A vow to write well

Every Sunday afternoon, I enjoy the Sunday Styles section of nytimes.com. (It's kind of a throw back to the way we used to fight over the comics page in the St. Cloud Times, except I'm not fighting with anyone and there's no newsprint residue left on my fingertips.) One of the features I particularly enjoy is the Vows column, an in-depth profile of a couple getting married. The featured couples vary from week to week - some are older, some are well known, some are wealthy, some have faced life challenges, and on and on. The stories, all of them, are sweet.

This week, next to the regularly scheduled Vows feature was this gem of an article: "Say 'I Do' to Rock" by Brett Martin

Martin writes - and writes SO well - that: "Weddings, of course, have been the secret sustainer of the music world since time immemorial. But for just as long, wedding bands have been a source of embarrassment for those forced to play in them. The Dexter Lake Club Band has neatly subverted this construction by the simple expediency of creating a band that actually rocks. In the process, they’ve become one of New York’s premier wedding bands for people who would never dream of hiring a wedding band. New York magazine called the band one of the “top 10 reasons to get married in New York,” and it has played for high-profile brides like the actresses Olivia Wilde and Amanda Peet. (“I am an old lady and I was pregnant, and I still danced up a storm,” Ms. Peet says by e-mail message.)"

He continues with vivid descriptions of the band members ("On drums, tall, lank-haired Gunnar Olsen, who could be clutching a marriage license in one hand and a bride in the other and would still clearly be with the band"), the happy dancing wedding parties and the perks of playing Journey.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Martin's lively, inventive writing. Spot on, sir! I liked the piece not because it was about a wedding band but because it was about what it means to be in any band. [Shades of "Almost Famous" ...]

My favorite writing instruction comes from nytimes.com and The New Yorker. I am consistently impressed with the syntax on display. It makes me glad to know that there are people so careful with their words. In a busy life filled with window trim in need of paint, I definitely take time for myself every single day to read. I do it not because it's good for me but because I prefer reading this online newspaper to many other tasks. I'm just glad I've learned something in the process.