Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Frank Bruni, who writes for the New York Times and teaches at Duke University, has become one of my favorite columnists.

Why?

• Well, first he uses words very well, better than most.  In almost every column, he uses a new good word and I have no choice but to look up the definition.
• Second, he highlights the good words many other writers use, which indicates that he practices humility, knowing that he is not the only good media writer these days.
• Third, he is precise and concise in his analysis of politics, skewering both sides when they don’t find the smart middle.

But, then, too, he is dog lover like me.  He often writes about his sidekick, Regan, which he did this week.  Here is what he wrote:

“We’re not the only creatures that turn their faces toward the sun.  That enjoy the tingle of a warming epidermis.  That have a complicated, contradictory relationship with heat.

“When the mercury crests 70, my Regan will sometimes refuse to take a walk of more than 200 feet.  But then, perhaps half an hour later, she’ll agitate to go outside and she’ll choose a patch of the driveway or backyard for bathing in the bright light.

“Here she is recently [I am not including the photo here] minus the lawn chair, sunglasses and piña colada that a more doting, generous human caretaker clearly would have given her.  It’s a wonder she puts up with me.”

I have similar thoughts about our dog, Callaway. [Yes, I named my golf clubs after him.]

When we spend our winters in the California desert, he loves to go outside on our patio without a leash.  Then, he finds a great spot and lays down in the sun in the warm grass, loving the heat while feeling a bit of independence without a tether.

Bruni and I share two things:  A love of words and a love for dogs.  He is better at the first than I am, but, as for the second, I suspect we’re equal. 

So enjoy the sun and contemplate life.