Selections from my Franciscan essays (hover cursor over link for source or click for full article)
‘100 in 100. Celebrating Centennials & Counting’

I Francisco have written 100 Franciscan essays published online by the American Chronicle in the last 100 weeks, from February 2006 to December 2007. I didn’t count before, but those 100 now make me feel I count a lot.

In journalism, you write 30 and you’re finished; in science writing, I write 100 and I’ve just began.

100 essays I wrote; what was I trying to prove? Nothing. I don’t write to prove; rather, I write to probe. And if you ask me, those 100 prove that my probing is worth approving.

There are no dull science stories, only dull science writers.

Since Word 2007 is entirely new, I have to forget everything I have learned about Word 2003. I’d rather forget Word 2007.

I have 100 reasons why I call sweet sorghum, which scientists prefer to call Sorghum bicolor, the great climate change crop (see my ‘My American Book,’ americanchronicle.com). The #1 reason: Sweet sorghum grows rich on poor soils. It can withstand waterlogging on one hand and drought on the other. Scientists should call it Sorghum versatile.

I have always been open-minded about my writing, but publishers have not agreed with me. So I see: The problem with writing is not writing but publishing – that you’ve got talent is not a guarantee that you’ll get published.

As against page publishing that the newspapers and magazines delight in, or book publishing that textbook publishers enjoy, blogging has given me the pleasure of thought publishing (and the inspiration to coin a new term). Blogging is the biggest thing since the printing press. Blogging is the best thing that ever happened since blabbering.

I told you 100 is perfect! And so, like George Burns and Bob Hope and your mother or grandmother, I’d be glad to live to be 100 years old but, God, 87 is good enough for me.

I’m grateful for people who are grateful.

Having learned to be creative more than 40 years ago with Rudolf Flesch’s pocketbook How To Write, Think & Speak More Effectively, I can relate even two opposites and find some pleasant things to talk and think about.

I have reason enough for my faith, and I have faith enough in my reason.

A science story does not have to be drab.

Get personal. Imagine that you are taking part in a conversation, so you write as if you’re talking to someone in particular. That will make your writing more natural and, therefore, more appealing. Also, remember always to take sides; that way, you gain credibility.

Money speaks louder than words.

At any rate, the exact date is not important: We celebrate the event, not the number. We celebrate the centennial, the growing of age, not the age. We hold on to the process, not the product.

A double centennial? 100 happening in 100: The pleasure had been mine.