Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 377

Advocating for Social Needs

“That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them. They are not simply neglected and forgotten as in the old rhetoric of reform; what is much worse, they are not seen.” – Michael Harrington
Born in St. Louis, MO, on this date in 1924, Harrington became one of America’s best-known political and social justice activists during his lifetime.  The author of 16 books and countless essays, his most famous work is The Other America, a condemnation of our treatment of the poor and advocacy for social justice.    Credited with coining the term “neo-conservatism,” he not only was a well-known writer but also a well-known commentator and speaker, contributing commentaries to National Public Radio and speaking at colleges and universities across the country.
From 1972 until his death he also taught political science at Queens College in New York, an institution that named him to a “Distinguished Professorship” in 1988 and established "The Michael Harrington Center for Democratic Values and Social Change" following his death from cancer in 1989.     In addition to contributing pieces to political and religious magazines and journals, Harrington was a frequent writer for The New York Review of Books.  Always eager to speak and write on behalf of those in poverty, he noted, “If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery.”


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Those 'Single Lovely Actions'

“All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.”– James Russell Lowell
Born in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 22, 1819, Lowell was associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to rival the popularity of British poets like Byron, Shelley and Keats.  The American writers used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside.     
                            Lowell believed the poet played an important role as prophet and critic of society, using poetry for reform, particularly in abolitionism.  Also a professor at Harvard and one of the first editors of The Atlantic Monthly, he finished his long, distinguished career as a diplomat, serving as Ambassador to Spain and Great Britain.  “The greatest homage we can pay to truth,” Lowell wrote, “is to use it.”   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Lowell’s whimsical,
                                                   AladdinWhen I was a beggarly boy
And lived in a cellar damp,
I had not a friend nor a toy,
But I had Aladdin's lamp;
When I could not sleep for the cold,
I had fire enough in my brain,
And builded, with roofs of gold,
My beautiful castles in Spain!

Since then I have toiled day and night,
I have money and power good store,
But I'd give all my lamps of silver bright
For the one that is mine no more;
Take, Fortune, whatever you choose,
You gave, and may snatch again;
I have nothing 'twould pain me to lose,
For I own no more castles in Spain!


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A Writer's Moment: Those 'Single Lovely Actions'

A Writer's Moment: Those 'Single Lovely Actions': “All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.” – James Russell Lowell Born i...

A Writer's Moment: Carrying forward a writing legacy

A Writer's Moment: Carrying forward a writing legacy: “I think it's almost impossible to edit something to death. I think you can make things better almost indefinitely....

Carrying forward a writing legacy

“I think it's almost impossible to edit something to death. I think you can make things better almost indefinitely.” – Owen King
Born in Maine on this date in 1977, King is the son of author Stephen King and also a successful writer in his own right.  Growing up in Bangor, Maine in what he calls “a surprisingly normal childhood,” Owen King said his first writing efforts were in a game he and his father and siblings played where they would take turn writing sentences on the same story “until we got bored.”
He wrote more in high school and got into it full bore while in college at Vassar and then Columbia, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.  His first book, We’re All in This Together – a collection of three short stories and a novella – came out in 2005 to critical acclaim and has led to a successful career as a short story writer.        Lately, he’s also gotten into writing novels and screenplays, including a novel collaboration with his famous father titled Sleeping Beauties, about a West Virginia women’s prison. He’s currently working with filmmaker Josh Boone on a television movie from Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, a novel for which he wrote the introduction.
Also a creative writing teacher and contributor to 7 anthologies, Owen is married to writer Kelly Braffet, and values her advice.  “I give my work to my wife first to read,” he said.  “Then, I try to find new people who haven't read my work before, to get a new perspective.”



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'Real Life' character development

  “I never thought it was unusual to write, and I've been writing or pretending to write since before I even started school.” – Ellen Gilchrist
Born in Mississippi on this date in 1935, Gilchrist “formally” got into writing in the 1970s and has been a successful novelist, short story writer and poet since, winning the National Book Award for her collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.  Gilchrist also has won awards for her poetry, although it is her short fiction for which she is most well-known.
After studying creative writing under renowned writer Eudora Welty at Millsaps College (where she earned her bachelor’s degree), Gilchrist also studied for a time in the creative writing program at the University of Arkansas.      Her distinctive, wit-fueled tales have focused on women of the South and the small communities in which she has lived (she currently resides in Arkansas).  “I have lived most of my life in small towns,” she said, “and I'm in the habit of knowing and talking to everyone.”   Critics often praise her character development, and many of her characters reappear throughout her short story collections (13 to date).   
While she advocates keeping journals or “records” of things to aid in writing, she said her own technique is more unorthodox.  “Ever since I was a child, I've kept boxes and drawers and pages of things that I liked. I suppose that constitutes a journal of sorts, but it's not in a ledger or a notebook.”





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A Writer's Moment: 'Real Life' character development

A Writer's Moment: 'Real Life' character development:   “I never thought it was unusual to write, and I've been writing or pretending to write since...

Entertaining writing on a road to success

“The sky is always beautiful. Even when it’s dark or rainy or cloudy, it’s still beautiful to look at. It’s my favorite thing because I know if I ever get lost or lonely or scared, I just have to look up and it’ll be there no matter what...and I know it’ll always be beautiful.” – Colleen Hoover

Born in 1979, Hoover said she wrote her first novel Slammed with no intention of being published; just getting the words on paper while they were in her head.  The Sulphur Springs, Tex., native added that she was inspired by a line from an Avett Brothers song that said, “Decide to be and go with it.”  Throughout her first book, she refers to other lyrics from that same song “Head full of doubt/Road full of promise.”                                      And so she went with her writing andSlammed became the first of 11 bestselling novels and 5 novellas in the YA/New Adult categories.  All of her books – many self-published and then later picked up by major publishers – have made it to the New York Times bestseller list, led by her 5th book,Hopeless, which reached the top spot and stayed there for several weeks.
Often called “Highly entertaining” by critics and especially by readers, Hoover said, “I'm not the type of writer who writes to educate or inform my readers. I simply write to entertain them.”




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A Writer's Moment: Entertaining writing on a road to success

A Writer's Moment: Entertaining writing on a road to success: “The sky is always beautiful. Even when it’s dark or rainy or cloudy, it’s still beautiful to look at. It’s my favorit...

A Writer's Moment: Finding the figure inside

A Writer's Moment: Finding the figure inside: “I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then ...