Volume V, Issue 28 July 11, 2016 Dear ,
I cannot even begin to
tell you how lost in the magic that is Chautauqua I am. In the two and a half weeks I've been here, besides taking in a few sunsets over the lake, I've watched La Traviata, taken in our very own Charlotte Ballet Company, who summers here, listened to the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra playing pops and classical, taken in the Temptations, the Avett Brothers, and several brass bands, and can now add meeting my heroes Bill Moyers (spoiler alert: look for my picture with him next week)
and Barbara Brown Taylor to my list.
If you've never heard of Barbara Brown Taylor, I'm delighted to be the one to introduce her to you. She was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014, and you can read about her here, as well as below. I read her book Learning to Walk in the Dark two years ago, and am now enjoying my inscribed copy of An Altar in the World. The chapter on "The Practice of Getting Lost" has spoken to my heart, so much so that I took a big leap and tried something I've been longing to do for years—singing with the choir in the amphitheater for the Sunday morning and evening ecumenical services. (I admit I lost my place in the more challenging pieces of music a few times, but to be part of such a magnificent musical experience was tremendous. We sang a Rachmaninoff piece in Russian!) I wish I had a
picture of that, but I'll never forget I did it.
All this, and also wonderful writing students each week, topped off with fresh local strawberries, cherries, and red and black raspberries that take me right back to my childhood up here picking them with my mom and siblings... I've spent some time lost in
memories too.
Maybe you'll be inspired to spend some time in Chautauqua next summer, or even this summer. But meanwhile, what can you lose yourself in right where you are?
Upcoming WordPlay DELICIOUS MEMORIES
FREE! Food not only nurtures and sustains us, it’s a rich source of metaphor and memory! We’ll explore our connections with food as we write of when, where, what, with whom, how — and even why — we ate! You can use your food writings to create a family cookbook, individual essays, stories, or poems, scenes in fiction or memoir, a food blog, etc. —
or just for your own pleasure.
WHERE: Main Library. 310 North Tryon St. Charlotte, NC 28202
WHEN: July 19th, 2015, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
* A light dinner will be provided from 5:30 – 6:00 pm for anyone
registered for this program.
COST: Free!
TO REGISTER: To register online, please click here.
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SUMMER WRITING RETREAT
(Writing as Renewal / Creating New Writing / Tools for a Writing Life)
Renew and delight yourself. The Summer Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various
seasonal prompts; they elicit beautiful material that can be shaped into essays, poems, stories, or articles. After a communal lunch, you’ll have private time which can be used to collage, work with a piece of writing from the morning, or play with a number of other writing prompts and methods. You’ll take home new ideas, new drafts, and new possibilities. $97 includes lunch and supplies.
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Saturday, August 6th, 10:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To pay online, please click this link to check out using PayPal.
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(Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing)
Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry and fiction. Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in
your preferred genre, with opportunities to share your work.
$630 for one week-long session (lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School website). WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1
Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, August 7 – Saturday August 13, 2016.
TO REGISTER: To register, please click this John Campbell Folk School link to register directly from them.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Featured Writer
Barbara Brown Taylor Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, professor, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won a 2006 Author of the Year award from the
Georgia Writers Association. Her last book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, was featured in TIME magazine. She has served on the faculty of Piedmont College since 1998 as the Butman Professor of Religion & Philosophy and has been a guest lecturer at Emory, Duke, Princeton, and Yale. Taylor and her husband Ed live on a farm in the foothills of the Appalachians, sharing space with wild turkeys, red foxes, white-tailed deer and far too many chickens.
Featured Writing
an excerpt from
"The Practice of Getting Lost"
chapter of
An Altar in This World
by
Barbara Brown Taylor
When I first moved to the land where I live, I shared it with a herd of cows. The first thing I
noticed about them was that they were pure white. The second thing I noticed was how predictable they were. With a hundred acres at their disposal, they had worn narrow paths across those acres to their favorite watering holes, shady spots, and clover patches. When they wanted to get from one of those places to another, they lined up single file and followed the tracks they had made across vast expanses of pasture. Some of these tracks were no more than eight inches wide, which is about
one-fourth the width of a cow. Yet the cows knew exactly where to put their feet, even without looking.
Since I soon found myself following those same tracks when I walked the land, I think I understand something about why the cows use them. In most cases, the tracks mark the shortest route from point A to point B. Where they do not, that is because the cows have found ways to get where they
are going without expending too many calories. In these cases, the tracks avoid both steep climbs and dicey descents, choosing long stretches under leafy tree lines wherever possible.
For my purposes, the most valuable thing about the
tracks is that I can see where I am putting my feet. This is important when you share land with timber rattlers and groundhogs as well as white cows. The last thing you want when you are half a mile from home is to surprise a sunbathing rattlesnake or step into a groundhog burrow, which can swallow your leg up to the kneecap before you even see it. Did I mention the yellow jackets? They too make homes in the deep grass, and they value their privacy.
So I understand the use of narrow paths through wide swaths of unpredictable territory. I do the same thing when I drive to work, taking the shortest route with the lightest traffic, even when that means I see the same subdevelopments and strip malls every day. I take this track so unconsciously that on the days when I mean to deviate from it—to
run an errand or to keep an appointment in another direction—I sometimes find myself a mile past my unusual turn before I come to my senses.
I am convinced that this is normal human behavior, which means that something extra is needed to override it. Why override it? Because once you leave the cow path, the
unpredictable territory is full of life. True, you cannot always see where you are putting your feet. This means you can no longer afford to stay unconscious. You can no longer count on the beat-down red dirt path making all of your choices for you. Leaving it, you agree to make your own choices for a spell. You agree to become aware of each step you take, tuning all of your senses to exactly where you are and exactly what you are doing....
WordPlay Now! Writing
Prompt This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and
potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "CHANGE THIS."
PROMPT:
Write about getting lost—in mind, heart, body, and/or spirit.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with
intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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