Letters to the Editor

As much as I rely on electronic media (blogs, online news, newsletters, etc) for my information these days, I still value the print edition of the local newspaper. Perhaps it's because I come from a lineage of journalists (my grandfather was Editor of the Charleston Daily Mail and Pulitzer Prize winner; my aunt is Editorial Page Editor of the same paper). Or perhaps it's because reading the newspaper was such a staple in my household growing up.

I know for certain that one of the reasons is that there is a lot to be said about professional journalists who put the time and energy into digging into the many angles of a story and writing them down for you and I to consume. There is a depth of information and analysis in print journalism that certain areas of the electronic medium still cannot compare to.

Being a loyal subscriber to our local Raleigh News & Observer, for those reasons above, I feel a sense of duty to speak my mind when something appears on their pages that I disagree with. Sometimes I feel a need, as a member of the local community, to offer a competing point of view with one of my fellow citizens. I use the Letters to the Editor avenue to offer such opinions.

I have written several dozen letters to the editor over the years, starting with a horrible and ignorant rant to my university paper about the illusions of importance in student government. That was when I was foolishly contemptuous of most things and people of which I was too cowardly to be a part.

I can't remember if I have posted any yet, but I will begin posting my letters to the editor on this blog. If my letter is a response to a particular story or another writer's letter, I'll print the source material as well so that you, the reader, may judge my own opinions. After all, it is my feeling that those who read this blog (I know there are a few) are part of my community as well. It is my only wish to exchange my ideas with others in my community, of course that I might persuade some to my points of view, but also that I might be persuaded on issues in which my depth of knowledge is wanting.