Thursday, August 30, 2001

‘Generation X’ has come into its own

Looking at where we are today (and by “we,” I mean those of us born between 1961 and 1981), sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that only a few years ago, the term “Generation X” was used interchangeably with “slackers.”

Friday, June 15, 2001

Review: ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser

People who write for a living (newspaper reporters and columnists, for example) will find this book to be of value, but it also has much to offer for people in any vocation that requires effective communication.

If you think clearly, you can write clearly, argues Mr. Zinsser, and then explains, step-by-step, how to do so.

Mr. Zinsser writes with a very engaging and approachable style. With the book now in its sixth edition, he has had considerable time to improve his delivery. The end result is a book that is very entertaining, as well as a valuable resource.

I have only one disagreement with Mr. Zinsser, and that is when he states, "Unlike medicine or the other sciences, writing has no new discoveries to spring on us. We're in no danger of reading in our morning newspaper that a breakthrough has been made in how to write a clear English sentence."

In my opinion, the English language is constantly evolving. Maybe sentence structure will remain the same, but our vocabulary will continually change as new words enter the language as slang and later become accepted terms.

Could anyone have imagined that "granny flat" would become part of our language? Or how about the examples that Mr. Zinsser cites in recounting his experiences upon the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary --"rambunctious," "trigger," "rile," "shambles," "tycoon," "trek" and "escalate."

Posted June 15, 2001 to amazon.com

Saturday, January 27, 2001

Lake County Record-Bee sold to California Newspapers Partnership

Big news in this morning’s paper: at work yesterday, Times Publishing CEO Michael Mead announced the sale of the Lake County Record-Bee, the Clear Lake Observer American, Willits News and Penny Slaver to California Newspapers Partnership. The conglomerate it’s part of, MediaNews Group, is the fifth largest in the country.

CNP’s Northern Division alone includes: Eureka Times-Standard, Tri-City Weekly, Ukiah Daily Journal, Hometown Shopper, Mendocino Beacon, Fort Bragg Advocate News, Oakland Times-Herald, Marin Independent Journal, The Oakland Tribune, Pacifica Tribune, San Mateo County Times, The Daily Review in Hayward, The Argus in Fremont, Tri-Valley Herald in Pleasanton, The Milpitas Post, Daily News in Red Bluff, Chico Enterprise-Record, Mercury Register in Oroville and The Daily Democrat in Woodland.