

RobertP said...

What do you expect from the mainstream liberal media?

Bob

Michael Shay said...

Mark Borgard called and said that a correction ran on page 3 in Sunday's paper. Must have been so small that I missed it. I'll look again...

Two of my work colleagues asked about the photo today. I referred them to my snarky blog post.