I also realized that there may have been something else besides the lurid nuttiness of Valdes-Rodriguez’s career implosion that fascinated media rubberneckers: She has a supreme gift for narrative drive. Long, angry rants about the office normally become tedious very quickly, but that notorious 3,400-word screed was riveting all the way through. Equally riveting was a second, lesser known letter – 3,200 words this time – that an unemployed Valdes-Rodriguez sent a year later to Jim Romenesko’s virtual media bulletin board, apologizing for the first one and begging to be taken back into journalism.