Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 376
March 2, 2019
The human condition; in verse
“As far as I am concerned, poetry is a statement concerning the human condition, composed in verse.” – N. Scott Momaday
On Feb. 27, Momaday’s 85thbirthday, I wrote about his award-winning lifetime of writing in multiple genres. Among those award-winning achievements are several for poetry, led by his collections Angle of Geese and The Gourd Dancer.
A member of the Kiowa tribe and native of Oklahoma, Momaday also is that state’s one-time Poet Laureate. For Saturday’s Poem, here is his thoughtful and thought-provoking, The EarthOnce in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon
the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up
to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from
as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon
it.
He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at
every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon
it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest
motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and
all the colors of the dawn and dusk.
For we are held by more than the force of gravity to the earth.
It is the entity from which we are sprung, and that into which
we are dissolved in time. The blood of the whole human race
is invested in it. We are moored there, rooted as surely, as
deeply as are the ancient redwoods and bristlecones.
Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
March 1, 2019
A Writer's Moment: That's Entertainment!
A Writer's Moment: That's Entertainment!: A salute today to two of the entertainment industry’s Stars who, just through their dedication to the things that they did or do provide in...
That's Entertainment!
A salute today to two of the entertainment industry’s Stars who, just through their dedication to the things that they did or do provide inspiration for those who like to write.
Today is the birthday of actor and director Ron Howard and the anniversary of the birth of Bandleader/musician Glen Miller.
Howard, 65, is a native Oklahoman who started his career as the child star on the Andy Griffin Show and went on to do hits like Music Man and American Graffiti and the wildly popular TV show Happy Days before moving into his real passion – and some might argue ultimate success – directing. A multiple Academy Award director, he continues to turn out hit after hit and said his love for directing gets him going each day and, luckily for the rest of us, “creating” new worlds for us to explore and enjoy on the big screen.
Miller, who died in World War II while traveling to entertain U.S. troops on the European Front, was born in 1904 in Iowa, grew up in Nebraska, Missouri and Colorado, and for a time thought about going toward a professional football career (he was a high school star in Colorado). But music, particularly his love for the trombone, drew him away from sports and ultimately into history as the creator of such famous songs as Tuxedo Junction, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo and, of course, the song everyone hears when they listen to the “Big Band Sound,” In The Mood.
Miller was also branching into movies at the time of his death and probably would have succeeded had he survived the war. He was good friends with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and people said he reminded them of actor Jimmy Stewart, who was about his age. Ironically, it was Stewart who played the title role in the 1950s movie, The Glen Miller Story.
So, here’s a shout-out to two people who inspire us as as role models for everyday life and living. And happy writing.
Today is the birthday of actor and director Ron Howard and the anniversary of the birth of Bandleader/musician Glen Miller.
Howard, 65, is a native Oklahoman who started his career as the child star on the Andy Griffin Show and went on to do hits like Music Man and American Graffiti and the wildly popular TV show Happy Days before moving into his real passion – and some might argue ultimate success – directing. A multiple Academy Award director, he continues to turn out hit after hit and said his love for directing gets him going each day and, luckily for the rest of us, “creating” new worlds for us to explore and enjoy on the big screen.
Miller, who died in World War II while traveling to entertain U.S. troops on the European Front, was born in 1904 in Iowa, grew up in Nebraska, Missouri and Colorado, and for a time thought about going toward a professional football career (he was a high school star in Colorado). But music, particularly his love for the trombone, drew him away from sports and ultimately into history as the creator of such famous songs as Tuxedo Junction, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo and, of course, the song everyone hears when they listen to the “Big Band Sound,” In The Mood.
Miller was also branching into movies at the time of his death and probably would have succeeded had he survived the war. He was good friends with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and people said he reminded them of actor Jimmy Stewart, who was about his age. Ironically, it was Stewart who played the title role in the 1950s movie, The Glen Miller Story.
So, here’s a shout-out to two people who inspire us as as role models for everyday life and living. And happy writing.
