A Classical Approach to Modern Writing

By: Anthony Timlin and Alex Larson

Sitting down with Larry Clarkston in his house near Zeeland, we were intrigued by the experience that he had in his career. Larry was an engineer that traveled the world throughout his career to work on different jobs in various foreign countries. We were also fascinated by the fact that Larry had the uncanny ability to make the most simple of conversations sound so complex. His vocabulary and understanding of the English language was something that was not only
impressive, but intimidating as well.

Though now a master, his skill for words was not something that he had always possessed, nor was it something that he learned at school, but it was indeed something that he came to appreciate having on his side.

Starting out wasn’t easy

He had no clue of what field to pursue when first entering college. Inspiration came from a close family friend who was a few years older and attending Michigan Tech to become a civil engineer. Larry followed in his footsteps.

Declaring a major in civil engineering and walking on to the football squad, Larry started his freshmen year at the age of seventeen. During his first year he found it difficult to balance his schooling and his athletic career. Being a dedicated student trying to balance the engineering work and the practice schedule proved to be too much. So Larry was forced to discontinue his football career and focus on his studies. School then went on according to schedule until his wife became pregnant with only sixteen credits to go. “The last sixteen hours of my degree took eight years to finish.” But after the tedious eight years jumping from night school to night school Larry finally graduated and started his career in civil engineering.

“Engineering doesn’t teach you how to write”

Professional writing can be a career all in itself or it seems that a decent percentage of jobs dedicate a good amount of time to writing, but when it came to Larry Clarkston he found that graduating with a civil engineering degree from Michigan Tech left him unprepared for what was to come in his future.

Clarkston, a retired engineer whom had the opportunity and the skill to make his mark around the world, said during his interview that, “Engineering doesn’t teach you how to write” and that stumbling out of a school of technology he walked away with the bare minimum for writing skills.

Realization of a Problem

For the first four years Larry worked basically as a low level engineer. As he moved up the ladder he realized that he was lacking in communication skills. “I didn’t realize this void in my ability to communicate until I began to read letters of transition that came across my desk” and by listening to other engineers such as himself he realized that very few know how to speak and write grammatically correct.

With a higher position came a new responsibility to communicate with others. “I was desperately in need to learn and to write” he admitted. He wanted to make sure that the readers of his messages knew that he could communicate on a higher level than they were used to.

Finding the Solution

When he started to teach himself to write and speak more grammatically correct he consulted novels written over a hundred years ago. Larry felt that the way they spoke back then was a language that was unchallenged by today’s society. “The only thing I could think to do was to go back in time… So I began to read classics.”

Opening works by authors like Dickens, Henry James, and Kafka. Clarkston realized he had found a form of writing and speaking that is lost to today’s society. “We’ve murdered that kind of communication… The same thing being said today is just less powerful and less meaningful.” Identifying a form of language that he thought to be an interesting method to learn how to speak and write correctly was Larry’s first step toward his goal.

Practice Makes Perfect

Larry was simultaneously in charge of two major construction projects: a massive coal mine in Colombia and a dredging project in New Brunswick. Flights between the two distant locations allowed for much time to read. “Thirty three percent of my waking life was spent at 3200 feet”. By reading and copying down phrases, their page numbers, and photo copying pages themselves from books, in order to study, he taught himself how to speak and write more grammatically correct. “I have about five three ring binders containing (classic literature) phrases.” With much time to practice and a high level of devotion Larry had managed to completely restructure his ability to communicate verbally and on paper.

On the Job

Larry had worked on many different types of jobs during his career. He has experience working construction claims. He worked out of Mexico City as an International Arbitrator. The traveling he had to endure never slowed as he got older. There was one particular year that required over eighty visits to Washington DC, no stay ever lasting more than a day.
All of these jobs required some form of writing. Which sparked the thought: maybe Michigan Tech had ill equipped him when they sent him off in the world. When asked if he felt that he had benefited from teaching himself to communicate better through writing he replied, “Writing has sustained my career.”

Who Reads His Work?

Being the head of a major mining corporation required communication with a variety of audience members. Among them were bankers, government bureaucrats, superintendents, and officials of third world countries, international organizations, and project managers who were never “below the head man.”

Communicating with top officials in a job environment meant that he would need to be at the top of his game in order to get what he wanted done. He developed a tactic to use in his adversarial messages wherein he would string big words along to intimidate who it was that was reading it. That way he was able to ensure things were going to go his way. At times he would also send letters to communicate with prime ministers of the countries his company was working with. By being able to perfect his skills in communication he was able to sustain and create a successful career for himself.

Being Noticed

After years of showing proficiency in his writing styles Larry said “I became, without wanting to be so, the person people turned to if they wanted something written.” He started receiving requests from people asking him to compose letters for them for their own personal use. That isn’t as far as his ability was noticed; Larry has been published in works such as “Who’s Who in Finance in Industry.” And “Who’s Who in the World.”

Advice for Young Students

Larry said that he sympathizes with students our age today. When we are just entering college it is such a young age to try and figure out what we want to become and do with the rest of our lives. So he offered advice saying “Not to get easily frustrated…each semester you look down the road to see what your life might ultimately become.” He went on to say that, “No matter what happens in life it’s never as bad as the instant it happens.” And as an ending note, “No matter what you lose in life, never lose your sense of humor.”