I Miss Words

There are few things I enjoy more than a blank sheet of paper.

The possibilities are endless. There’s no limit on what I can say. But words are under attack.

For years, everything on Al Gore’s Internet has been built upon removing words. Starting with Facebook lying about video views, the conventional wisdom is we no longer enjoy words.

“If you want people to read your articles, you need photos and videos.” I don’t want to take pictures. I don’t want to make videos. I want to type words.

My career started as a newspaper reporter a long time ago. I had one job: to write. When I covered events that needed photos, the newspaper would send one of our photographers. In the 2000’s, the Internet existed, but social media did not.

I was never asked to cultivate a brand or an online presence. I went out in the world and I wrote about what I saw. Whether that was the Ultimate Warrior spewing homophobia or a bear running through the small town I covered, it was up to me to convey what happened to readers who paid for it. That was the job. It was the best job I ever had.

That job no longer exists, along with most local newspapers. It’s a small symptom of the disease infecting our culture.

I miss words because words take time. It is a skill to move words around so they effectively…