THE ROOTED READER

Some weekly news stories are best told in the journalistic style, of course. . . . Unjournalistically, I wanted our scenes set in context, visually and chronologically. Weather, time of day, appearance or demeanor of the participants, the secondary scenario in the room or along the road, the attitudes of the role-players -- all might be introduced in a weekly's pages to root the reader firmly at the center of the action. The reader could only care to read the results of the local budget board's deliberations if he could be part of the meeting audience, sense the currents and feel the waves. He would have to be collaborator before he found any pleasure in the contentious discussion over a $ 200 appropriation for Memorial Day festivities. Journalese would never do it. He would have to be given all the essential information, all the argument available to the school board before he could make up his mind about the need for new band uniforms, or what to do about smoking in the johns.

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