Winning!

Last night the press club announced that I won a 1st place award for General  Excellence for editorial writing in the public relations division.    Here are the three that won the award:

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005134119&var_Year=2010&var_Month=11&var  _Day=17    

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005130045    

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005133011&var_Year=2010&var_Month=09&var  _Day=01  

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    I also earned 2nd place in this same category in 2008 and 2009.       http://idahopressclub.org/annual-awards/2010-best-of-awards/item/114-public-relations 

Here is some background info for my three letters of public interest:

Elk making a comeback is a follow up of sorts to a column I wrote for the Express five years ago titled: Golf Course offers Links to Nature. That account of my experience working as an irrigator for two summers ran synchronisticly the day before an Idaho Fish and Game elk round up, where in a remarkable display of ungulate athleticism, one legendary cow escaped by leaping clean out of the 8 foot tall corral!

This letter gained 87 replies on the Express website, making it their most commented letter of 2010. Within those comments I was pleasantly surprised to see a few hunters temporarily exchange their arms for pens and healthily scribe some poetic dialogue probably good enough to make Lawrence Ferlinghetti smile.

My second letter, Lower speed limit has benefits mostly speaks for itself, while urging citizens to consider advantages they can gain by adjusting to slower paces.

Considerable telephone calls and concerned community letters like my third; Soldiers deserve to have a flag, were enough to pressure the Copper Ranch Homeowners Association to capitulate into allowing the Perfect family to display an American flag on their porch as a symbol of support for their son Edward; recently deployed overseas to the war in Iraq with the Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade. I’m especially proud of this letter, because I was the person who first gave the Express the tip of this story’s newsworthiness. The feature Family fights for right to fly flag became the most commented news article of the year on the Express’s website with 132 comments.

The morning that this story ran in the Mountain Express, a person closely associated with the family, called to say that she had talked with Robin Perfect, who was overwhelmed with emotion, seeing how supportive our community is.

Further regarding news tips; perhaps this is something that the Idaho Press Club should consider for a future category. In the spirit of Idaho’s Mark Felt (Watergate’s Deep Throat) the Press Club could name the award in honor of this Twin Falls native. If circumstances necessitate it to be so, the Press Club could present the award in secret -only revealing the deserving recipient’s name at a much later date.

Half-Century Rock Gem

I remember thinking as a young adult, that there are some men out there in our culture, who continue growing stronger all the way up to age 50. I imagined that these strength-gaining characters would be mostly lumberjacks, ship captains and such, but the fact remained that some men were actually gaining larger barrel chests up ‘til age 50.

Another part of me wondered if there was some secret wisdom, whispered into men’s dropsy ears, upon their significant turnover to fifty. Then just this week, I realized that if you count the time from my conception day, I have completed forty-nine years; thus am beginning the first week of 50.

With this in mind, this morning, I showed a friend the recent WR Journal article, regarding visionary librarians and the follow up. She asked what was it that allowed me to see such things. I answered that I usually seemed to have a certain knack to grasp several subjects from far reaches and then develop interesting connections, through either relative stories or simple joke like parables. I continued that although I have seen little monetary gain from this dedicated writing, it’s clear that I should continue upon this path.

I claimed a certain confidence in being able to write inspiring letters of pubic interest, well-flowing poems, etc, because I knew that those stories were there waiting to be connected and since I was adept at doing so, it might as well be me continuing to uncover them.

Then my friend swooped back with a gentle, but piecing question, “So why is it then, that you don’t have this same level of confidence in yourself -apart from your writing?”

For five long seconds, her insight stunned me. However, deep within, I found the slow fortitude, to thank her for asking such a concerned question. Her pricking of this blind spot resonated for day’s remainder and I slowly become thankful for the strength of this esoteric fiftieth gift.