February 28, 2019
Experiencing the story
“Even tiny children looking at a picture book are using their imaginations, gleaning clues from the images to understand what is happening, and perhaps using the throwaway details which the illustrator includes to add their own elements to the story.” – Philip Reeve
Born in England on this date in 1966, Reeve is the author/illustrator of some 40 children's books, and perhaps best known for his Mortal Engines Sci-Fi/Fantasy series.
A one-time bookshop worker and aspiring playwright, he also provided cartoons for many books including those in the kid-favorite series’ Horrible Histories and Murderous Math. But success blossomed with his move into writing/illustrating his own books, beginning with the clever Buster Bayliss’ series that included such titles as Night of the Living Veg, Day of the Hamster, and Custardfinger.
Since writing the 4-book Mortal Engines novels, he has collaborated on several other books and also authored the bestselling Young Adult sci-fi novel Railhead.
He is a strong advocate for libraries and programs for young readers. “I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.”
Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
A Writer's Moment: Experiencing the story
A Writer's Moment: Experiencing the story: “Even tiny children looking at a picture book are using their imaginations, gleaning clues from the images to understa...
February 27, 2019
Writers 'Have to Write'
“Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradition.” – N. Scott Momaday
Born on this date in 1934, Momaday is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet and winner of both the Pulitzer Prize (for his novel House Made of Dawn) and National Medal of Arts for his writing. While “House” has been called “A Classic,” he is perhaps best known for the novel/memoir/folklore work The Way to Rainy Mountain.
Born in Oklahoma, Momaday grew up on Reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. After earaning a Writing/English degree from the University of New Mexico, he went on to a Ph.D. in English Literature at Stanford, where he also began his writing career, focusing first on poetry.
Also a renowned teacher and speaker, he was one of the nation’s first Native American academics and created a curriculum based on American Indian literature and mythology. In addition to many national honors, he has been awarded some two dozen honorary degrees and been named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Selected for the Native American Hall of Fame (in 2018), Momaday has been named for the “Ken Burns American Heritage Prize,” to be presented later this year.
“I am interested in the way that we look at a given landscape and take possession of it in our blood and brain,” Momaday said. “None of us lives apart from the land entirely; such an isolation is unimaginable.”Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
A Writer's Moment: Writers 'Have to Write'
A Writer's Moment: Writers 'Have to Write': “Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradit...
February 26, 2019
Casting for a Part in Life
“Friendship is a difficult, dangerous job. It is also (though we rarely admit it) extremely exhausting.” – Elizabeth Bibesco
The daughter of WWI-era British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, Elizabeth was born in England on this date in 1897 and died in Romania during WWII after having married into royalty in the country of Romania. From 1921-40, Elizabeth wrote three collections of short stories, four novels, two plays and a book of poetry. A second poetry book was published posthumously after the war.
Both friends and rivals with writers Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, she also was one of the few people who called reclusive writer Marcel Proust a close friend. At the time of his death (in 1922) she wrote a moving obituary for Proust in the New Statesman and her words there were a great example of her writing style. "Gently, deliberately, he drew me into that magic circle of his personality with the ultimate sureness of a look that needs no touch to seal it. Insensibly you were drawn into that intricate cobweb of iridescent steel, his mind, which, interlacing with yours, spread patterns of light and shade over your most intimate thoughts."
Her insights into life and human nature come through loud and clear in the words that permeated her writings. “Talk about the joys of the unexpected, can they compare with the joys of the expected,” Bibesco wrote. “Of finding everything delightfully and completely what you knew it was going to be?”
“To others, we are not ourselves, but a performer in their lives, cast for a part (in life) we do not even know that we are playing.” Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
A Writer's Moment: Casting for a Part in Life
A Writer's Moment: Casting for a Part in Life: “Friendship is a difficult, dangerous job. It is also (though we rarely admit it) extremely exhausting.” – Elizabeth ...
February 24, 2019
A Writer's Moment: Advocating for Social Needs
A Writer's Moment: Advocating for Social Needs: “That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them. They are not simply neglected and forgott...
