Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

We’re off to see the wizard

08.22.2008 by David Murray // 2 Comments

Actually, in our house, we refer to Barack Obama as "the Good Witch," as we try to explain to Scout what voting is, and who we hope we're voting for.

Obama is scheduled to appear in Springfield, Ill. tomorrow with the VP we're all waiting for him to name, and Cristie, Scout and I are joining a small coterie of "friends, partisans and Illinoisans," as a friend puts it.

We'll take the Amtrak down—Scout's first ride aboard a "real train"*—and we'll roll down the tracks with a mob of what I hope will be a merry band of likeminded others.

I hope we get there early enough to get past the Secret Service security bottleneck. I hope they let us bring in Scout's DVD player. I hope it doesn't rain.

Mostly, I hope the communal, in-person, this-is-history, "Daddy, is that the good witch?" experience wipes the translucent film of dreariness and boredom that's grown over my exultation about Obama's candidacy.

As the kids say, I'll "report back."

* This phrase has particular currency in our family, as I'm quoted in a book of my mother's as saying, at five, "My glad is bigger than a real train."

Postscript, 8/24:

Like Dorothy et al, on our first visit to see the wizard, we didn't
receive total satisfaction in our decadent desire to be inspired by a
politician and a crowd.

In our case, it was hot as doughnut grease in the sun, we were too far
away to see much and Obama's speech was mostly an introduction of
Biden.

Still, you can't beat a day on the rails, headed to the Old State Capitol the way Abraham Lincoln did it.

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The names have been changed to protect the cherub

08.21.2008 by David Murray // 7 Comments

Read from bottom-up to see the e-mail exchange I somehow restrained myself from having yesterday with the parent of a four-year-old at Scout's Montessori school:

 

Dear Ms. Thornbush—

Yesterday Brady walked up to Elizabeth and blasted her across the cheek in just the sort of unprovoked attack that has become his modus operandi at the Montessori Academy. We hope he does better at the military school we hopefully assume you're sending him to.

Thank you for taking him away,

The Murrays

 —— Forwarded Message
From: Evelyn Thornbush
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:11:44 -0500
Subject: Brady's last day at The Academy

It is with a heavy heart that I write this to let you know that Friday August 29th will be Brady's last day at the Montessori Academy.  

We have enjoyed being a part of the school community, and appreciate the friendship, support and learning environment that you provided for Asher and our family.  You are amazing teachers and families and we would very much like to keep in touch.

Mike, Evelyn, and Brady Thornbush

_________________________
 Evelyn Thornbush | Associate Strategist | Global Quantitative Management
Please visit northerntrust.com.

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Durn! Did you know you did all that?

08.20.2008 by David Murray // 2 Comments

Researching an article on CEOs' letters in annual reports for an online newsletter called ContentWise, I came across a study by a Ken Hyland, from the City University of Hong Kong, intriguingly titled, "Exploring Corporate Rhetoric: Metadiscourse in the CEO's letter."

Communication pros who have written for CEOs will be amazed to read about what they do:

This article explores how CEOs attempt to influence readers and project a positive personal and corporate image in company annual reports. It examines the role of metadiscourse, as a manifestation of the writer's linguistic and rhetorical presence in a text, to show how CEOs use non-propositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. … Metadiscourse allows CEOs to control the information they provide by using expressions that organize and evaluate that information in order to direct readers how they should understand and appraise the subject matter. … The study suggests a descriptive framework for metadiscourse in business communication and points to the need for a rhetorical awareness of this persuasive genre.

And you thought you were just hacking out some jive to fill the space.

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