the creation of op-eds: anniversary marked

A hat tip to Fishbowl DC, which alerted us that the Writer's Almanac paid tribute yesterday to the 38th anniversary of the creation of the modern op-ed page. While they started in the 1920s, op-ed pages (short for opposite the editorial page) were originally reserved for the newspaper's columnists. Not until 1970 did the New York Times publish other-than-columnist long-format commentaries from readers--and then only after a 10-year effort by the Times's John Bertram Oakes. And he got the idea from a reader, who sent in a reasoned commentary too long for the letters column--so readers, push that envelope. Or get a blog, the modern-day equivalent...