The cell
My new Writers on the Range column ran in Sunday's Denver Post. It addresses the latest episode in the age-old struggle of small towns vs. technology: the cell phone.
Most of my essays are not tied to a specific news event, which is a good thing. I can set a piece aside and come back a day or a week later, making sure I still feel the same way. I don't have to be plugged in to the constant barrage of alleged news events, trying to distinguish which are meaningful enough to write about.
On the other hand that means the publication of these pieces is easy to postpone. Sometimes I decide an essay isn't really ready to send off, might need some more rewriting -- only because I fear rejection. And then sometimes after it's accepted, its publication gets postponed because of other pieces that *are* timed to news events. So in this case I've had the cell phone for 15 months now, and I have to say I am now fully invested in the philosophy. (My favorite-ever use of the cellphone came when my wife and I were in Portland visiting Powell's Books. When she was ready to leave, rather than searching the entire store for me, she just gave a jingle.) But the small town's process of resistance -- avoiding new technologies and trends because you like the way your community functions now -- is another philosophy I'm fully invested in.
When two such philosophies collide, that makes for an essay I want to write -- regardless of news events.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
Most of my essays are not tied to a specific news event, which is a good thing. I can set a piece aside and come back a day or a week later, making sure I still feel the same way. I don't have to be plugged in to the constant barrage of alleged news events, trying to distinguish which are meaningful enough to write about.
On the other hand that means the publication of these pieces is easy to postpone. Sometimes I decide an essay isn't really ready to send off, might need some more rewriting -- only because I fear rejection. And then sometimes after it's accepted, its publication gets postponed because of other pieces that *are* timed to news events. So in this case I've had the cell phone for 15 months now, and I have to say I am now fully invested in the philosophy. (My favorite-ever use of the cellphone came when my wife and I were in Portland visiting Powell's Books. When she was ready to leave, rather than searching the entire store for me, she just gave a jingle.) But the small town's process of resistance -- avoiding new technologies and trends because you like the way your community functions now -- is another philosophy I'm fully invested in.
When two such philosophies collide, that makes for an essay I want to write -- regardless of news events.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
