"To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again and once more, and over and over." -- John Hersey (author of Hiroshima) I have seen many inspiring images of Barack Obama since he came on the national stage in 2004, but none has made my heart soar like the photograph at the right: he is on Air Force One revising his health care address. Look at him give that text the business! As one of the countless high school English teachers struggling to get student writers to approach revision as the great opportunity that it is, I find this photograph positively thrilling.
The image is a little blurry, but I believe he has written himself a marginal note: "At this point I will bait a right wing yahoo into heckling me, thereby exposing the illogic and bad faith of the opposition."
By the way, in light of last night's behavior from Joe Wilson, my mother has advised me to conceal her and my South Carolina origins. Can't do it Mom. I will not deny my home state; it continues to be what it has been since 1860: "Too small to be a republic, too big to be an insane asylum."
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