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COMMUNICATIONS strategy + execution
Blah, blah, blah
Speechwriters who think that it’s only their words that matter and that style and presentation have little to do with delivering a message need to look at the acceptance speech that Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson gave at the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. Repeating the same word over and over for two and a […]
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Unlikely Heroine
December 3, 2013
Houston-based speechwriter Hal Gordon reminds us that, in the aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination 50 years ago, it was an unlikely speechwriter, Liz Carpenter, who wrote the 58 words that Lyndon Johnson spoke to calm a nation. Here’s what Carpenter, an LBJ aide and occasional speechwriter, wrote on a blank post card as Air Force […]
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I’m Thankful
November 27, 2013
I’m thankful when the plane lands safely and on time – especially when our daughter is on board. I’m thankful for great southern cooks like my wife, who does turkey, dressing (don’t call it stuffing), squash casserole, ambrosia and pumpkin pie with the best of them. I’m thankful for all of my clients, especially those […]
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Son of Santini
November 18, 2013
Author Pat Conroy began his remarks Sunday night by calling his beloved mother, Peggy Conroy, a bald-faced “liar.” Conroy told a crowd of about 2,000, who crowded into the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta for the MJCCA’s annual book festival, that his mother lied to him about being a belle from a prominent Atlanta […]
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Pencil Pusher
October 21, 2013
John Steinbeck, the most read American writer of the 20th century, has been described as a romantic, a realist and a rebel. He was also a pencil pusher of the highest order. “The pure luxury of long beautiful pencils charges me with energy and invention,” Steinbeck once said. As he explained to editor Pascal Covici […]
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National Punctuation Day
October 9, 2013
Did you miss National Punctuation Day on September 24? OK, it’s not in the same category as big holidays like Talk Like a Pirate Day and Go Fly a Kite Day, but National Punctuation Day is important. At least to wordies like me. And it should be important to anyone who thinks the word its […]
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Mortal after all
May 19, 2013
There was obviously one person missing from Cobern Kelley’s 100th birthday celebration on Friday, and that was Cobern Kelley. Maybe after 45 years, Y Boys, their parents and everyone else who worshipped him should accept his death. The problem is, we were all convinced he was immortal. Kelley died on April 11, 1968, in the […]
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53rd Week? Not for Me
April 8, 2013
Augustans who run businesses that attract hungry, thirsty and sleepy golf fans and those who own houses they rent while they go on expense-paid vacations call this the “53rd Week.” Masters week is a golf-induced jolt to the local economy that can make a good year a great one for any number of businesses in […]
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Jimmy V
March 7, 2013
Earlier this week marked the 20th anniversary of Jim Valvano’s stirring speech at the 1993 Espy Awards in New York, where he was presented with the Arthur Ashe Award. No speechwriter could have written the words Jimmy V spoke that night. With time running out in his life, Valvano implored the audience to do three […]
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The sky is crying
December 21, 2012
The gun debates can wait (not for long I hope) while mothers like Victoria Pozner eulogize their sons and daughters. Six-year-old Noah Pozner was buried on Dec. 18 in Newtown, Conn. Here’s what only a mother could have felt and put into words. The sky is crying, and the flags are at half-mast. It is […]
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Bill Bryant
December 7, 2013
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