in 700 words
or so
By Gordon Kearns
Welcome
What a great opportunity. Think about it: the chance to express your opinion on any subject, any subject at all - almost, anyway; there were a couple verboten areas - in a newspaper where people might actually read your stuff.
It was a contest sponsored by our local weekly suburban journal. The idea was to submit to the paper an Opinion Shaper column on any subject you wished. If your submission was one of the 13 or 14 selected, your column would not only be published, but you would be invited to write three more during the course of the next year as one of the paper's Opinion Shapers.
I was lucky enough to be an Opinion Shaper for three years. By that time the really creative members of the community discovered the existence of this great outlet, and my little career ended.
Writing is not an effortless natural grace for me. Words develop painfully on my pages. However, compared to my talking skills, I write like Shakespeare. The slow process of organizing my spoken words parallels my plodding writing style. People tend to tune me out after a sentence or two of person-to-person conversation. In writing I can afford the "round Robin Hood's barn" approach to a subject that typifies my thinking. I can re-write and re-write to my heart's content until I'm satisfied I made my point in the most economic way, a luxury not possible in conversation.
The most disciplined aspect of the column was the requirement to keep each submission to approximately 700 words. This was a great rule for me. It necessitated taking the most direct route to my point. No unnecessary repetitions. State the main idea, explain it, and dive into a conclusion that logically follows. Go "round Robin Hood's barn" only once, so to speak.
In any case, the end of my official writing career did not end my desire to get my ideas out to the public. I loved that aspect of the column. Vanity, you know. Also, back in my pre-retirement days at business meetings I heard the comment "Nobody's ever said anything about that problem before" all too often. Now I can respond, "Well, you'll never be able to say that to anybody again."
So, because I don't want my words to fade into the mists of the past, I'm revisiting them
in these pages. And adding a few essays I've written since my days of glory. Read and,
hopefully, enjoy ... and also hopefully say, "He really said that right."
Site is still under construction. Offers of patience would be greatly appreciated.
Preface:
The Published Columns:
The Unpublished Columns (Well, I liked them):
Essays at Large (Movie reviews, stories, general observations, etc.):
Dorothy's Corner (Essays not of 700 words):
Circles Linger (A link to poems and notes gleaned from years as teacher and watcher)
Comments or Questions: GKEARNS@prodigy.net
The Universe wallpaper from NASA and NSSDC
Copyright 1999 by Gordon Kearns