Archives for April 2018

"There are no shallow articles—only insufficiently breezy leads."

Yesterday at the Masters, the defending champion Sergio Garcia scored a 13 on the par-five 15th hole. Somewhat miraculously, Garcia kept his cool. In my living room I was shouting and screaming. I remembered Tommy Bolt, known as "Terrible Tommy" because he had days on the golf course that put the lie to the old saw, "Your worst day golfing is better than your best day working."

I get an email with the subject line "Young speechwriter."

Kid tells me he's a college senior, wants to talk to me about breaking into the speechwriting game. 

Sure, kid.

I see he's attached his résumé. I have a glance, expecting to see what my first post-college employer would have seen on my résumé: Caddy, Lake Forest Country Club. Cashier, Ace Hardware. Greenskeeper, Big Springs Golf Club.

No. This fresh-faced lad has interned in speechwriting and other communication roles at the SEC, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Embassy of France in the United States—in addition to serving as a research assistant on a study of persuasion and two books on political communication.

I'm kind of nervous to talk to him.