Living the Comma #12

[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

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

Staying Soft. Creativity. The Watercourse Way.

Dear Writer Friends,

In yesterday’s service Pastor Matt spoke about water and ice and the need to stay soft in hard times. He asserted water’s force and flow. He described the power of softness and kindness and empathy. Having grown up on the Ohio River, I watch the seasons speak as mud and depth and speed. I understand that surrendering to the flow carries us safely to the shore. I connect water with grace and compassion and love with home and nature and truth.

Our next face-to-face writing session will be Sunday, February 1st at VHC after snack time. We are scheduled to meet from 12:15 to 1:30 (I am changing our schedule a bit in response to group needs.) in March, April, and May, too. To virtually connect with the group during our meetings, use this link — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85095318186.

This week, I want to think about how language helps us remain soft and courageous and fierce — all at once. Our prompt comes from Darien Gee’s newsletter, Writer-ish, Micro Monday: The Beauty of Dreams #159 on the future, recurring dreams, an odes. Gee describes Writer-ish saying, “This is Writer-ish with Darien Gee, where I help you write your most powerful stories in 300 words or less.” Microprose feels like water cutting through memory’s stone, washing yesterday’s pain, and clearing out our mind’s mud. Cheryl Strayed, in Dear Sugar, The Rumpus Advice Column #48: Write Like a Motherfucker explains, in the same way that water simply must water:

That you’re so bound up about writing tells me that writing is what you’re here to do. And when people are here to do that they almost always tell us something we need to hear. I want to know what you have inside you. I want to see the contours of your second beating heart.

Parker Palmer’s essay To Live Our Lives Like Water describes “the watercourse way”.

The best are like water…

The best, like water,
Benefit all and do not compete.
They dwell in lowly spots that everyone else scorns.
Putting others before themselves,
They find themselves in the foremost place
And come very near to the Tao.
In their dwelling, they love the earth;
In their heart, they love what is deep;
In personal relationships, they love kindness;
In their words, they love truth.
In the world, they love peace.
In personal affairs, they love what is right.
In action, they love choosing the right time.
It is because they do not compete with others
That they are beyond the reproach of the world.