Best of the best

March 27, 2006
In late 1996, Oil & Gas Journal’s parent company, PennWell Corp., published a compilation of Journally Speaking columns from 25 years of the magazine.

In late 1996, Oil & Gas Journal’s parent company, PennWell Corp., published a compilation of Journally Speaking columns from 25 years of the magazine. The book’s title, Red Beans, Rice, and Tabouli, came from one of the 278 columns selected for publication.

The book covers 1970-95, years in which the oil and gas industry witnessed “war and peace, oil glut and shortage, and restructuring; years often punctuated with generous portions of stupidity,” according to the Red Beans introduction written by former OGJ editors Leo R. Aalund and John L. Kennedy-both of whom this editor has had the privilege of knowing and working with.

When I joined OGJ shortly after the book appeared, my boss made sure I had a copy. Despite my best intentions to peruse its pages during downtime-whatever that is-I neglected Red Beans, which remained on the bookshelf, standing upright between a book on techniques of clear writing and another on the history of oil. Pity, but true. Until recently, that is.

Taking your turn

The book’s introduction explains the origin of the Journally Speaking column: The late OGJ Editor and Chief Editorial Writer Henry Ralph, who started the column in 1948 and wrote it most weeks until he retired in 1968, had “created the legendary Churly McCaustic, the nemesis of incremental-barrel refiners, marketers bearing gimmicks, and ‘rock hounds.’”

Now every OGJ editor gets a whack at writing in this space about once a quarter. The assignment is welcomed by some and dreaded by others. It’s welcomed because the column allows its writer to stretch beyond the day-to-day reporting of vital industry fact into the realm of relatively free expression and creativity. And it’s dreaded because interesting topics are sometimes difficult to come by, particularly on short notice. And-let’s face it-it’s unnerving to have your photo and byline next to 700 or so of your own words. After all, what if you were to be recognized at a conference? Or called on the carpet to defend an opinion you’ve held about some industry topic? Terrifying thoughts, these.

Ideally, Journally Speaking topics should be about industry, or about how OGJ editors do their jobs, or about the Journal itself. So long as the topic is “oily” enough, it’s pretty much fair game.

The subjects covered in this space over the years have run the gamut-from the serious and highly technical to the humorous and light-hearted. Journally Speaking writers are advised neither to editorialize nor to call too much attention to themselves as the columns’ writers. This is known in Journal-speak as avoiding the dreaded “vertical pronoun,” although would you believe that some do not heed this rule? I know I can’t. Such insolence.

Back to the book

Which brings me back to Red Beans. The pressure of writing the column this week under tighter-than-usual deadlines encouraged me to pick the volume up. I’ve since read a handful of its offerings. Many of the authors’ names I don’t recognize, although I’m sure that just asking some of the long-timers around the office would produce story upon story about them.

Still to wonder: Will there be a Red Beans, Rice, and Tabouli, Vol. 2? And if so, what will it be called?

I humbly offer “Best of the Best.”