Weekly Wide-Awake #32

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Letters from Love, Whales, Marathon, Pictures

Living The Comma #4

Dear Writing Friends,

Greetings from a week about preparing to give Thanks. I am preparing to host and travel and visit. I am preparing to order Christmas Cards — my annual old school connection to folks near and far. Preparation’s smell wafts like pumpkin bread, to do lists, dirty floors, and grocery stores. Into this glorious fray, I write. I write my weekly assignments. I transcribe the gratitude conversations that have lived in my computer for years. I send pitches to write stories. I connect with face-to-face and virtual writing communities. I am thankful for it all. Truly.

This week, let’s take a look at Dani Shapiro’s description of Piano Lessons, Pema Chödrön’s discussion of Limitless Qualities, and Elizabeth Gilbert’s popular writing prompt, Letters from Love.

I am reminded to take a deep breath, as we imagine and create and build. Be gentle on ourselves and others. Pay attention, find awe, and tell about it. (Thank you Mary Oliver.) Connection with one another is the point of it all.

From the heart of the comma.

Katie

MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 121-125

Stone Crabs. Whale Songs. Babies. Silence. Mashed Potatoes.

EXERCISE 122: SUMMONING THE MUSIC

two more times

Read out loud any Gerard Manley Hopkins poem (“The Windhover” works great) or another poem you think has great music. Read it two more times aloud. Put the poem away and write a poem that echoes the sounds and rhythm of the poem you just lifted in the air. It doesn’t have to use the same vocabulary, though it can. Use whatever sounds are reverberating after your reading to compose your own poem and don’t worry too much if what your writing is ‘about’ anything.

Whale Song

An ocean — depth, deliver, delicate, distance, dance, delirious./ A boat — bellow, break, bring, bounce, beckon, blink./ An announcement — facts, furiousity, fun, forward, flicker, fundamental./ A screen — sight, strength, simple, supple, sudden, shocking.// A whale — huge, humanity, humble, heart bursting, higher presence, hum./ A song — melody, miracle, muscle, magic, music, memory.

Read the entire post here.

Marathon

Step, Step, Step, Throw up, “Gentle on My Mind,” Step, Step, Step, Sunburn, Black toenails and blisters

6 hours and 59 minutes, a tin foil cape, a banana, a chocolate milk, a survivor’s bracelet, a finisher’s medal:

I will be tested again and again and again, the shape of life will explode, bloom, annihilate, flow: things will fall apart and back together

A marathon finish changes everything:

questions, clarity, darkness, light, doubt, faith, despair, hope: eyes on the sparrow, steps ordered, morning breaking

The center holds. Forever stardust and steel.

Why Gratitude?

A few years ago, heartbroken and eyeballs deep in despair, I started searching for things for which to be grateful. I asked myself the question asked by poet Katie Farris

“Why write love poetry in a burning world? To train myself, in the midst of a burning world, to offer poems of love to a burning world.”

I reached out to people who — in the way in which they live — write love poems to our burning world. I cast my net far and wide amongst my heroes — those I knew personally and those who teach us all by their example. I invited artists, philosophers, psychologists, politicians, professors, yogis, writers, clergy, and others into a dialogue about gratitude. I am deeply grateful to those who said yes. Read more about my gratitude project methodology here.

Roslyn Wertheimer

“People often don’t realize how much they need the arts until they experience it firsthand. With a background in marketing at a performing arts venue, I’m passionate about social media content creation, where I have the most fun seeking innovative ways to engage audiences in fresh and creative ways. Inspiration can come from anywhere—a clever TV commercial, a thought-provoking documentary, or impressive content that makes me think, “Someone made that!” and then wonder, “How did they make that?” As an eager storyteller, I’m excited to promote the next best thing on social media in unique and dynamic ways. I stay on top of trends and am fluent in the latest social media apps, bringing experience from the non-profit arts, higher education, and startups.” — Roslyn Wertheimer, Senior Content Creator at Capacity Interactive

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