And now a Leap Year linguistic treat, topped with a dollop of dreamy whipped cream.
Neither you nor I may ever write anything like the flight of fancy now coming your way, but we can all delight in its creativity.
When I was a schoolboy, with the help of inspired teachers, I discovered a love for words and sentences. My ear was always ready for a new sensation. One came my way on Jack Paar's late-night TV show, delivered by a fellow of rare wit, a fresh face named Orson Bean.
Bean — writer/comedian/actor/director/educator and one of the freest spirits anywhere — died on Feb. 7, after being hit by two cars as he tried to cross a street in Los Angeles. He was 91.
He was a delicious communicator, so confident in delighting his audience that he felt free to show how much he was enjoying himself.
Here's a close paraphrase of what he said that night on TV; it's so vivid to me that it has never left my mind.
"Close your eyes. Picture deepest, darkest equatorial Africa.
"The noonday sun beats down on the jungle, blistering the trees. Shafts of light pierce chinks in the canopy, and tiny flecks of dust flutter lazily in the sunbeams and sink silently into the gloom of a black lagoon.
"All is still.
"And now, in the stagnant water, one hippopotamus turns ever so slowly, barely perceptibly, to another hippopotamus and says, 'You know, somehow I'm having a hard time getting it into my head that today is Tuesday.' "
You know, somehow I'm having an easy time getting it into my head that Orson Bean's story captures something true about the human condition.
His imagination could always lift us out of the humdrum of daily life.
His love of language can inspire us.
Writers can follow his example, relax between the shoulder blades, relax between the ears and write simply in ways that readers can relate to.
And if writers provide some glee in the words and sentences they choose, they can keep readers coming back for more.
Twin Cities writing coach Gary Gilson, an Emmy Award winner in public television, has taught journalism at Colorado College. Contact him at writebetterwithgary.com.
