Today's Word—More Mencken

Mencken loved his work:

“No other entertainment gave him greater pleasure than reporting from the [national political] conventions; nor did anyone appreciate his efforts more than Mencken himself. One reporter, peering through Mencken’s window late at night after one rally, recalled watching him at work alone in his hotel room, pounding out copy on a typewriter propped on a desk. He would type a few sentences, read them, slap his thigh, toss his head back, and roar with laughter. Then he would type some more lines, guffaw, and so on until the end of the article.”
—Marion E. Rodgers, ed., The Impossible H.L. Mencken: A Collection of His Best Newspaper Stories (1991) (Thanks to alert WORDster Karl M. Petruso)

NOTE: Memorial Service today for ABC newsman John McWethy, who died in a skiing accident last week: Memorial Service beginning at 11 a.m., Thursday, February 14th, 2008, at the new Newseum, 555 Pennslvania Avenue NW, at 6th Street. A reception will follow, and information will be available about contributing to The John F. McWethy Fellowship in Reporting at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.