Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2015

A Musical Son

“Definition destroys; there is nothing definite in this world.”                                                                                           Jack Frost                                                                             Hector Starkweather was his mother’s pride and joy. He was the perfect son: seventeen and a half, bright and polite, musically and academically gifted and utterly respectful of his parents. At school he performed brilliantly and his teachers considered him a pleasure to have in class. In his final year now, he was expected to complete his ex...

As a Man of Letters, I Have Strong Opinions on Newspaper Editors

I remember it well. It was during a leisurely cycle to the Phoenix Park one sunny morning in 2010 that a perfectly formed "letter to the editor" arrived unbidden into my head. When I got home, I typed it up and sent it off to one of the national newspapers. It was the first time I had ever done such a thing. I checked their letters page for several days afterwards. Even though my letter remained unpublished, a dam had burst. What prompted me to take that road I still don't know, but my urge to opine became insatiable. Before I knew it, letters to the editor were hatching in my head at all hours of the day and night. Following more attempts over the next few weeks I finally had a letter published. It proved a thrill to see my viewpoint in print. My mildly contrarian missive set me on course to become 'Disgruntled of Tunbridge Wells' (via Dublin). It was in the early stages, but I was well and truly bitten by the letter-writing bug. In the early stages o...