If we are to find our readers, we must be gentle with them

When I finally hit the submit button for my most recent post, The suffering and destruction of children in Darfur is an obscenity, I experienced a moment of panic. I calmed down and for some reason recalled readings from the works of the Victorian writer and scholar Samuel Johnson. Johnson's best-known work, A Dictionary of the English Language was a huge book: with pages nearly 1½ feet (46 cm) tall and 20 inches (51 cm) wide, Although Dr. Johnson (as he was called), is among England's best known literary figures, he is not a household name here in the states. When I was in college only three students even signed up for Victorian Literature. Sure it was a small college, but three students? (1) Myself (a long haired would be hippie anarchist), (2) someone too stoned to even know where he was, and (3) a jock who thought it would be an easy "A". It wasn't, too bad for (3). It was the most difficult, but most rewarding class I would take over my four (oops five, those incompletes weren't a good idea) years. Student (2) never returned after the first break. He may still be wandering the halls, haunting new generations of students. But that's a story for another day.

Johnson was a fine classical scholar, and he was, perhaps, the best-read man, so far as modern literature was concerned, of his day. He did not dabble in literature, but wallowed in it, ponderously; and yet he was able to bring all of his learning, all of his accumulated knowledge, aptly and appropriately to bear upon whatever subject he had in hand.

My moment of panic was caused by my fear that I may have "over reached" with my post. The topic was close to my heart. The strongest memory of my long ago days as a Peace Corps Volunteer is that of red haired, swollen bellied children, hands held together, palms up, greeting me as I descended the plane for my first day as a Volunteer in Africa. The rest of my three years is a blur.

I worried about the tone of my post. Was I too preachy, too I angry, too sarcastic or cruel? In my early readings of the works of Dr. Johnson I was exposed to the Victorian writers' habit of "speaking" to their audience. They addressed the reader, their "gentle reader". Johnson would explain the situation through examples. He wasn't fire and brimstone. He was patient. He was a teacher.

Hopefully there are people who could be expected to be interested in my work, if only I approached them the right way, if I make the work attractive. "Gentle Reader" was both a direct address, and an expression of keen insight on the part of 18th- and 19th-century authors who knew that you can't heckle someone into reading your work. If we are to find our readers, we must be gentle with them, keep them in mind as we write, and help them along. We need to think about their pleasure, not just our information.

Anyone can publish. But not everyone will produce work that more than a small number of people will read. The art and craft of publishing a good article or book is being able to write what you want, while at the same time keeping in mind what the reader needs. It's a dance. We've all seen people dancing by themselves. It can be amusing to watch for a while, but, ultimately, most of us turn away to look for a partner.

So, dance with me gentle reader. Please call me out with your comments if one day, when writing about my travels, I think I am Mark Twain: "The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad. I speak now, of course, in the supposition that the gentle reader has not been abroad, and therefore is not already a consummate ass. If the case be otherwise, I beg his pardon and extend to him the cordial hand of fellowship and call him brother." Also, rein me in I am too much like Dr. Johnson: "The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." Many of his contemporaries thought he was a pompous ass. After all, the man wrote a dictionary. Only now do we refer to him as a genius! I think Maya Angelou caught it just right: "Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."

After all this seriousness, you may enjoy reading: Be Yourselves, Girls, Order the Rib-Eye.

While not a qualifying ride for the Tour de France, the Tour De Cure is a noteworthy cycling event. All across the United States 30,000 riders become reacquainted with their bicycles. For some, it's just a matter of grabbing a few power gels and a bag of granola, filling a Camelback with water and heading out for a 100 mile ride. For others, it's trying to find tubes to fix the flats and WD 40 to dissolve the rust accumulated on the chain while the bike sat in the garage since the last Tour. Most riders are somewhere in between Fit and Desperate. My next ride will be along the shore of the old fishing town Gloucester, Massachusetts. If you would like to donate to our efforts as a sponsor, you may do so online: ADA sponsor page for the E Team. Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of more than 20 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference! Thank you for making a generous contribution to this cause that is so important to me!

The creature, called Swamp Thing, was originally conceived as Alec Holland mutating into a vegetable-like creature, a "muck-encrusted mockery of a man". However, under writer Alan Moore, Swamp Thing was reinvented as an elemental entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, with Holland's memory and personality intact. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland."

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing had a profound effect on mainstream comic books, being the first horror comic to approach the genre from a literary point of view since the EC horror comics of the 1950's, and broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots.

Waldo County, situated in mid-coast Maine along scenic Penobscot Bay, has genuine New England character evidenced by working port towns and quaint rural villages. Visitors are awed by the area's unspoiled beauty. From striking coastal views to sweeping mountain vistas, dramatic natural settings abound. In addition great care has been taken to preserve and refurbish numerous historic landmarks, homes and buildings. Consequently, the Maine of yesteryear is still found here.

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