Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 27

'Waking up grateful'

 

 “I wake up grateful, forlife is a gift.” – Elizabeth Alexander

 

Born on May 30, 1962 in New YorkCity, Alexander is a poet, writer and literary scholar, who has served asthe president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 2018.   Previously, Alexander was aprofessor for 15 years at Yale, where she taught poetry and chaired the AfricanAmerican Studies Department. 

 

Her first volume of poetry, Bodyof Life, came out in 1996 and since then she has authored 9 poetry collections, a number of essays, and 2memoirs.  She also was a founding facultymember of the Cave Canem workshop which helps developAfrican-American poets.  For Saturday’sPoem, here is Alexander’s,

Butter

Mymother loves butter more than I do,
more than anyone. She pulls chunks off
the stick and eats it plain, explaining
cream spun around into butter! Growing up
we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon
and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles,
butter melting in small pools in the hearts
of Yorkshire puddings, butter better
than gravy staining white rice yellow,
butter glazing corn in slipping squares,
butter the lava in white volcanoes
of hominy grits, butter softening
in a white bowl to be creamed with white
sugar, butter disappearing into
whipped sweet potatoes, with pineapple,
butter melted and curdy to pour
over pancakes, butter licked off the plate
with warm Alaga syrup. When I picture
the good old days I am grinning greasy
with my brother, having watched the tiger
chase his tail and turn to butter. We are
Mumbo and Jumbo's children despite
historical revision, despite
our parent's efforts, glowing from the inside
out, one hundred megawatts of butter.

'Two ways of meeting difficulties'

 

“There are two ways of meetingdifficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them.” –Phyllis Bottome  

 

Born in Kent, England on this datein 1884, Phyllis Forbes Dennis was a British novelist and short storywriter who wrote under her birth name, Phyllis Bottome.

 

Primarily a mystery writer, shepenned 35 novels and dozens of short stories over a nearly 60-year writingcareer, starting with her first book at age 17.  After marrying, sheand her husband were part of the British diplomatic corps, although his workwas mainly through MI-6, the spy division made famous as the parentorganization of the fictional James Bond.

 

It was great “grist for the writingmill,” she noted.   Four of her books – Private Worlds, TheMortal Storm, Danger Signal, and The Heart of a Child –were adapted to films.   At his request, she also wrote a highlyregarded biography of psychologist Alfred Adler, who she studied under as anundergraduate.   

 

Following her death in 1963, herhusband bequeathed a large collection of her papers and correspondence to The NationalBritish Library where they are open to the public.

 

“Truth, though it has manydisadvantages, is at least changeless,” Bottome said.   “You canalways find it where you left it.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Two ways of meeting difficulties'

A Writer's Moment: 'Two ways of meeting difficulties':   “There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them.”  – Phyllis Bottome     Bo...

A Writer's Moment: 'One word at a time'

A Writer's Moment: 'I learned that words are powerful':   “I think the reason I'm a writer is because first, I was a reader. I loved to read. I read a lot of adventure stories and mystery book...

'One word at a time'

 

“I think the reason I'm a writer isbecause first, I was a reader. I loved to read. I read a lot of adventurestories and mystery books, and I have wonderful memories of my mom readingpicture books aloud to me. I learned that words are powerful.” –Andrew Clements

 

Born in Camden, NJ on this date in1949, Clements has authored more than 70 books for young people, winning sometwo dozen major writing awards in the process.

 

 

His writing was jump started in hissenior year at Springfield, IL, High School when his English teacher handedback a poem he’d written and he said two things were amazing about it.  First,he’d gotten an A—a rare event in this teacher’s class; and second, she’dwritten in large red letters, “Andrew—this poem is so funny. This should bepublished!”

 

As many writers say, a teacher oftenshapes their writing lives.   After college, Clements taughtwriting to all levels from elementary through high school and started hisown writing career, including working for several publishing houses.

                                                                                            
In 1985 he started writing picture books for kids and then in 1996 wrote hisfirst novel, Frindle, winner of the Christopher Award for “writingthat affirms the highest values of the human spirit.”   Since thenhe’s written a blend of picture books, novels for teens and tweens, and severalnonfiction books, also for kids.

