Joining the Words

Joining the Words

Noel Laflin

2-5-15

I have never been much of a joiner.  Clubs tended to either let me down or politely ask me to leave.

Oh, sure, my youth was filled with groups: church, Scouting, and a decade devoted to summer camp staff membership took prominent stage back then.  But as I grew disillusioned with the first organization (agnostic by nature, I guess), was tossed rather unceremoniously out of the second (there was the gay thing, you see), and reluctantly had to leave the mountains of my boyhood in order to make a living in the adult world - group identity became less appealing over time.

But there has always been one institution less discriminating in character assessment, let alone the characters that seek membership: it’s the brotherhood of language.

 

The magical arrangement and joining of words in order to create language, and ultimately tell stories has always fascinated me.  If done properly – and with some decent thought put into the process – well, one can create a tale worth telling.  So, why do I frequently take a keyboard in hand - all the while wondering what the guy whose reflection in the screen before me really wants to say - and then try to arrange and rearrange enough words in order to tell a fable of interest?

Good question.

I am still working on that answer.  Ten years of journalism classes certainly played a part.  Growing up in a household filled with books and magazines of every interest was a definite boon as well. Encouraging parents, teachers, siblings, friends, and lovers also helped at critical stages in my development for this life-long fling with words.

But maybe, I just want to maintain membership within a club that truly holds my interest and does not let me down.  And if I am let down, the only guy to blame will be the one reflected in the screen before me.