
A productive week, with two major projects completed on schedule and two blog posts–including a return of the mysterious Rhetoric Referee.
The Rhetoric Referee is an occasional mystery guest who takes apart the verbal tricks that politicians and debaters use to divert their opponents and deceive their audiences. He attempts to remain neutral, which in these days of political entertainment is probably not exactly click bait. But the 2022 midterm elections have only begun to ramp up. We’re likely to see more of him between now and November.
Observations: Deadlines helped move things forward this week. The draft of the fundraising brochure went to our graphic artist, who created preliminary “scribblings.” And I completed the speech, which I will present next weekend. I’ll have more details, and perhaps a video, next week.
Interaction: “The No True Scotsman Fallacy” brought the most reaction and comments this week, this time from friends on Facebook, where I shared it. One pointed out a typo: One True Scotsman. And fellow blogger J.M. Gifford observed that when referring to the Democratic Party, the adjective should be Democratic rather than Democrat, which is considered a pejorative. Rewriting those sentences also allowed me to include more context and eliminate a redundancy.
Professional development: In the spirit of civilized debate, I’m reading/listening to two books on having difficult discussions. More on those in a future post.
Next week: Deliver the speech, finish the reviews, and get back to work on my book. Oh, and I plan to write my first political letter to the editor. I stayed above the fray when I was a working journalist. If only more would do that …
In case you missed it …
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Cowardice or practicality, 1979
Reading Time: 2 minutes As every captain must decide whether to head in to port or continue the mission, I had to choose to limp home or explore strange new worlds.
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A bargain I cannot afford, 1979
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Riverside was a popular place for cheap diner food. Even so, eating out is more expensive than cooking at home, and always has been.
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… Garp! 1979
Reading Time: 3 minutes I was reading the book from a single-minded, new writer point of view, not as literature, so bear with me if 24-year-old me sounds naïve.
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Potential for collaboration, 1979
Reading Time: 2 minutes Perhaps this was another lost opportunity. Not all ideas are good ideas, but if they’re good enough to write down, they’re worth following up on.
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In Other Words: Season 2, Episode 12
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m not a pantser poster anymore. That means I can develop and foreshadow recurring themes — and I can tell you about them.