So, this is my first blog entry. I am not completely sure what a blog is. I had to look it up. But, it seems like it’s a place where you can write whatever you want, and people can read and comment on it – or not. That sounds perfect for me because I always wanted to be a writer. Even in high school I spent a great deal of time on essay assignments – probably because I was an introverted intellectual – despite an attempt at high school football. I made it as far as starting quarterback on the junior varsity team – but we didn’t win any games. The linemen thought it was my fault. One became a garbage collector and the others became policeman and fireman. I obtained a doctorate in psychology and became an internationally respected scholar in human intelligence. Still, they may have been right!
Anyway, I wrote an essay in 10th grade history class about the Vietnam war. At that time, I was a 16 year old football player who supported the war, as did the whole football team. (I changed my view by 12th grade.) The teacher, a radical “dove”, gave me a C minus. Upset and angry for all the work I put into it, I brought the essay to another teacher who said that it was well written and solidly referenced, and my teacher was letting her personal views get in the way – hmm, imagine that. What a lesson for a kid growing up in an era when teachers (and presidents) were always right!
In community college, my English Composition professor asked to see me in his office about half-way through the semester. He told me that he had been teaching that class for 15 years and that I was one of the three or four best writers to pass through his class and that I really should do something with my talent. So, I enrolled in a Creative Writing class where I attempted, and quickly failed, to write a novel. Next, I tried poetry, but my lyrics were sing song, trite, and ridiculed by the professor.
I learned three things. First, if you have a natural talent, don’t allow so-called experts to instruct you. It’s possible for a teacher to take a poor writer and make him or her decent, but it is not possible for instruction in the craft to make a good writer great. That must come from within. I expect it is the same with music and art.
The second thing I learned is that my niche is short, focused essays, usually with an ironic twist at the end. In fact, my English Comp professor referred to me as “Mr. Irony”. (Now, I like to think of myself as “Dr. Irony” – ha!) Third, I am at my best when writing about things that I am passionate about. This is usually something that has broad social and political implications, but not always. So, my blog posts will usually feature short easy-to-read essays on political and social issues in the world today, often from a psychological perspective, sometimes with an ironic or satirical twist, but always with serious intent.
My hero as a writer has always been William Penn who was an early advocate for democracy and freedom during the American revolutionary war with Great Britain. His political essays were carried throughout the colonies by revolutionaries racing through the country-side on horseback in the middle of the night to avoid detection and execution by British soldiers. Townspeople gathered in the squares to hear readings of his essays, which catalyzed the inchoate revolutionary spirit.
Today, of course, there are so many intelligent people who can write well and so many digital outlets for their missives that any new voice is easily lost in the cacophony. What novel insight could one have that has not already been shared on Twitter a thousand times? It is this thought that sometimes stops me from writing.
Whenever I brood about how I should have been a great writer, my wife tells me that I am a writer. I suppose that is true. I have written 9 text books on intelligence and three dozen or so scientific articles in professional journals. But, to me, that is only technical writing. Sure, lots of psychologists and graduate students read those books and articles as part of their training, but those books are not going to influence the public discourse on important social and political topics of the day. That is what I hope this blog will do.
I am still trying to get over one lesson from my college creative writing class, “Never end a sentence with a preposition”. Following that guidance today makes ones writing style appear old fashioned, formal, and stilted (like this sentence!). But, it’s difficult to let go of. (Ha – I ended with a preposition – how ironic!).
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