So You Want the Media to Cover Your Ricin Letters

It seems like you can hardly pick up your paper anymore without reading about ricin-tainted letters being sent all over the place. (By "paper" we mean "phone, to read the web.") But not all ricin stories garner the same level of attention. Having reviewed three recent examples, we would like to offer these tips for those wanting to get media coverage.

DO: Involve famous people or impersonators thereof.

It seems likely that the most recent high-profile letter-sending, mailed to Michael Bloomberg and Barack Obama, was prompted by a spat between an actress and her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Shannon Rogers Guess accused her husband of sending the letters and claims to have found castor beans — from which ricin is extracted — in the fridge. Her husband says that she is the real sender, and that he doesn't use credit cards. (That is his defense.)

The point being: Guess is also an actress who has been in a number of things, including Walking Dead. (Her