“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?”
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, "Letters to a Young Poet”

In my case, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

I must write.

It’s embedded there, somewhere in my DNA. It’s like one’s sexuality. We don’t choose, despite what some would have you believe.

Throughout most of my life, I’ve put words on paper. Some of it, I think, has been good. Some of it has been dreck.

More recently, I’ve sent words into cyberspace using technology that’s far beyond my ken.

To my continuing astonishment, I am paid to do what I love. It’s how I put bread on the table for many years. By doing that and by messing with the writing of others.

I am not just a writer. I am an editor. Think of that as an über writer.

In my job at the Gazette, I try to improve on what other people write — before they write it and afterward. It’s a job that I love and that I take very seriously.

My personal credo is that a good editor gets in and out of a story without leaving footprints.

A good editor leads and encourages rather than dictates and enforces. Sometimes I succeed.

Sometimes not so much.

Feel free to ask my colleagues. They’ll be happy to give you their take.

I am most fortunate to have a boss who’s on the same page with me.

All of this is by way of introduction.

I think it’s a good idea to let you know a little something about me before you start reading my column, assuming we haven’t already become acquainted on www.dailygazette.com where I also contribute.

Here’s some more:

I was a family guy for many years. I am now single. I am well seasoned. You can interpret that as you like.

My interests are eclectic.

Sometimes I’m irreverent and iconoclastic, a regular smart ass.

I write restaurant reviews and contribute regularly to the Food Forum blog at www.dailygazette.com. I did not major in journalism. Liberal arts guy here.

My college exempted me from taking English classes because I had taught journalism there.
As a returning adult student, I insisted on satisfying my college requirement for p.e. and did it with two semesters of what I liked to call “Gym for Old Farts.”

My first-year p.e. teacher was a Chinese guy who bragged that he took a nap in a secret place on campus every day. He was a tai chi master. The second class was taught by a lesbian couple.

I live in Schenectady by choice and am heartened by its remarkable reawakening. I take visitors to State Street and point out highlights. My choice for art atop this column is a photograph of “Lawrence the Indian,” the distinctive statue from Schenectady’s Stockade neighborhood.

My neighborhood is a bit sketchy and I’m probably going to move, but I’m going to stay in the city.
I am an urbanite in my heart though I raised my children in the relative safety of suburbia.

If you call me and have to leave a message, I will return your call.

I will never lie to you, though I can assure you we will disagree sometimes.

Irv Dean is the Gazette’s city editor. E-mail him at dean@dailygazette.com.