Empty Spaces

 

“I think humans have a natural desire to fill empty spaces. It gives us a sense of fulfillment, to complete a grid.”

 

—Will Shortz, NYTimes crossword impresario, “‘I’ve outlasted them all’: the spectacular life of the world’s most powerful crossword editor,” The Guardian, July 15, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: And a sense of failure to be stumped on 16 across: “One charging a flat rate.” 8 letters*

PeezPIX 

Sadie Roo, 2007-2020

 

 

 

 

 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is scary good. Online here.

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

* ANSWER: landlord

 

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

#BannedBooksWeek

 

“Happy #BannedBooksWeek! I remember the time a Texas school district banned The Hate U Give, and I sold tens of thousands of copies in a week in that same district. Keeping banning my books. I have a second home to buy.”

 

—Angie Thomas, author of the 2020 banned book, The Hate U Give, in “During Banned Books Week, Readers Explore What It Means to Challenge Texts,” National Public Radio, Sept. 30, 2021.

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Sorry, you can't read my comments on banning books.

 

• Banned Books of 2020, American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom.

PeezPIX 

Dinghies

 

 

 

 

 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is out. Online here.

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Exciting Truth

 

“Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it .” 

 

—Pearl S. Buck (aka Sai Zhenzhu) (1892-1973), missionary, author and winner of both Pulitzer (1932) and Nobel (1938) Prizes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Live it up.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Grover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is out. Online here.

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

A Tough Sell

 

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

—George Orwell

(1903-1950), writer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: You can lead a horse to water . . . but you can't make him think.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Sourdough Teddy Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is out. Online here.

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Lowering Expectations

 

“News organizations have to stop using the phrase: ’We go beyond the headlines.’ That’s your job, dummy. You don’t see American Airlines saying, ‘We land our jets on the runway!”

 

—Bill Maher, commentator, comedian and TV host, and author of “New Rules: Polite Musings From a Timid Observer,” 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: “We flew American and lived!”

 

PeezPIX 

Dancing Alders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is out. Online here.

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism