Blethering anew
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re enjoying my new blog design from Press75.com. This design would not have been possible without the help of my buddy, Adam Walker Cleaveland at Pomomusings.com, who rescued me from the muck and mire of a badly orchestrated switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. Suffice it to say: I screwed things up pretty royally and Adam, in the manner of a superfast emailing web-designing Superman, saved my blog from oblivion. So, a huge web thanks goes out to Adam Walker Cleaveland. He’s a gem.A few things about the new A Wee Blether:
- Note the super-cool new button up top for “Sermons”
- Let me know what you think, but I’m leaning towards having only 5-6 of the most recent posts on the main page. Featured popular posts will appear on the right sidebar. Also, I’m planning on having fewer full post on the main page, and more “continue reading….” links halfway through articles. If this bothers you, I’d be interested to know.
- If you follow the blog in a RSS Reader, it’d be good to double-check the feed is correct. It should be: http://adamjcopeland.com (or really, http://adamjcopeland.com/feed)
In Defense of Twitter
Let’s call it “Twitterphobia.” Several times a week, in my usual perusal of weekly magazines, op-ed pieces, and current event commentary I run into a well-respected and well-researched writer bemoaning Twitter. “Twitter is dumbing down our teenagers,” they say. “Twitter is besieging our English majors.” “Twitter is poisoning our minds and starving us of the few intellectual merits we still have.”
Nice try, but Twitter ain’t the issue folks. In fact, I think Twitter and its 140-character messages is causing a flippin’ amazing surge in creative thinking. Let me explain.
- Though some say 140 characters is a too short to say much of anything, I say the 140 character limit Twitter employs actually pushes us to write with precision, creativity, and pizzazz. Who knows, maybe its just the the fact that there’s a limit at all causes anyone with tenure to freak out over a perceived threat to intellectual freedom. Mark Twain once apologized to an editor when sending in a new essay, “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to make this shorter.” Brevity is not the enemy. Sometimes the attacks feel like a group of poets worrying long form poetry is at risk, but instead of writing good long form poetry they lash out against haikus. I say simply: brevity is beautiful.
- Sure, Twitter isn’t a platform for drawn-out arguments laced with careful caveats, but it’s not trying to be. What Twitter can do – really well, in fact – is point people in the direction of just that sort of work. Every day, I click on Internet links recommended by those I follow on Twitter and arrive at fantastic articles, sometimes very long, which I often then recommend to my followers on Twitter as well. In fact, the New York Times and Slate recently reported that some of their most-read articles over the past few years have been their longest. Twitter isn’t killing long-form journalism, rather, it might be resuscitating it after all. … Continue Reading
Blogging the PC(USA) General Assembly for The Presbyterian OUTLOOK
Here’s a list of my PC(USA) General Assembly blog posts for The Presbyterian Outlook.
- – Wrap Up & Pack Up
- – A Fair Hearing? an explanation of the procedural questions on the definition of marriage at General Assembly.
- – The Questions Coming Sunday Morning
- – Contemplate This, a hodgepodge of opinion/analysis of Wednesday’s meeting.
- – Social Media at General Assembly
- – Committee Size Matters
- – Lunch with the Vice Mod
- – Reading the Tea Leaves of the Moderator Election
- – The Family Reunion: For Good or for Ill
Garrison Keillor as unwise grumpy grandpa
Writing a critical response to Garrison Keillor feels like arguing with a beloved grandparent, but I was most unimpressed with his recent piece “Coming to the end of an era in publishing” (May 26, 2010, Tribune Media Services). Perhaps the article was satire, in which Keillor accentuated the grumpy Ishmael any-change-is-bad attitude of a grumpy grandfather to emphasize that, in fact, the sky is not falling. But, I’m afraid, Keillor intended the piece as straightforward rhetoric. In that case, it is a flawed argument, and I really feel sorry for the guy.
Publishing is changing, it isn’t dying. Sure print publishing is not what it used to be like in the days of type-writers and smoke-filled newsrooms. And thank goodness for that. Keillor repeatedly bemoans the fact that writing is now ubiquitous, which comes across as pouting for an accomplished author such as himself. Fear not, Mr. Keillor — the fact that more people are writing will not endanger your pension funds. Instead, it will just mean that more people will enjoy the opportunities afforded to you as a young writer, more people will have access to reading a variety of perspectives, more people will try their hand at writing and more people will fail. Access does not equal disaster. In an open market, a meritocracy (which the writing world is and will continue to be as long as we have the First Amendment), more access leads to better copy.
Now, indeed, future generations publish in different ways than those to which Keillor has grown accustomed. Just like the shift from scrolls to bound books and later from quills to printing presses was both jarring and largely positive, the shift to electronic media may feel disruptive. But, the sky is not falling. A beautiful poem scans the same on an ebook as in 1950s ink. A stellar short story is just as powerful when downloaded from Amazon as purchased from a bricked storefront. The world will still enjoy great writing. Great writers are not married to paper and ink, but words and ideas.
Does anyone know for certain what the future of writing will bring? Certainly not. But to be as pessimistic as Keillor marks not wisdom, but failure of imagination. It’s also factually inaccurate (see Publishing’s Not Dead: The Industry Responds to Garrison Keillor). The gist of Keillor’s piece is his bemoaning the passage of an era in publishing — his golden era. Mr. Keillor is correct in his assertion such an era is coming to a close, but I don’t share his despair for the era which awaits us. Call me overly optimistic if you want. That’s fine. I’m a writer, after all. We’re a strange lot; sometimes we’re just plain wrong.
