Amster: "Lesson for the day: Life cannot exist without water"
OK, Coleridge is a little cooler than Shane, but I still don't need a cultural cliche to start an opinion piece. I hope this is just a lapse and Randall's not being infected by the Courier's editorial stylebook.
Randall runs down a series of unhappy experiences related to water and ruminates on how it will feel to run out of it as we grow our communities into unsustainability. This is all good, though as usual I'd like to see less lamenting and more leadership to action.
Overall the structure isn't bad for delivering some good ideas. But let's not neglect the core craft here, and that's writing. That final mixed metaphor closes the column with the resounding thud of a falling elephant load.
4 comments:
Having studied Coleridge, I understood why he died of an opium overdose. But Amster makes a good point about how tough it is without water. But the people who should make the changes won't or are unwilling. Conservation is good and all, but everyone will not get on board with that. The US has the lowest water rates in the world. go to Denmark and you'll pay more than $5/1,000 gallons. It's less than half that in the US. Time to fix the problem or move to a place that's not mired in a drought in the middle of the desert. jared
Why is it that the metaphors with which you treat the objects of your blog sometimes tickle me more than the actual commentary? Falling elephant load. That's a jewel.
Successful punditry is all about style over content, no?
It's not one of Amster's best works but he finally hits home in the last two paragraphs. I got some extended mileage from the reader comments too. If only we could get some sensible thinkers into office!
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