The Yellow Pages

by Lin Robinson
(Yucatan)

When I needed magazine/newspaper feature ideas to boil the pot, I would start leafing through the phone directory.

There are businesses out there you never thought of...and neither did your readers.

A very fruitful listing was always "Schools". Schools for locksmithing, radio announcing, Kunalini Yoga, citizenship, traffic flagging...

And always somebody there just dying to give you as much information as possible.

Other articles I turned up out of want ads.

-The only female Private Investigator in the city.

-Hydroponic garden designer

-Custom interiors for private jets

-The last "long board" surfboard maker

-Various clowns, animal handlers, and magicians for hire

-A brothel owners' union

-Romantic introductions to foreign women and men

-Builder of onstage sound equipment for rock bands

-The world's greatest flute-maker

-Surrogate does anything legal for you

-Woman who shoes horses professionally

-Top Gun 101: pay to fly a real jet fighter and have electronic aerial "dogfights"

-Weekly newspaper in Hebrew

Your whole city is right there for you to profile: just let your fingers do the finding.