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Category Archives: The Course of Words

Thoughts on literature, well, anything people write

Heisenberg? Not Bad, Heisen You?

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the March 2012 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. With certainty, the renown physicist Garrison Keillor noted in his radio spot The Writer’s Almanac: On this date [Feb. 23] in 1927, physicist Werner Heisenberg first described his Uncertainty Principle in a letter. In [...]

No Taking Ulysses for Granted

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the February 2012 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Spring — OK, this is winter but I’m an optimist — is busy-time for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. • We’re halfway through gathering entries for the annual Column Contest. Have you sent [...]

Know When to Folder

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the January 2012 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Who among us still owns a typewriter? My Smith-Corona manual portable that saw me through high school and college is in the attic, but it works. On a desk for addressing envelopes is a [...]

Occupied or Vacant, Engaged or Vacant

An excerpt of this long-form column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the December 2011 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds? Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! Croupier: Your winnings, sir. Captain Renault: [...]

Where’s the Sin in Synchronicity?

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the November 2011 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. “How can there be any sin in sincere? “Where is the good in goodbye?” – “Sincere” by Meredith Willson in The Music Man It may be yet another way of stalling the labor of [...]

Litmus Flavored Columns

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the October 2011 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Your president is looking out for your welfare. Thank me later. Tracy Beckerman, chairman of the Social Media Committee, although an NSNC member for several years, still is trying to figure us out. Just [...]

The Room in the Elephant

This column first was published as the “President’s Message” in the September 2011 newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The board of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists has been cleaning up after the party in Detroit. While washing glasses and emptying the trash, we share the usual mix of gleeful recollection of [...]

Brakes

The following is my president’s column for the April 2011 edition of the monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists A huge columnist controversy — looking to be the worst in years — began in mid-March, only it turned out to be so puny it ran its course in days. It seemed a [...]

Not Going Anywhere

The following is my president’s column for the March 2011 edition of the monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists An NSNC friend e-mailed links to farewell pieces that a couple of just-downsized columnists were allowed to publish. That opportunity isn’t always granted. Atypically, he didn’t add his opinion, which made my impression [...]

Resolutions for the Columnist

The following is my president’s column for the January 2011 edition of monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. 1. Quit grasping onto obvious topics like “Columnist Lists New Year’s Resolutions.” 2. When writing, quit the posed, “I don’t know about you, but as for me …” or a similar phrase. Reflective columns [...]