Thursday, July 03, 2008

First Message in a Long While

Hi Everyone,

A few days ago, I finished a year-long term as president of STC Boston. That’s the Boston chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. During that time – July 2007 to June 2008 – I pretty much shut down my e-mail communication beyond narrow limits. I struggled to keep up with STC traffic, let alone other interests and obligations. That’s over now, so I’ve wanted to exit the STC honeycomb and check out the broad world again.

First of all, happy Fourth of July to all. You remember that the Fourth was Ronald Reagan’s favorite holiday. This year is the ninety-seventh anniversary of his birth in 1911. Sean Wilentz’s recent book, The Age of Reagan, suggests that the man’s legacy becomes more important each year. We have two books now called The Age of Reagan, the first by Steven F. Hayward and the second by Sean Wilentz. More books will come, with different titles but a similar appreciation of Reagan’s importance.

Now for the main news about editorial policy. I think I wrote something similar a couple of years ago, before TLJ went into hibernation. The journal needs to broaden its subject matter beyond Reagan and his beliefs, beyond the Iraq war and its difficulties. It is after all a journal of democracy and public affairs. It’s bound to reflect my own interests, which point toward both libertarian and mainstream politics in this election year. A lot of interesting things occurred during this spring’s primary season, and the general campaign should be interesting as well.

One part of TLJ’s editorial policy won’t change. It remains open to articles and letters from anyone who would like to contribute. Please write to me at steveng@techwritepublishing.com if you have an article, or an idea for an article. A letter to the editor is the easiest format, of course. Write and let me know what’s on your mind.

That’s enough for today. If you like what you read here, please forward TLJ to a friend or family member. If you don’t like it much, please unsubscribe with no hard feelings. And thanks for your interest through many months and changes.

All the best,

Steven Greffenius

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Reagan Quotation

“Enjoy life. It’s ungrateful not to.” ~ Ronald Reagan