Progress... and yet...

I received a call from the NY Times for an interview. The reporter was aware that I was being interviewed by Ben Elgin for another article of a similar genre. She asked when it would be out, so I forwarded her email to Ben and asked the question, with a suggestion that she ask him directly.

She then decided to respond with a "thanks, but no thanks" email stating that since I was in contact with another reporter, she was going to pass on interviewing me. WTF? I mean, it's not as though she didn't know from the very beginning that I was being interviewed. Personally, I think she was simply trying to find out when Ben's would be out to try and beat him to the punch-line. I doubt she had any serious intention to interview me. Sad.

In other news, however, apparently Ben is getting responses from Sallie Mae, as well as from WCI, the college I graduated from. I'm mailing them my "permission slip" today which allows him access to my financial records, etc.

Also, the government has finally decided to open its eyes and see that there's something questionable about Sallie Mae's collection and debt practices. There's a full-scale investigation going on at this point to find out what happened. To quote Fark.com: "Suck it, Sallie Mae!"

To close, I will quote a part of something Ben asked me in our interview...

"You seem to have a good, positive attitude about all of this. I mean, you laugh, and you're smiling a lot through all of this. How are you able to do that?"

"Well, you have to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, honestly. If you don't, you'll simply spiral down to the depths and never come out again. I've been there twice before, and I don't want to do that again. I have a family that counts on me, and I don't want them to see me that way. Honestly, you have to have faith that somehow, your actions will eventually bring about change - if not for you, for someone else."

~M