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I recently wrote copy to go along with a photo story I started last October; I have been following Bethany McDonald, a 29-year-old mother of three and community director of the Mount Pleasant Mobile Home Park. The story ran with six photos and an 800-word piece in print for CM-Life, along with an online slideshow. Beth, her family, and the entire mobile home park are very dear to my heart, so I was excited her story would be published. I have always admired Bethany for her good-naturedness and selflessness when dealing with her family and community.

The online response to the story was not so admiring. Most comments were cutting, both to Bethany and to me as the journalist telling her story.

There was a wide array of insults directed at the piece, from cutting Beth down for smoking cigarettes to disdain for her choice to have a baby at age 14.

I was initially unfeathered by these views, but the negativity kept coming. There has been a lot of judgement passed on Beth and her family, and I am responsible for exposing them to this kind of cheap criticism. I was crushed. I guess it was naive of me to think there wouldn't be responses like this.

Perhaps it was the choice of main image that spurred some of it. Maybe I should have given more consideration to its connotation; could I have avoided some of the flak by choosing a less leading image? (see below)

Beth and her middle son, Daniel, 11, wait in line Nov. 5 at Save-A-Lot on Mission Street. It's always really busy the first few days of the month, because everyone's getting their new food stamps, she explains.

In the future I will be very cautious. I never thought people would focus on what they have. If I have exacerbated these negative reactions through this choice of image, I am sorry for that.

I am not sorry for getting the story published. Bethany is a kind and giving person whose sense of humor and spirit are commendable. She has overcome tremendous disadvantages in childhood and is a wonderfully caring mother and happily married in a country ever more frequently rent apart by divorce. Her home is a haven for children and adults of the trailer park alike. She makes sacrifices every day that most people I know will never have to experience.

I can only say to those who disapprove of the story that I truly believe they missed its point and I ask that they reconsider their words and exercise more compassion.

I hope the story reached some people in the way I intended it.