I first saw the Guardian years ago when an expat Brit friend of ours in Montreal gave a copy to me and my partner, and from the first I was intrigued by your paper’s liberal, articulate commentary on our planet’s evolution – all presented in a very comprehensive, handy, readable and non-digital format.
Of course your Notes & Queries section became my favourite from the first because it gives us harried world citizens the rare opportunity to laugh at ourselves in a way that does not depend on cynicism or gutter slang. It also gives stage-struck fellows like myself the opportunity to try our hand at writing comedy.
One of the tasks of teaching English is correcting, laboriously, my students’ grammar and sentence structure, which, together with a brief stint as editor of a small-town weekly in Vermont, has sharpened my ability to write clearly and succinctly. When I had my first letter published I shamelessly boasted to my family, who no doubt were bewildered by their older uncle’s immodest excitement.
Once a friend travelling through Greece several years ago, looking for something to read in English, picked up a copy of the Weekly, saw my name on the letters page, nearly fainted, and couldn’t believe it until I later assured her that I was indeed the celebrity in question. I therefore gratefully thank you for putting my name on the map.
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