The Oldest 'Blogger' In Town
Originally from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Durham City in the UK, I now live in a remote mountain village in Andalucia, Spain. At such a distance, you can probably imagine how important it is for me to maintain links with my home town. Most of my family live in and around Durham, as well as many friends.
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Once or twice a week I receive an e-mail from a guy called Malcolm Rolling - one of our oldest friends whom I've known forever. Malcolm retired a few years back from his job in the Department of Psychology at Durham University. For his 47 years of dedicated service he was awarded an Honorary Degree, an MSc in Honorus Causa – no small achievement and not only, as he would have it, 'for keeping his nose clean for 47 years'. Though retired, Malc is not one to rest on his laurels and he maintains a healthy interest in local affairs.
Malc's e-mails vary in content, from 'funnies' to what's going on in Durham City Rugby Club, where I was a so-called 'lady' member and where Malcolm and his wife, Carol, still support the club in ways many and varied. The e-mails I look forward to most are those Malc sends me when he's had a letter published in one of the local newspapers. A strong advocate of conservation and the protection of local wild-life, his letters often feature concerns such as the reduction of fish and eel stocks in local rivers caused in part by an increase in the otter population.
Malc has had over fifty letters published over the years but it was his latest, on the subject of a BBC television drama, George Gently (starring actor Martin Shaw), that really made me think about effective communication. I watched that programme. George Gently is set in Durham City in the 1960s. I recognised the old County Hospital that sat on a rise next to the famous railway viaduct that crosses the city. Anyone who has ever visited or passed through Durham by train will remember the amazing view from the viaduct. Spread below is the city, with its famous Cathedral and Castle rising high above the River Wear on a wooded promontory. Nostalgia hit me like one of those trains when I read in Malc's letter about his old school, shown in the programme, and the part of the river where his canoe club was back in the day. Even though I enjoyed the show, it was Malc's letter that set me off on a nostalgic, emotional journey into my past. I'm sure I was not the only reader so affected.
I'm trying to communicate with other writers and readers through my blog. I haven't been blogging for long – just a few weeks, but it does give me the opportunity to write about stuff that interests me and, hopefully, other people, too. My point is that 'blogging' is just another term used for communicating your personal views to a large number of people. Even in this age of instant communication, with tweets, e-mails and blogs, the old ways can be at least as effective. Malc's letters on local affairs are regularly read by thousands of readers, stimulating discussions on topics of local interest or concern. Malc has lived in Durham all his life. His way of communicating is much more effective in a local environment than a blog. Local newspapers are read by older people, who may not be interested in computers or the internet, so his method of communication is extremely effective in reaching these older citizens.
A Letter to the Editor, or a Blog to people who may be interested in the same things as us are very similar. They both aim to provoke interest, discussion and, in the best instances, an emotional response.
Thank you, Malc, for making my week.
http://www.amazon.com/Lying-in-Wait-ebook/dp/B0055T772K
http://www.elizabethjasper.com
