“If you can’t say anything nice…’ Let’s just say ash’s mother never advocated that particular piece of wisdom. In fact, ash is grateful she never had to unlearn the basic dishonesty of such a sentiment. Which is not to say she would have volunteered the following without prompting. She wouldn’t have been motivated to bother.
The occasion would have gone unnoted if not for the glowing tribute from another writer.
For what it’s worth, I couldn’t disagree more with the kind words about the former Sunday essayist Chris West who, in my opinion, never learned how to make the ordinary entertaining or intriguing. Even if the reader – well, I – happened to relate to her from a rural setting or family dynamics perspective West never managed to say anything new or different in her self-described column about nothing.
Nor, apparently, was she capable of the revelation that some cliches – like “you can’t legislate morality” – aren’t even true. The mystery to me is what convinced the State Journal-Register to extend her contract beyond her residence in the greater Springfield community. This is not intended to be mean-spirited but simply the other side of the sentiments expressed in a previous letter.
Anyway, good luck to Julie Kaiser, her replacement. It’s not easy making the insignificant compelling.