It’s the fourth Thursday of the month, the time my monthly column in the Washington Jewish Week should be appearing. For 26 months, I wrote about 700 words, hoped the newspaper wouldn’t introduce grammatical errors into them, sent the finished product to family and friends, and got paid enough to buy a tank of gas, with a little left over.
If you are a reader of my columns, thank you—and I’m sorry to report that they are no more. The feature to which I contributed, “Capital Schmoozing,” didn’t survive the Jewish Week’s redesign this month. (Now I can say it: “Capital Schmoozing”? Ugh. I would have changed the name, even if I would not have done away with the feature.)
That’s just one of the inspirations for starting this blog, where more than once a month (I hope), I’ll write fewer than 700 words (usually). I’ll be responsible for my own darn grammatical errors, and I’ll hope that family and friends (and maybe even a few friends I haven’t met yet) will read or keep reading. You don’t even have to pay me! (I try not to drive much anyway.) I can even include links now—no extra charge.
The name stems from my journalism background: I've always tried to conclude an interview by asking, “What have I not asked about that’s important to the story?” It’s a good question to ask, in many more contexts than journalism.
So, what will I write about? My sister asked me that today, and I replied: “Anything and everything ... Saving the world, immigration reform, politics, activism/social change, language/grammar/editing/writing, being Jewish, weather, sports, music, frustrations, elations.” To which I should quickly add humor/goofiness.
For starters.
It’s both exciting and a bit daunting to have a vastly wider audience. Thanks for reading—and please let me know if I've missed something that's important to the story.
