Volume X, Issue 4
January 27, 2021
Word of the Week: revisit
Dear ,
Are you, like me—and WordPlayer and blogger Charles Murray—doing some armchair traveling these days, dreaming of places you'd like to visit,
or revisit?
Charles, in fact, is not just dreaming. He's also preparing, and keeping his brain sharp, (and keeping himself productively occupied during la pandémie) by revisiting the French language through a very thorough self-study course that filled all of us who heard his blog post about this with admiration (and laughter, especially at the end).
Charles's words took me all the way back to my high school French class, and the trip to Montreal and Quebec City our French Club took the summer of 1973 with our French teacher, the très charmante Sœur Pierre.
That's me to the right of an also très charmant artiste de Quebec, with my friends Sandy and Mary
Jo. The blank corkboard above the artiste's
tête had, moments earlier, held the painting I bought from him, which I can see hanging on my wall as I type this note to you. How I loved Quebec City!
And how fun it was to return there with my husband twice, years later, once in 1992, and again in 2017, when Ric this photo was taken. (Octave Crémazie, a French Canadian poet and bookseller born in 1827,
is considered "the father of French Canadian poetry."
Enjoy Charles's "French Lessons," this week's featured writing! Perhaps it will bring back memories of learning a foreign language, as it did me. And whether or not learning (or relearning) French appeals to you, I hope you're inspired to revisit an activity (or a place, even if it's via armchair) that brings you pleasure.
Amour et lumière,
Maureen
Shaping Our Lives by Shaping Our Words
(Through the Pandemic and Beyond)
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- mail a check, made out to WordPlay, to me at
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* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
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TAG, I'M IT!
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More WordPlay opportunities coming soon.
Stay posted!
Featured Writer
Meet Charles Murray
Charles Murray retired in 2017 as Director of Administrative Systems in the I.T. Department of Davidson College. Prior to that he had a long career as a software engineer and project manager for a number of companies in the Charlotte area. In the deep recesses of time, i.e., the
1970s, he taught composition and introduction to literature courses on the college level. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Melissa. They have two grown daughters and one brand new granddaughter.
Check out Charles' blog here:
https://thefrivolousandvain.wordpress.com/
What Charles says about WordPlay
I first connected with Maureen Ryan Griffin and WordPlay about four years ago when attending one of her introductory poetry workshops at the public library. Approaching retirement, I wanted to explore various possibilities for how I might spend my time once I stopped working. Up
until then, I had had a yen to write but always told myself I didn't have the time. Once I encountered Maureen, however, I was immediately infected by her you-can-do-it enthusiasm and realized I didn't have to wait for retirement. I quickly joined her Thursday evening Under Construction class and have been a regular member ever since. Looking back, I am amazed at just the sheer quantity of writing I've produced in the last few years which simply wouldn't have happened without the encouragement
and support of this writing community. Creating and nurturing such communities is exactly what WordPlay does.
Featured
Writing
French Lessons
by
Charles Murray
I’m studying French again almost fifty years after my last attempt as a college student. My wife and I are planning to visit Paris sometime après la pandèmie, and our Lonely Planet guide is already well-thumbed in anticipation. However, that’s not my sole motivation, and, anyway, I’m not expecting to acquire a proficiency this late in life that will impress Parisian waiters. I’m doing it partly for
the intellectual stimulation and as exercise for my aging brain, but also as an experiment in self-discipline. I want to see if I can make a sustained effort at a difficult task without having the externally imposed structure of a formal course with its tests and deadlines.
I thought about trying to learn a new (for me) language like Spanish, arguably far more useful in the everyday America of 2020, but I put enough effort into French in high school and college that I thought it might be less daunting to build on that older foundation. Rather than start from scratch, I hoped to get some benefit from my previous work, even if it was so long ago. In addition, I still love many things
about French culture, especially sa cusine, ses vins, et aussi son cinéma.
The jury is still out, but I think I can claim at least a limited success to this point. I’ve been at it steadily for most of the months we’ve been boxed in by the pandemic. I’ll miss a day or two here and there, but mostly it’s a daily activity. The secret for me has been to do only a little bit each day and feel satisfied with making very slow but steady progress. My primary objective is to be consistent over a
long period of time. I find that when I approach it this way, I derive a certain pleasure in studying for its own sake and don’t think of it as a chore. I begin to look forward to it, and it becomes a kind of anchor in my day. . . .
Read the rest of "French Lessons," including the witty surprise ending, here.
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 “revisit.”
There's a certain je ne sais quoi about revisiting something (like Charles's French lessons), or somewhere, that was important in one's past. Write about revisiting an activity or place that was at one time a regular part of your life, or the life of one of your characters.
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.
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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