Columnist @ MindSay

            On Sept. 19, 2006, Southerner readers opened the paper to the opinion page to read about a grown man’s fear of mice.  One year and 26 columns later, I’m still afraid of mice, but hopefully you haven’t grown tired of reading the “Jabberwocky.”

            A little background on how I got to this point: I spent nine months in 1996 working for the Rocky Mount Times, a now-defunct weekly newspaper.  I started out doing film reviews before coming on board as a reporter.  Because of my interest in politics, and with it being an election year, I asked my editor if I could write a weekly political column, and he consented.

            If you could read some of those early right-wing rants, you’d probably find it hard to believe that they were written by the same laid-back libertarian who now thinks the only difference between the government and the Mafia is that one of them is organized.

            Fast forward ten years.  I’d been bitten by the writing bug once again.  I’d had a couple of short stories published, and I really wanted to write full-time.  Attempts to get a job at a couple of area newspapers fell through, so I thought maybe I could write a column again.  After all, that had been the most enjoyable part of my job at the Times.

            I emailed Terry Smith, the editor of the Southerner, and made a pitch for what I described as a humor column with a libertarian slant.  We emailed back and forth a few times, I dropped off copies of my stories and Times clippings for him to read, and then we met face-to-face, and he gave me the opportunity to write “Jabberwocky.”

            So why “Jabberwocky?”  That was the title of my old high school newspaper, of which I was also on staff.  At the time I thought it was a dumb name.  I had never even heard of the Lewis Carroll poem, nor did I know that Webster defined the word as gibberish. Our principal, a real piece of work, claimed it meant “excited talk,” which is what our paper would be full of.  I think he was full of something, too, but I digress.

            When looking for a title for my column, “Scratch Pad,” “Give Me a Break,” and “Inside Report” were all taken, so I decided on “Jabberwocky” as an homage to my old high school news rag, and also because of the subject of the poem.

            For those not familiar with Carroll’s “Jabberwocky,” it tells of a knight going out to slay a terrible beast known as a Jabberwock.  Sometimes that’s how it feels writing a column.  Picking a topic, getting it written, and making it interesting can be as arduous as chasing down a monster, so “Jabberwocky” just sounded appropriate.

            Actually, I just made that whole last bit up, but you’ve got to admit it sounds good.

            What really makes all this worthwhile though are the readers.  When one of you stops me on the street, or calls me on the phone to tell me how much you’ve enjoyed something I wrote...you have no idea how much you make my day.  I write because I’m a writer.  I do it because I love it, not to seek glory or fame...but I’ll admit that when someone tells me they liked something I wrote, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.

            And so, in closing, I’d like to thank those of you who’ve come to me personally or via a third party to offer kind words about “Jabberwocky”: Megan Blice, Bruce Burgess, Elmina Cashwell, Roberta Cashwell, Mary Flanagan, John and Doris Gray, Gloria Guill, Keith Hale, Buddy Hooks, Rawls Howard, Charles and Tracy Johnson, Gary Jones, Susie Keel, Sam Noble, Ronnie Pittman, Brandon Richardson, and James Smith.

            If I missed anyone, I humbly apologize.  You are appreciated as well, and so are my Mindsay and Myspace readers.  Thank you all so much for making this first year of “Jabberwocky” a great one.  Hopefully this was the first of many more to come.

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis

Am going to see some puppies and some llamas today, which belong to my mum's friend. I'm so excited like a little kid! I love puppies! I've never actually seen llamas up close but I expect that they'll be cute too.

I don't know if there's a job which involves news reporting on law issues but since writing an article for English yesterday, I'd be quite up for it. I think I would like to be a columnist, so I could write just random thoughts ^_^ That doesn't mean that the judge plan isn't still in the running of course :P

I can't seem to think of anything interesting to write here anymore but whatever :P If you're not interested in my random thoughts, just don t read em :D