Texas Two-Step

As if Texas hasn't had enough natural disasters like hurricanes and drought, a polar vortex recently unleashed a frigid Arctic blast, terrorizing Texans and overwhelming the state's energy grid, initiating power outages and creating a humanitarian crisis for more than one million people.

To add insult to injury, the unusual storm made a mockery of the state's politicians and its much vaunted independence. Right-wing talking heads like Tucker Carlson on Fox and even the state's governor, Greg Abbott, have blamed the outages on wind power and the so-called "Green New Deal."

Carlson called windmills a "silly fashion statement" and noted that "green energy means a less reliable power grid." Worse, Abbott, who one would assume knows better, said that "the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal." Both statements are, of course, complete hogwash.

Texas generates only 25 percent of its electrical energy from wind power, with the rest coming from thermal sources like gas, oil and coal generating facilities. The real issue is the state's dubious energy grid, called the inaccurately named Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

As public relations coordinator for Eugene Water & Electric Board, I attended an enlightening conference sponsored by the American Public Power Association in Texas in the late 1990s in Austin. The city's public utility was recognized as a national leader in the development of wind energy.

Unfortunately, the state's electrical grid, managed by the ERCOT, is woefully unprepared to manage a catastrophic blackout. Texas has consciously distanced itself from federal oversight to avoid federal regulation and maintains its own grid, unique in the nation.

Why is Texas the only state to manage its own energy grid? Well, probably because it's Texas, and they like to do things their own way. As a result of their so-called independence, the state is unable to acquire power from neighboring grid like the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).

Ten years ago, a Texas  commission predicted that a catastrophic storm could severely impact the state's energy grid, but nothing was done. Fixing ERCOT will require actual governance by statewide leadership instead of blaming the sorry shape of their electrical grid on wind turbines.

Question Reality

"Question reality" was a popular slogan found on bumper stickers, typically positioned on the back of Volkswagen buses, back in the 60s. Popularized by hippie psychologist Timothy Leary, many have pointed out the fact that the phrase can be traced to the Greek philosophy Socrates.

The slogan focused on the counterculture movement, which opposed escalation of the Vietnam War, and supported the free speech and civil rights movements, Earth Day and other popular issues of the day. Later, a variation of that phrase on bumper stickers morphed into "question reality."

So it was interesting to participate in a Zoom session with students from the UO chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America as they interviewed public relations and advertising professionals, all recent graduates, in a question and answer session recently.

The final question, as posed to the professionals in attendance by the moderator of the Zoom session, was this: "What have you been doing, other than work, to navigate through the pandemic." To a person, they all responded with "reality television" like "The Bachelor" and others.

My "reality television" has been the news: the daily pandemic numbers (and now vaccination numbers), the presidential election and most recently, the impeachment trial. As I heard the professionals respond to the question, I couldn't help but think that the 24-hour news cycle provides plenty of reality.

There is, of course a certain paradox in the defense team for a reality-show president complaining about the use of visual images in the impeachment trial that  the longtime star of "Celebrity Apprentice" could appreciate. Perhaps it's just a case of "live by the sword, die by the sword."

First Draft, Second Draft

For anybody who writes anything, from a resume to a business letter (or an email) to a blog post to an epic novel, it happens. You awaken suddenly in the middle of the night and wonder aloud: did I spell "ignominious" correctly. Quite often, you'll realize that you did not.

That's why it's important to edit your document to determine that the content you've written is clear, concise and complete. Editing may involve changing words, correcting errors, or even revising parts of the document. The objective is to improve the quality of the final product.

Assuming that writers want to make a good impression on the reader, writing should be error-free and feature correct grammar and punctuation. Readers expect quality, so the writer should first and foremost avoid errors of all kinds, especially names and numbers.

Unfortunately, the sad fact is that errors are inevitable; everybody makes them. So how do you avoid errors in your writing? The key is copy editing and proofreading to improve the quality of the final document. But first things first. Before you can proofread, you must focus on copy editing.

Once a first draft is complete, the next step is to improve the readability and flow of the final document. You must copy edit for content, clarity, conciseness and coherence. Is the information complete? Will it be understandable to readers upon first glance? Is the document concise?

Editing for content means you have all the information required. Are names, dates, addresses and numbers accurate? What about enclosures, and more importantly, are they included with the document? Is the message consistent in the way the material is presented?

Names can be particularly problematic. Never assume anything when it comes to names. Double check the spelling. Once you spell somebody's name wrong, they will remember you, and not for the right reasons. Do you have the correct day with the correct date?

Is the document clear? Clear words say exactly what you mean, so use those that are familiar with your intended audience. Since words have different meanings to different people, use words that convey exact meaning when editing for clarity. Eliminate cliches and redundancies.

Finally, edit for conciseness, eliminating unnecessary words/ideas. Avoid modifiers like "I believe." Reduce the number of passive verbs by replacing them with more dynamic active verbs that help move a sentence. Substitute pronouns with more descriptive nouns.

As New York Times reporter David Vecsey wrote: "As a cub reporter, one of the veteran reporters pulled me aside and said: 'Look. Doctors bury their mistakes. Lawyers lock theirs up. But reporters print theirs for the whole damn world to see.'" Good reason to copy edit in advance.