Mark W.F. Condon: Blog

The entertainment industry’s writer’s strike brought Hollywood and New York television to a complete standstill at the end of 2007. Upon their return the recent collective sigh of relief from performers and viewers alike has been very impressive! Besides taking Jay Leno off the hook for his inability to create sufficient material over the past 8 weeks, I would like to suggest that this also means something to those of us interested in the education of young children. 

I’m one that feels that journalism (the relentless search for finding and sharing the truth) is pretty much dead in our newspapers and broadcast media. The principles of the fourth estate seemingly have been replaced by commitment to hair spray and white teeth and a scramble for the advertising dollar. But even then, if news writers took a hike we would all notice. We’d grow hungry for actual news. To the contrary, if all the news anchors and front men and women walked off the job, we’d forget them in a week.

Writers are the source of both content and style in almost everything that is done, not just in the entertainment world. So, this strike has me thinking about the true power of the pen here. Writing conveys ideas…ideas that without writing remain obscure to the rest of us. Completed writing is the physical manifestation of truly serious brain and language power. It’s the refined flow (after possibly hundreds of revisions) of galvanizing words, beautiful phrases, hilarious insights, troubling images, engaging arguments, compelling stories, crystal clear explications, breathtaking sentiments, and more. These are the contributions that writers make to our lives. They strike a blow for freedom and full self-expression every day they go to work. We feel that even more now that the strike is over.

Reflective of that value, it’s important to keep our eye on these qualities of excellent writing when we seek to support children in learning this queen of all crafts. It strikes me that there is much for them to learn about the role of writing in our lives when the writing is gone. So, perhaps the next time we discuss the latest sit-com or soap-op, last night’s monologue or this week’s riveting political speech, let’s remind the kids (along with ourselves) that behind the familiar face or ensemble of cute characters, there are writers creating words for their mouths. Writers work to select just the right word or phrase to touch us deep in the gut. They struggle to construct the most powerful tension in a dramatic scene to pull us out of our own lives and engage us in the lives of interesting if often fictitious others. They toil to develop the excellent lead on a story where the punch line will roll us over with laughter. They are writing for US, after all!

So, how about we use the end of this strike as a reminder to focus our lessons for children’s writing instruction on helping them say something worthwhile for the world. Children all have all the life in them they need. Learning to write well provides each of us with a wonderful way to let that life out for the benefit of the rest of the world.

With the ability to write each of us is always prepared to strike … a blow for freedom and full self expression.