Weekly Newspaper and Travel Guide for Ward County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Opinion

November 12, 1998

Becca

Well, it's not really a discovery.

Okay, so you got me- it's been around since cavemen carved
on walls.

The diary.

Wait, wait, wait! Don't flip the page just yet. What I'm
trying to say is, it's new to ME. I mean (this isn't going
well at all, is it?), obviously I have known what a diary IS
for a long time- the process of actually keeping one is
what's new. See, I don't have the patience to sit down
after a long day at the office, and ramble on paper about
the details of my day- heck, rambling on paper is what I do
AT the office.

So the diary I've recently begun to keep is not a diary in
the conventional sense. But (and this ties in to my opening
sentence) it's teaching me a lot about who I am and what I'm
looking for and what this thing we call life holds for me.
Generous soul that I am, I thought you might like to hear
how to keep one of these oh-so-unconventional diaries too.

If not, go ahead, turn the page- it's no skin off my nose.
Well, first of all, don't even think about buying one of
those lined notebooks. Those things are okay for algebra
homework and shopping lists, but they are not, I repeat, NOT
diary material. They're bland. They come in ugly colors.
Most importantly, you don't want little blue lines all over
the page. You must get some sort of artist's sketchbook,
with big blank sheets that you can feel absolutely free to
decorate in any way you want to.

Next, I want you to think of your motto in life. Or some
phrase or quote that happens to capture your exact mentality
on existence. Mine happens to be "If you asked me what I
came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live
out loud." (Emile Zola said that.)

Now, with a wildly beautiful pen, I want you to write that
motto of yours on the first blank page of your diary. Big
letters. Now, grab a huge stack of magazines, along with a
sharp pair of scissors and lots of tape or glue. Have you
ever made a collage before? If not, you're about to.

Cut out anything in those magazines that grab you, that make
a statement about who you are or what you hope to be
someday. Stick whatever you find anywhere you want to in
your diary- don't feel like you have to fill up the pages in
consecutive order. In fact, if you're anti-collage-making,
just paste a random picture or headline or whatever on every
other third page if you want to. It's your diary, and it's
absolutely up to you.

Now, throw whatever's left of the magazines in the recycling
bin, and grab your photo albums. Are there any pictures of
you in there that seem to really capture you, your essence?
They could've been taken when you were seven years old, or
just last week- it doesn't matter. Take 'em out of the
album, and using those little sticky photo corner things
(forgive me, I know not their technical term), put them in
your diary, wherever you want.

In fact, don't stop with pictures you've taken in the past-
buy a couple of rolls of film and go on a mad photography
spree. Take snapshots of some beautiful form of
architecture that moves you, or a single blade of grass.
Convince some stranger on the street to take a couple of
pictures of you as well (it's better to get a stranger to do
this than a loved one, because loved ones usually have this
fixation with wanting you to pose and say cheese).

So far you've got a really cool quote, some magazine
clippings, and a few photographs.

Should you stop there?

Oh my, no.

Next I want you to make a list of things that make you
happy. Anything that brings a smile to your face or gets
you feeling all goofy, write it down. Take up as many pages
as you want for this one- it's important.

Why?

Because the whole point of this diary is to make you giddy
with self-knowledge, and knowing what makes you happy is a
definite step to getting there.

There are several more things you can put in your diary, but
if I write a paragraph about each of them, poor Joe won't
have room for his column.

So briefly, here are some ideas: lyrics to your favorite
song, something really bizarre or profound you heard in the
elevator this morning, your first memory, pressed
wildflowers, comic strips, more quotes, the dream you had
last night, cards from your best friend, pieces of exotic
fabric, sketches, ticket stubs, a poem, an envelope
containing a secret letter or a stash of money- the list
goes on and on.

Ultimately, it's up to you. (If you've got any nifty ideas,
call me at the office- I'd love to hear them.) Most
importantly, try to keep in mind that this diary is not
going to be snooped through by anybody else (at least, if
you hide it decently, it's not), and that it's therefore
safe to truly be yourself in it.

You're not creating this thing for others' entertainment,
you're writing it for you. Don't worry what your great-aunt
Dottie would think if she saw that magazine clipping in
there- it's not her diary. Who cares if your kids like
Barney? Don't let that stop you from doodling a big purple
dinosaur falling off a cliff. And lastly, if you've got your
heart set on using a lined notebook, well, don't let my
harsh criticism of them stop you. I tell you, though,
they're ugly.

Some still care

Some still care about the men and women who have fought in
this nation's wars.

Some still care about the uniforms which, as Britain's
Rudyard Kipling once wrote, guard you while you sleep.

Some still care about the men and women who stood on the
line for the rest of those in the United States.

Some still care about those they left behind in a
blood-soaked Vietnamese hootch, in a Thailand opium field,
in the frozen hills of Korea, in the stinking slums of
Lebanon, in the squalor and confusion of Bosnia, amid the
burning oil fields of Kuwait, in the villages of France,
on the small, rugged, muddy hills of Italy, in the steam of
Guadacanal, in the streets of Peking, in the bush of the
Philippines, in the bombed and shattered cities of Germany,
in the black sands of Iwo Jima, on the high ground of San
Juan Hill, in the streets of Managua, on the ridges and
fields of Chancellorsville, in the rubble of Fort McHenry,
on the shores of Normandy, on the heights at Yorktown, on
the walls of Fort Ticonderoga, in the depths of the Coral
Sea, in the treeless, barren moonscape of the Argonne, and
the terror of Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee.

Men and women of the United States Armed Forces fight for
different reasons and different causes but they fight. And
they fight not for themselves, they fight for all of us
because they are patriots and patriot, despite the draft
dodger in the White House, is not a dirty word. Some still
care. We honor our warriors on Veterans Day.

Editor on the move

I met Jerome Curry a week after I moved to Monahans earlier
this year. He and the Val were on vacation when I officially
took over as publisher of The Monahans News. I didn't know a
lot about Jerome, other than what I heard from other
employees and what I read in his personnel file. I did know
Jerome is an excellent writer and can cover any type of
news story. I knew this because I was subscribing to The
Monahans News two months prior to my move from Montana.
Jerome as you all know by now, has accepted a job with
Southern Newspapers Inc. in Dumas.

He will take over as the editor of The Moore County News
which is getting one of the best editors in the business.
Jerome got his start in the newspaper business working for
the Associated Press in 1961 (one year before I was born).
He has covered several beats through his career. He was the
lead writer for the Post-Dispatch on the first manned moon
landing. He covered The Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown
in the late 70s. And has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize
for a series on a San Antonio police officer alleged to be
involved in pedophilia and the subsequent cover-up by
local authorities.

Jerome has done an excellent job for us at The Monahans
News. He led the team of employees that won first in
general excellence and sports and third in design at this
years Texas Press Association annual convention.

He was a major player in the redesign of The Monahans News.
Jerome just puts a lot of time and energy each week into
bringing the people of Ward County the news. We will miss
that.

I am extremely happy for Jerome and Val with their new
venture and of course wish them the best of luck in Dumas.

Southern is a good group to work for. I worked for them
in Liberal, Kan. as a young manager of the circulation
department.

Jerome, I would just like to congratulate you and Val on
your exciting new venture, wish you both luck and happiness
and let you know how much I appreciate what you have done
for The Monahans News.

You will be missed.

Jerome, buy some good thermal underwear for you and Val and
a good ice scraper for your car!

God Speed!