Volume X, Issue 6
February 10, 2021
Dear ,
How many boxes might you have looked inside of by this time in your life? Which held contents that you still remember?
I got to thinking about this as I read Ariana Neumann's powerful and touching memoir, When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains*, in which she becomes "an astonishingly tenacious detective" as
she pieces together the details of her father's early life in Czechoslovakia before and during World War II —a search that began, after her father's death, with a box he left her "crammed with letters, diary entries, and memorabilia including an identification card with a different name."
* For sharing this book with you, Amazon will share a small portion
of their proceeds with me if you decide you'd like to purchase it.
This week's featured writing is an excerpt of Neumann's book, in which, as a young girl, she first lays eyes on this box. It reminded me a bit of the time I, when I was thirteen or fourteen years old, discovered a box of letters my father and mother had sent each other before they were married. When my mother found me, cross-legged on the floor, with the box, flaps open, in front of me, she snatched it away, her cheeks red. Some very interesting contents have
awaited in boxes for intrepid finders! I still wonder about the contents of those letters my mother informed me, in no uncertain terms, were private.
I hope you enjoy, both reading Neumann's words, and exploring boxes from your own past—or perhaps in the lives of your characters.
Love and light,
Shaping Our Lives by Shaping Our Words
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(BEGINS NEXT WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17!)
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What benefits can writing provide—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, even in challenging times? We know now that the words we use and the stories we tell shape our daily experiences. Learn to shape words that bring out the best in you—and others. In this class incorporating Dr. James Pennebaker’s ground-breaking work, you’ll practice holistic, whole brain
writing approaches that broaden your perspectives and deepen your compassion. And, if you’re interested, you’ll create new poetry, creative nonfiction, and/or fiction.
For more information, visit www.wordplaynow.com/shaping-our-words/.
WHERE: From the comfort of your home (or wherever you happen to be). Classes will be recorded if you can't attend live.
WHEN: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Wednesdays, February 17th and 24th & March 10th, 17th and 24th
COST: $165
TO REGISTER: Choose what's best for you from these options:
- pay via PayPal (you can use a credit card or PayPal) with this link
- send Venmo payment (@MaureenRyanGriffin)
- pay via Zelle online banking (704-756-4641)
- mail a check, made out to WordPlay, to me at
6126 Hickory Forest Drive, Charlotte, NC 28277 (be sure to email info@wordplaynow.com to let me know you're coming
so I can send class information)
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THE TAG, I'M IT! LENTEN PRACTICE
10% off for Lent, which begins next Wednesday, February 17!
(on sale for $8.99)
Thanks to a request from author Kim Love Stump, I created
a Lenten journal, available on Amazon now: The TAG, I’M IT! Lenten Practice: An Invitation to Draw Closer to God through Thanksgiving, Acknowledgement, and Gratitude*, that offers, in no more than ten to fifteen minutes, a simple way to grow closer to God throughout Lent by noting the grace at work in your life and honoring the blessings and gifts that you
receive each day, as well as acknowledging the actions you’ve taken that bless others and bring more goodness into the world.
* For sharing this book with you, Amazon will share a small portion
of their proceeds with me if you decide you'd like to purchase it.
More WordPlay opportunities coming soon.
Stay posted!
Featured
Writing
00an Excerpt from
When Time Stopped:
A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains
by
Ariana Neumann
A BIT OF SCENE SETTING: In a bit of synchronicity, given last week's prompt was about what we had wanted to be when we grew up, the scene below begins with Arianna Neumann's sharing that, when she was "very young," she had "wanted to be
a detective, or even a spy," and that, when she was eight, she "started a spy club with my maternal cousins and a few friends."
After a number of Saturday meetings holding "what seemed like hundreds of unmemorable reports," her cousin Rodrigo reported that he had seen Ariana's father move "a strange gray box from a locked drawer in the watch workshop (repairing watches was her father's passion) to a cupboard in the library."
. . . That afternoon, as soon as the spies left after their lunch and swim, I went to look for the box. I found it easily enough. It was dark gray and made of board and cloth. It sat below the shelf where the checkers board and the wooden chest
set were kept. It was not concealed, it just lay there inside a cupboard in which it did not belong. I remember thinking at the time that it may be filled with broken watches. I moved it and, contrary to Rodrigo’s intelligence, was struck by how very light it was.
I sat on the carpet in front of the bookcase and lifted the lid with the tips of trembling fingers. I sensed that this was the mystery we had been waiting for. The box contained only five or six papers and cards. On the top was a long-expired
Venezuelan passport, much smaller than the ones I had seen. It was dated 1956 and bore a picture of my father as I knew him, smiling and already wrinkled, with glasses balanced on a boxer's nose. Underneath the passport lay other documents, thin and fading.
They were printed in a foreign language. The paper seemed delicate and old. I lifted each sheet with my two hands and placed it on the lid of the open box. Then, at the bottom of the box, I saw it. A picture of my father's face on a pink card. He
was much younger than I had ever seen him, with no broken nose, no wrinkles or white hair. Still I had no doubt that it was him—I recognized the eyes. His lips seemed to be about to smile, but his eyes stared out at me with an acute and questioning intensity.
At the bottom of his picture, below his chin, almost covering his tie, was a stamp. I was too young to know much history, but I recognized the man on the stamp. I had no doubt he represented evil, and the sight of my father's face above it made
no sense. I tried to find more clues. I could see that it was some form of identification. I look for my father's name, but it was not there. Instead, the card seemed to belong to someone called Jan Šebesta. It was dated
October 1943 and was valid until October 1946. On the reverse, the bearer’s date of birth was recorded as March 11, 1921. I knew my father's birthday was February 9, 1921.
I do not remember much else from that moment other than being terrified. I had to find my mother. My father was not called Hans. He was lying about his name and about his date of birth. The evidence was undeniable, printed on an official looking
document. I ran down the long checkered granite terrace, past the sofas and armchairs and the enormous bronze and limestone sculptures. I flew through the white hallway, thinking then that the eyes of the Botero portrait of my father watched me as I ran. . . .
Click title to learn more about
When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains.
* For sharing this book with you, Amazon will give me a small portion of their proceeds from its sale.
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 “box.”
PART 1: Set a timer for five minutes and make a list of boxes (or, if you prefer, other “containers,” such as closets, backpacks, drawers, etc.) that held something meaningful/impactful in your life or the life of one of your
characters.
PART 2: Choose one box (or other container) off this list. Take a few minutes to list and/or describe what’s inside.
PART 3: Spend twenty minutes writing whatever scene, story, poem, etc. arises from contemplating what’s inside this box or container.
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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