A self-styled John Lennon-type rebel

In the spring of 1976, at the end of my junior year in high school, I was excited about a new opportunity that my journalism teacher was providing me. I would get a standing newspaper column during my senior year. A bit of a self-styled John Lennon rebel, I knew immediately what I would title it:

“Powers To the People, Write on.”

That never came to pass. I’ll skip the boring story. The important point here is, fifty years later I was doing some of the usual reminiscing and reflecting that one occasionally does, and I recalled that particular lost opportunity. I felt genuine regret.

I don’t ever regret much. So the emotion surprised me. Yeah, that was a great title. Yeah, that would have been a great platform for the kind of rebellious, blunt, honest, bad-ass shit I was feeling as a 17-year-old, and wanted to express to my fellow students. Yeah, damn.

I stopped myself short of leaping into the abyss of self pity by reminding myself: you still can.

I’ve got a blog. It’s read by dozens, some months. I still feel that rebellious, blunt, honest, bad-ass 17-year-old’s rebellious shit on my best days. I’ve written more than a few blog posts, like this one, and this one, and this one, where I think I’ve expressed that spirit.

I can still rock and roll, metaphorically speaking.

More importantly, I believe (probably because of the 17-year-old rebel who still directs my soul) that all writers must rebel. If we’re not writing blunt, honest, bad-ass shit, then we shouldn’t be asking or expecting anyone to read it. If someone wants to read boring stuff, we should be wanting to slap them upside the head and say, “No!”

A writer’s job is to awaken the mind.

Anyway, this blog’s previous title was a too passive and self-depreciating. What was I thinking? I’m not even going to mention it here. Maybe with a bolder title I’ll find a bolder voice.

So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present, here, “Powers To the People, Write on!”