Volume 3, No. 3. February 14, 2003
Eric's Turn
Keep
it in Contexts
Maya Angelou. Dave Barry. Eric Minton.
That’s good company I’m keeping. The people I just listed are three
of the writers included in a college textbook published in December, Rhetorical
Contexts: Readings for Writers by Suzanne Strobeck Webb and Lou Ann Thompson
(Longman Publishers, New York). The editors, both of Texas Woman’s University,
start the book with five chapters about the writing process, then use a series
of published articles and essays for discussion on writing techniques and effectiveness.
Their very first example is “Thrills and Chills,” an article on the
designers of roller coasters and haunted houses I wrote on assignment for Psychology
Today in 1999. The article leads off Webb’s and Thompson’s chapter
on “Reporting and Recording,” and they particularly point to my use
of quotations from different individuals and my using “elements of humor.”
The book includes a wide range of essayists, from Ronald Reagan to Hillary Clinton,
from Malcolm X to Mike Royko. One of my own journalism heroes is included, John
Hockenberry. His article “An American in Albania” comes right after
mine. In total, the book features 54 examples from 53 writers. The one author
who is exemplified twice in the book is, um, me.
Actually, the article “Scaring Up Business” was a companion piece
to my “Thrills and Chills” article in that Psychology Today
issue, but Webb and Thompson place it in a separate chapter, “Explaining
and Interpreting.” In introducing the second article they acknowledge its
singular status as the book’s only double entry from a single writer. “How
can one author write two such different essays on the same topic?” they
ask the student reader in their introduction.
In addition to grouping the articles in contextual chapter headings, the editors
index all the examples by “thematic contents.” My two articles, individually
or together, show up as examples of “Arts and Entertainment,” “Business,”
“Humor,” “Science and Technology” and “Society and
Culture.” One mark of my career as a freelance writer always has been the
diversity of my work.
I don’t mention all this merely to toot my own horn. I mention this to
link you to a new web site that toots my own horn, www.ericminton.com.
Now that we have THE LOOP on a successful trajectory and the Amusement Today
alliance is firm, Minton Enterprises is dusting off its original core business,
freelance writing and editing. We are, in fact, expanding that business to include
public relations writing, from press releases and brochure copy to books, scripts
and guides. You can find descriptions of all we have to offer plus published
examples of many of my articles, including the two used in Rhetorical Contexts,
at www.ericminton.com.
Now that I’m featured in a writing textbook, perhaps I should consider
teaching writing, too. Hmmmm. . .
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