The sage Chilon of Sparta, who made it taboo to speak ill of the dead; but was contradicted by the Bible which says that the truth shall set you free. So which is it?
Jones Madeira is dead and all you could hear are glowing tributes made about him in observing the words of the Greek philosopher Chilon. However, in the words of those who knew him otherwise, glowing words are hard to come by.
Therese Mills I paid glowing words to for her transcendence in the field of journalism as she was primus inter pares in that field. Less than two decades ago I submitted an article to her requesting a columnist position with her Newsday newspaper. Having read it, she immediately hired me as a columnist not for one day but back to back (which meant that she wanted me to do the Sunday and Monday editions). Obviously, Ms. Mills was impressed with my writing and felt that the country would benefit from my writing two days a week. For a couple years thereafter, I delivered without fail my back to back columns not only in the number of words required but in excellence with nothing in my articles ever being changed as they were submitted.
Tragically, (for me) Ms. Mills passed away and was replaced by Mr. Madeira who was obviously not of the literary transcendence of Ms. Mills and who soon came as editor to slash and burn my literary output as if he was wielding a brush cutter and not a pen. When hesitatingly I raised the issue that some of my best lines were being deleted, it was followed up by the response that no writer has back to back columns and henceforth my Monday column was taken away from me. Obviously fishing in the desert and looking for an excuse to destroy me, he eventually concocted the flimsiest of stories to get rid of me- and so endeth my days of column writing with Newsday.
Because I know how good I am as a writer, I didn’t let a Jones P. be the one to truncate my writing career, so thereafter I pursued my writing which has led to me having eighteen published books today and leaving that as my legacy and asking Jones if his legacy was getting Lester Orie fired.
I know for a fact that my books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and other major bookstores across the world while Jones P.’s name is soon to be forgotten if I remember him at all as the cacophonous way he spoke reminiscent of a young rooster trying to crow. He was no Trevor McDonald, Dale Kolasingh, or Therese Mills. He was just well, …. what?
L. Siddhartha Orie
