I just discovered that my letter, "Well Crafted," won special recognition from Southwest Airlines. It was featured prominently in the last issue of Spirit, the Southwest Airlines Magazine and won their "top letter" award. Winners of this award win a free Spirit T-shirt.
Well crafted
Published in Spirit (Southwest Airlines Magazine), July, 2010.
"Dream Job" is the right article for America at the right time. With the current emphasis on academics and high test scores, our country appears to be moving away from the time when "fixing things" and other forms of practical expertise was, as Mike Rowe says, "not only celebrated but also revered."
Former US Cabinet member John W. Gardner pointed out that we all lose when we lose respect for non-academic work: "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."
Stephen Krashen, PhD
Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
Original article at: http://www.spiritmag.com/features/article/dream_job/
The Spirit editor included this comment after my letter: We’re all for academics, Stephen. (Some of our best friends are emeritus professors.) But you’re right. If we’d all think more like craftsmen, our world would be—well, better crafted.
Congratulations!
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