Some "language" changes literally killing me
Language changes. As culture shifts, so do the words we use. Thanks to technology and the proliferation of ways in which to communicate, our language is changing faster than ever before.
I do not quibble with this basic notion that the meaning of words is not static, but ebbs and flows with time. On the other hand, as a word makes a transition from one meaning to another, or from a literal understanding to a figurative one, meaning becomes murky. And so the question becomes: “Is the word being used incorrectly or has the word’s meaning changed and the correct usage expanded?”
That’s all a rather long-winded way to say: the incorrect usage of following words or phrases really pisses me off and I need to know whether to just get over it or make a fuss. A few examples that really raise my hackles:
- literally – as I understand it, literally used to mean, “word for word, actually, exactly” as in “Jimmy was literally counting his pennies so he could afford the candy bar.” Or, “The race was literally too close to call.” In each of these circumstances, literally describes the situation exactly. If the writer intended otherwise, the word “virtually” or “figuratively” could have been used. To take the latter example, if at the end of the race no racer was deemed the winner then the race was “literally” too close to call. If it was just a close race but a winner was obvious, it was just “virtually” or “figuratively” too close to call. But it seems that this old definition of literally has practically flown the coop. I wonder even if editors even note the virtual usage of “literally” anymore. Do I just need to figuratively get over it?
- “use” of “quotes” — this annoyance isn’t actually a word at all, but the excessive use of quotation marks around words. Has anybody else noticed quotation marks beginning to be used when a writer seeks to emphasize the words in quotes? So instead of underline or bold text, writers use “quotes” instead. I won’t name names, but every week I receive at least one email in which the writer employs quotation marks simply to “emphasize” an “important” point. It’s annoying as all get up if you ask me.
- decimate — my granny always says, “Decimate comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten’ so to decimate means to deplete by 10%.” Maybe the rest of the world has moved on from this one, but thanks to my grandmother, I always wince when I hear “decimate” used simply to mean “destroy a large number.” I admit, I probably should just move on, but even so, please refrain from saying something like, “My M&Ms were decimated by half.” I just can’t take the inner turmoil.
I’ll stop there for now, but I may post again on other language annoyances. I just hope I’m not turning into my grandmother, bless her heart.
A Few Product Recommendations
Ok, so the writing-on-the-side thing is going well so far, but it does deplete my blogging somewhat. I hope to start putting up short posts more often, but we’ll see. In any case, here’s a few products that I’ve really enjoyed recently that I thought I’d recommend for you all.
I received a pair of these great kicks for my birthday (thanks Terry & LouAnn) and I love them. Very comfortable. Styling with khakis or jeans. Good summer shoes that are way comfortable — I imagine they put chucks to shame. To top it off, $60 for a well-constructed good-looking shoe ain’t bad. I recommend.
Two Good Books: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving & The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
I bought these books together at a bookstore going-out-of-business sale, and it turns out they are similar in several ways. Both tell the rather long story of an author finding his way in the strange world of the US, with signifiant time in another country. Both plots are very well-construed and as tight as 500+ page books can get. Neither are quite beach reads, as they deal with death, love, sexuality, violence, and other not-so-simple issues. But they are well-written and well worth the non-beach time.
Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins
For as long as I’ve off-and-on lived in Minnesota (since 2001) folks have been fighting over whether to build and now to fund a new baseball stadium. Well, it’s here. It’s called Target field. It’s funded in large part by Hennepin County tax payers. And it’s pretty nice. I may post more later after I take in my first game this week (Thursday — can’t wait!), but by most accounts it is an impressive success. There’s no dome, which is both risky and right in my book. But it’s a field to befit Minnesota: reasonably sized, shows attention to detail, energy conscious, innovative without being ostentatious. Go Twins!
Hot to the Presses
My pastoral position is, officially, a 3/4 time position so I have been filling the other quarter or so of my working life at a large retail store that sells outdoor-inspired clothing in the Grand Forks mall (I still work there for about another week, so I can’t name the store on the blog).
For various reasons — e.g. scheduling, flexibility, personnel, life-suck — I have resigned from that position and intend/hope/am-crazy-to-think that I can make up the small amount of income writing. I’ve done a fair amount of writing for a 27 year-old, (see tab called “Writing” above), and up until now I’ve really enjoyed it. Now, I’m interested to see how I enjoyable I find writing when approached with more intentionality and consistency.
I’ve got a few projects lined up for the next six weeks or so, but keep me in mind if you have — or know of — any writing gigs that need gigging.
I just don’t know how more formal writing elsewhere will affect this here blog. I’ve kept it going for nearly three years, and with me in three very different places (intern/student/pastor and Scotland/Georgia/North Dakota). I’ve managed to pop out 417 posts, receive 168,000 hits, and almost 1500 comments. I really enjoy blogging, even when I can’t find the write out my ideas. It helps me look at the world through another lens. And though I will say I’ve felt overly tame and stodgy in my posts since I entered the call search process and received this call, the blog gives me a good outlet for reflection (even if most of my post’s comments occur on facebook these days rather than this wordpress blog).
So, world, there’s the update on my personal life and finances. If you have any brilliant words of advice, advise. If not, you still don’t need to call me “writer” just yet. “Adam” works plenty fine.
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