 

“Sometimes kids ask how I've beenable to write so many books,” he said.   “The answer is simple:one word at a time. Which is another good lesson, I think. You don't have to doeverything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. Youjust have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that nextword.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Every day is the best day'

A Writer's Moment: 'Every day is the best day':   “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson    Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, the sam...

'Every day is the best day'

 “Write it on your heart that everyday is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, the same day the Lewis & Clark Expedition was commissioned toexplore the Louisiana Purchase.   Thus, as the Corps ofDiscovery was created to explore American frontiers, this great writer and thinkerwas born to a similar pathway, only toward discovery of the written word.

He was the first American to advocate for Americans to create their own writing style and not just copy that of their forebears from other parts of the world.   He also was one of the first writers to keep journals.  His lifelong extensive journals and notes, published in 16 volumes by Harvard University Press, are considered to be his key literary works – even though that was not his intent. 
 “I just wanted to maintain a record of the things that were important to my life,” he wrote.   As it turned out, they are things that have influenced generations of writers both in their content and the practice of journaling itself. 
A staunch supporter of education for girls and women, he helped found a Massachusetts school for girls.  And, from the mid-1840s on, he was a national leader of the abolitionist movement.  
“You cannot do a kindness too soon," he said, "for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

'Like a kiss; it can't be done alone.'

 

“The need to write comes from theneed to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.” –  JohnCheever

 

Born on this date in 1912, Americannovelist and short story writer John Cheever has been recognized as one of themost important short fiction writers of the 20th century.  Acompilation of his mid-life writing, The Stories of John Cheever,won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award and a NationalBook Critics Circle Award.  His novel The Wapshot Chronicle also won the National Book Award.

 

A “natural” writer, he wrote hisfirst short story and was published while still a teenager.  Afterdropping out of high school, he took a job as a caretaker at a New Yorkartist’s colony, continued writing and had a number of works published inprominent magazines like The New Yorker.   

 

In the late ’30s he worked for thegovernment’s Writer’s Project before enlisting in the Army during World War II,when he had his first book of short stories published.  Ultimately hebecame a chronicler of both his times and the people he encountered, and waslauded for his keen, often critical, view of the American middle class.

               

Always cognizant of his readingpublic and what they liked, he once said, “I can't write without a reader. It'sprecisely like a kiss - you really can't do it alone.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Like a kiss; it can't be done alone.'

A Writer's Moment: 'Like a kiss; it can't be done alone.':   “The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.”  –  John Cheever   Born on ...

'Knowing the landscape best'

 

“An author knows his landscape best;he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place.” –Tony Hillerman

 

Born in Oklahoma on this date in1925, Hillerman (who died in 2008) is best known for his Navajo Tribal Policemysteries featuring two iconic police officers – Joe Leaphorn and JimChee.  Several of his books have been adapted into movies and television series, including A Dark Wind and themultiple-award winner A Thief of Time.

 

Hillerman moved to New Mexico, the setting for his books, afterWorld War II.  Starting his writing career as a journalist in Santa Fe, he eventually moved toAlbuquerque where he both wrote for newspapers and earned a master’s degree inwriting.  While covering the crime news he met a Navajo sheriff whobecame the model for Leaphorn and sparked the idea for his first book TheBlessing Way. 

 

Ultimately, he wrote 18 books in theseries, now continued by a dozen more from his daughter Anne, who has added a popularthird crime-solving cop – Bernadette Manuelito –  into the mix. 

 

While Tony Hillerman may be bestknown for that series, he left a much deeper legacy, writing more than 30books, including a memoir and several about the Southwest, both its beauty and itshistory.   Given numerous awards, he saidtwo of the most meaningful came from the Navajo Nation and the Department ofthe Interior, recognizing his attention to Native culture and his encouragementfor nature and the land. 

 

In response to accolades for hiswriting, he noted, “You write for both yourself and your audience, who areusually better educated and at least as smart as you are.”