I've always wanted to publish something in the Onion-- the satirical newspaper born in Madison when I was wrapping up middle school. This week I have accomplished that goal. But not in a way I would have ever imagined.

A snapshot I took of a local deli and published on Flickr so that I could remember the name of the place was a featured illustration of the Onion AV-Club's review of the establishment.

I took the picture in May of 2007 when I was training at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on their goofy ass pagination system. Then I published the photo, (along with a handful of others) on Flickr added a modicum of meta data, and pushed it out to the Milwaukee - (High Resolution) Creative Commons group.

There are a lot of people-- pro photographers mostly, who would say that I've gone and killed their industry by letting for-pay publications run my photo for free. And I say, Adapt of be Killed.

I am assuming that given the option of paying me $10 or not running a photo, the onion would have picked not running the photo. I was a journalist for a long time. There's no cash on hand to pay for that kind of thing. That photography -- not even necessarily good photography-- is available on he web for free is just part of the new reality.

Regardless, I'm greatful to the Onion for plugging Writelarge.com in exchange for using that photo. Haven't really seen much benefit from the attribution, don't really expect to. But still nice to see none the less.

And Hey, I've had my work published in The Onion. Have you?

Edit for Clarification:The editor of the Onion AV Club Milwaukee obtained my permission to use the photo prior to publication. Just so we're clear. :)