Over the Christmas holiday my goal was to read the first four James Herriot novels and it was a wonderfully worthwhile goal. In one of the books he stated how good it was to be a small cog in British agriculture, and that made me think about my part at NIU.

One of our professors in the English department ended his talk, this week, with the words, “Yes, Virginia, there is a finally.” This reminded me of how the written word of a news reporter, years ago, in his response to Virginia’s question, made a contribution to our heritage.

We keep passing on the “Yes, Virginia”s. In fact there was even a follow-up article this holiday season on Virginia. It was titled, “Yes, Readers. Virginia lived the spirit of that letter.”

The exchange between that little girl and the writer had something of lasting value worth passing on.

The editorial of the same paper wich printed the Virginia article expressed the need for communication skills among our citizens. The editor calls James J. Kilpatrick a gifted wordsmith who says, nevertheless, that there is nothing “arcane or mysterious” about crafting a respectable sentence.

e compares writing to carpentry, a skill which can be learned just as putting together a dovetail drawer can be learned. I believe that.

We will not all—or even very many of us—be Mozart’s, but we can be Salieri’s (hopefully, without the bitter jealousy), if we attend to the craft.

In writing we can continue to ask questions, but we can be part of the answers, too. We can affirm the Virginia’s of this generation and help carry the history of our culture into the next.

Like Herriot, I know it is a good feeling to be a contributor. Communication Cogsmanship—a new year’s challenge!

Gwen Walker

Instructor

English Department