I have been writing this column, off and on, mostly on, for–dear God, can it be nearly thirty years? Yet nothing lasts forever, neither columns nor columnists, and Fred on Everything, for unexpected reasons with which I will not bore the reader, has reached its end.
Columnizing is a curious trade. I suppose that from time to time most in it ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?” It is not from vanity or the desire to see one’s name in print. At the age of twenty, a new writer thinks that if only he can be published in the next most important outlet, he will be happy and fulfilled. At thirty, he thinks, oh hell, its deadline, what can I write and how can I make it seem fresh and interesting when almost every subject has been written about thousands of times by thousands of writers also on deadline?
I suspect that few columnists think that their output will accomplish anything. People seldom change their minds. Most likely we are just bellowing at the universe to behave itself. It doesn’t.
Unlike many in our ashen trade, I have been fortunate in not having an editor to tell me what to write and not being constrained to specialize. “Fred on Everything” may sound pompous but it is not restrictive. Thus I could write about anything from the military-industrial-complex, to being a barefoot-and-BB gun-toting Tom Sawyer simulacrum in small-town Alabama, to robots and the realities of Mexico. This has been fun for me and, apparently, for a certain kind of reader.
But not to most. What most readers want is to be told over and over what they already believe, preferably in combative prose. Most columnists and websites do exactly this. I could never do it, perhaps because of some psychic defect. Or maybe I am just bull-headed. The result has been that readers have been few by internet standards but, at least in my judgement, a superior and versatile sort who can disagree without huffing-and-deleting. I regard them–you– as fellow conspirators against the expected, the tedious, and the ordinary. It has been fun. I thank you for the years.
Ciao,
Fred
Hermit Note: As a blogger I always enjoyed Fred’s column. He was one of those wacky gonzo journalist whose writings were always a cosmic crap shoot. You never knew what you were going to read about, but you could be guaranteed you were going to be entertained.
Thanks for all the good times Fred, and Thanks for standing up for your beliefs. We are gonna miss you.
