Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 72

'The power of imagination'

 

“Thepower of imagination makes us infinite.” – John Muir

Born in Scotland in1838, Muir emigrated to the U.S. in 1849 and also became known as "John of theMountains.”  Author, environmentalphilosopher and early advocate for the preservation of our wilderness areas,his letters, essays, and books describing his adventures in nature, especiallyin the Sierra Nevada, have been read by millions.

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Morethan just a “naturalist,” Muir’s musings on nature and his writings about theroles that people must play in preserving our natural world – not only for ourown enjoyment and the sake of the plants and animals, but also for futuregenerations and our planet’s well-being – are still the standard followed bymost Americans.                                        
So, nexttime you “take a hike” or just drink in the beauty of our amazing nationalparks – especially on a weekend like this one where so many are doing just that – thankMuir for his vision and wisdom.   “Everybody needs beauty as well asbread; places to play inand pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The value of everyday things'

A Writer's Moment: 'The value of everyday things':   “A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All t...

'The value of everyday things'

 

“Awriter - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whateverhappens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for apurpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us,including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is givento us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”– Jorge Luis Borges

 

Born on Aug. 24, 1899 Borges was anArgentine poet who knew the value and power of the things within our own worldand how beneficial they could be to a writer.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Borges’,

 

                                                            Things

 

                                    Mywalking-stick, small change, key-ring,

The docile lock and the belated

Notes my few days left will grant

No time to read, the cards, the table,

A book, in its pages, that pressed

Violet, the leavings of an afternoon

Doubtless unforgettable, forgotten,

The reddened mirror facing to the west

Where burns illusory dawn. Many things,

Files, sills, atlases, wine-glasses, nails,

Which serve us, like unspeaking slaves,

So blind and so mysteriously secret!

They’ll long outlast our oblivion;

And never know that we are gone.

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A Writer's Moment: 'Two kinds of adventurers'

A Writer's Moment: 'Two kinds of adventurers':   “There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't.” – Will...

'Two kinds of adventurers'

 “Thereare two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure andthose who go secretly hoping they won't.” – William LeastHeat-Moon

 

Born WilliamLewis Trogdon in Kansas City, MO on Aug. 27, 1939 Least Heat-Moon is a writerand historian of European and Osage ancestry and the author of a dozen books – many chronicling his unusual journeysaround the United States – including the mega-bestsellers River Horseand Blue Highways.

 

A graduate ofthe University of Missouri's Journalism School, Least Heat-Moon'sworks have been labeled “literary naturalism” with the ecosystem servingas a foundation. 

 

Also a Travel and Travelogue writer, he oftenillustrates the hybrid relationship between humans and the environment and howeach entity influences the other, presenting critiques of how societal progresscan negatively affect the ecosystem. 

 

“Often,” Least Heat-Moon said about his stories, “Idid learn what I didn't know I wanted to know.”

 

'Doing the little things better each day'

 

“Agreat idea is usually original to more than one discoverer. Great ideas comewhen the world needs them. Great ideas surround the world's ignorance and pressfor admission.” – Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

Born in Boston on Aug. 31, 1844 Phelps began writing as a young girl and was noted forher “gift for telling stories.”   Onesource noted, "She spun amazing yarns for the children she played with.  And her schoolmates talked with vividinterest of the stories she used to improvise for their entertainment.”  

 

One of America’s most popular 19th century writers, she wrote hundreds of short stories, 57 volumes offiction and poetry and many essays.  She challenged the prevailing view that a woman's place andfulfillment resided only in the home and depicted women succeeding as physicians, ministers, artists and, ofcourse, writers. 

 

Also widely sought after as a speaker,she was the first woman to present a lecture series at Boston University (in1876) on the topic “Representative Modern Fiction.”

 

“It is not the straining for great things that is mosteffective," she said of her success. "It is doing the little thingsbetter and better every day.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Doing the little things better each day'

A Writer's Moment: 'Doing the little things better each day':   “A great idea is usually original to more than one discoverer. Great ideas come when the world needs them. Great ideas ...

A Writer's Moment: 'Drawing from all the moments of your life'

A Writer's Moment: 'Drawing from all the moments of your life':   “Everyone thinks they can write a play; you just write down what happened to you. But the art of it is drawing from all the moments of yo...

'Drawing from all the moments of your life'

 

“Everyone thinksthey can write a play; you just write down what happened to you. But the art ofit is drawing from all the moments of your life.”– Neil Simon
  Simon, who was born on the Fourth of July 1927 and died on this date in 2018, grew up during the Great Depression, a time that was a "great shaper" for his life and his art. Writing “life” became the grist for his creative mill. 
One ofAmerica’s most prolific stage and screenwriters, he wrote more than 30plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, earning more combinedOscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.   After breaking onto the playwriting scenewith Come Blow Your Horn (in 1961),Simon won his first Tony for the long-running, and one of the most widelyperformed plays in history, The OddCouple.   
The firstplaywright to earn 15 “Best Play” awards, he also was given a TonyAward for Lifetime Achievement and won a Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers.  In 2006 he was presented America’s tophumor award, the Mark Twain Prize.  A Broadway theater also has been named in his honor.    Simon's advice to writers is try new things.    “If no one ever took risks,” he said, “Michelangelo probably would have painted theSistine floor.”

A Writer's Moment: 'If you have the itch you might as well use it'

A Writer's Moment: 'If you have the itch you might as well use it':   “You have the itch for writing born in you. It's quite incurable. What are you going to do?   You might as well use...