When I was in high school, I had an English teacher that was very much against the use of “I” in writing. Perhaps because he seemed so sure of himself and I was so unsure of myself, that advice sort of stuck in my head, and I suppose it’s good advice when you’re writing high school essays. In hindsight, I think another high school English teacher gave me something much more valuable when he taught me to hate clichés. Sometimes I still use them because, overused or not, they’re the best say something, but I still hate them and agonize over them. But the “I” thing did a little more harm than good. It instilled this Catholic-like guilt in me, admonishing me to take myself out of my writing in order for it to be more persuasive. It’s also a very journalistic way of looking at the world. Journalists feel they are doing their job better by taking themselves out of the story. The problem is, it’s never true. No matter how objective a piece of writing sounds, it is always written by someone. I think that’s why I like Hunter S. Thompson so much. He saw through all that and decided to go out of his way to be in the news he was reporting. (more…)