Ward on Words

On Sept. 15, 2025, Trump filed a $ 15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times and other parties. The pleading runs 84 pages. On Sept. 19, 2025, Judge Steven D. Merryday, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, issued a four-page ruling ripping Trump's pleading to shreds . (It's short, to the point, and definitely worth the read.)  The ruling allows Trump's team to refile within 28 days and requires that the new pleading cannot exceed 40 pages. In his spare, four-page ruling, Judge Merryday provides multiple lessons in writing that all of us could benefit from following, lessons that I would like to share here: Lesson 1) Cogently present the issue: "In this action, a prominent American citizen (perhaps the most prominent American citizen) alleges defamation by a prominent American newspaper publisher American newspaper publisher (perhaps the most prominent American newspaper publisher) and by several other  corporate and natural persons.   ..." Les...

The NY Times has a story today commemorating the centennial of Wallace Stegner's birth. For most people, Wallace Stegner is probably the least famous award-winning author they've never heard of. Though he won the the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, his books are not easy to obtain and most students today have never heard of him or been assigned any of his books to read in class. When I was a teenager, my father handed me Stegner's novel, Big Rock Candy Mountain. It had been one of my father's favorite books, and upon first read, it became one of mine. It's loosely based on Stegner's life, in that the significant events of the book also happened to Stegner's family. Like the fictional Bruce Mason, Wallace Stegner was left to care for his dying mother alone after his father ran away from the situation. Like Bruce Mason, Stegner had a father who killed himself after murdering a girlfriend. Like Bruce Mason, Stegner was the only survivo...

There is a lovely story in today's Washington post about a doctor who turned to writing to help heal himself of the stress that came from treating AIDS back in the 1980s. The writer is Dr. Abraham Verghese, an AIDS specialist who cashed in his 401K nearly 20 years ago to become a writer. He is a physician and a published author who lectures on the pen and the stethoscope: what writing can teach us about medicine. His primary thesis: that "...harried doctors must understand that to every patient, illness is a story." Verghese is an Indian-Ethiopian who now lives in America. And given his diverse background and his work with AIDS patients, he understands that doctors dispense healing , not necessarily cures . The narrative of medicine. The narrative of life. When dealing with the terribly ill, words matter. And Verghese is a doctor who understands the importance of the narrative as it relates to the patient. For more, check out the story here. And you'l...