I’ve been thinking a little bit more about the whole idea that America is loosing it’s voice that I wrote about before. After reading Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue I feel like part of the problem is that we aren’t teaching people how to use language. I’m not talking about teaching grammar and spelling necessarily. I never really learned how to spell from all the tests we took in 8th grade and I still have no idea why we had to write in cursive all of 4th grade. What I’m talking about is teaching students how to communicate emotion and feeling in their writing. All of the journaling I have done since my sophomore year of high school has made my writing better. Sin Boldly, the writing book I read at SPU, was also a big help. David Williams’, the author, main point is when you write, you shouldn’t preface statements with things like, I think that or I feel that or any other number of similar phrases. He makes the point that we already know who wrote it, you don’t need to remind us. Anyway, I can’t help but think that in some ways this is part of why we are not seeing a new generation of great American orators. Just watch CSPAN for 5 minutes. . . and try not to fall asleep! No one speaks with conviction or emotion anymore, they just sling mud across the isle. Maybe someday we will see a resurrection of great American oratory, but until then, I’ll just keep writing my blog and doing my journalling and hope that someone listens.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Jonathan Assink