Irene Latham's Blog, page 101

In Which I Intend to Be More Like Popeye

Welcome to Spiritual Journey Thursday! Today we are discussing Leigh Ann's One Little Word: Intent.

For a long time I thought intentions were kind of like goals: I intend to be kind to others, I intend to write a book, I intend to call a friend. But then I realized those are all about the future, when my spiritual practice is about NOW. So an intention has to be rooted in the current moment, and the current moment only. Which simplifies things, doesn't it?!

The overarching purpose of my spiritual practice is to feel connected with the world, to find meaning, to experience serenity and joy in each moment. So my intent can be as simple as being open and present. Or, even better, I can bring the Buddha's Fourth Noble Truth into it. This Truth teaches us that right intention is the second step in the 8-fold path:

Cause no harm, and treat yourself and others with Loving-kindness and compassion while seeking true happiness, that which comes from being free from grasping and clinging."

So my intent becomes this:
Be open and present.Cause no harm.Treat myself and others with loving kindness.Let go of everything else.
And guess what? It's that last "letting go" part I struggle the most with. But I am trying! I love what Wayne Dyer says in his book THE POWER OF INTENTION:
Stop being offended.Let go of your need to win.Let go of your need to be right.Let go of your need to be superior.Let go of your need to have more.Let go of identifying yourself on the basis of your achievements.Let go of your reputation.
What I am discovering about myself is that I am really good at two things:
1. supporting causes I believe in, in absentia (I am not that good at showing up at events, but I will buy the book, donate the money, make the call, send the email!)
2. connecting people (I don't need to be THE PERSON, but I can often help find THE PERSON, and make those introductions so that a project might move forward.)
You'll notice that these are not-in-the-spotlight, backseat positions. A lot of the stress in my life happens when I forget this about myself and get sucked into my need to win, need to be right, need to be superior, need to achieve, need to have more.
So maybe my most basic intent is this: BE WHO I REALLY AM.

Movie Monday: BROOKLYN

At long last, the movie BROOKLYN arrived in Birmingham! And it was... magical.

Such a simple story: Irish immigrant girl arrives in 1950s New York City, journeys through homesickness and culture shock to create a new life, and then bad things happen to her family members, and she must choose: New York or Ireland?

But the most important thing about this movie is the love story that underpins it all. So, so lovely!

AND. I have loved since ATONEMENT (one of my favorite movies ever!) She is beautiful in this part as well. Don't miss! I'll be pulling for this one to win all 3 Oscars it's been nominated for.

Sleepy Snoozy Cozy Coozy

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for Roundup.

Today you can find my niece Anna's artwork "Imagination Window" and the poem it inspired over at A Penny and Her Jots. Thank you, Penny, for inviting Anna and me to be a part of your marvelous blog series featuring inter-generational family art collaboration! I want to do more of this in my life. :)

And now I am happy to share with you a Cybils nominated poetry book SLEEPY SNOOZY COZY COOZY: A Book of Animal Beds by Judy Young, illus. by Michael Glenn Monroe. On each spread readers meet a new animal -- mole, beaver, alligator, dolphin. The poems are untitled and all end with the same closing two lines:

"Place where you won't lay your head
But to a [animal name here] it's a bed."

You'll find some fun nonsense words, as the book's title suggests. There's also a info box on each spread, and something I love is that each info box ends with a question, like "How long do you sleep?" Or, "Do you curl up to sleep, too?" This is a wonderful way to engage young readers!

Here's my favorite spread:

In the tall grasses of a glade
A spider weaves from blade to blade
Up and down and flow and ebb
Until he climbs onto his web.

A springy stringy
Oh so clingy
Frail and flossy
Quite criss-crossy

Sticky tacky
Stay way backy
Place where you won't lay your head
But to a spider it's a bed.

- Judy Young
--------------------------
"Stay way backy." Ha! :)

Writing in the Dark

Today for Spiritual Journey Thursday we are discussing Justin's One Little Word (Blind) FAITH. Please join us!

Writing is an act if faith. One word by one word by one word, we put them on the page without ever knowing where they will take us.

Remember E.L. Doctorow's quote?


And yet we angst about all we cannot see, how far we have yet to go, all the storms and monsters that surely await.

Faith is putting the next word down and the next. We learn to believe in the process, not the outcome. We learn the joy is in the getting there, not "The End."

It's not always easy. There are days when I think it's not EVER easy. But I still show up at the page. 

Just like any other spiritual practice, routine helps. 

I still have fears -- am I wasting my time? what if no one likes it? what am I doing? -- but these days I trust that NO time is wasted, if I am doing what I love. What matters is that *I* like it. I'm doing exactly what I am meant to be doing.

That's faith.

Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts! 

p.s. I love writing in the early mornings, before there's light, when no one else is awake. So, really, I write in the dark pretty much all the time. :)

A Little Gee's Bend in Decatur, AL

Last week it was my great privilege to share LEAVING GEE'S BEND with readers of all ages in Decatur, AL, as part of their "River Reads" series.
Book adventures are always more fun with a friend!
I'm so honored they selected LEAVING GEE'S BEND! It was great fun to share my adventures and Ludelphia's story with Somerville Road Elementary, Walter Jackson Elementary and the Decatur Public Library. Big thanks to Beth Young for all your work on the project! And thank you, readers, for coming out, asking great questions, and making me feel so very welcome. Your enthusiasm reminded me of all the reasons I was drawn to this story in the first place. And I am so excited for your visits this month with the quilters!

Here are a few pictures, which I wouldn't have if not for my dear friend Pat Weaver accompanying me. Thank you, Pat! Mwah!:
students at Somerville Road Elementary


me and librarian Sally Savas
me and Kim Mitchell, at Carnegie Visual Art Center (with Gee's Bend quilt!)
Gee's Bend quilt on display Rhonda, Beth, Stephanie and me at library.
(Later Beth and her mom took us out to Bob Gibson's BBQ... yum!)


Enthusiastic quilter in audience at Decatur Public Library




Students at Walter Jackson Elementary

librarian Todd McDonald, me and principal Rhonda Reece
(Walter Jackson Elementary)





quilt square from the community quilt project


And finally, this is why I love libraries: books and a wall quilt and computers and flags and a GIANT SNAKE to inspire wonder and magic! 


So much fun! Thanks to all!! And if you've made it this far... I also have a post over at Smack Dab today, on the topic of "hibernation." 

Look! The Sun is Shining on Antarctica!

Put on your hats and mittens and grab your mug of hot cocoa: today is the official release day for WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA: Poems from the Frozen Continent!

Big, big THANK YOU to everyone who has already made this book feel so very welcome. I loved reading all your generous Poetry Friday comments. I am still in the midst of busybusy, and I look forward to catching up with everyone's blogs very soon!

I do want to mention what a fun project this was to work on -- and I adore Anna Wadham's illustrations!

To think it all started when fellow Alabama YA author Ash Parsons put into my hands THE WHITE DARKNESS by Geraldine McCaughrean... for more background information, see Catherine Flynn's lovely Poetry Friday post. For the first poem I wrote in the collection, see Linda's Write Time post that includes a personal ad written by an Adelie penguin! And for an excerpt from the novel that I absolutely adore, keep reading!

But first, allow me to share the promotional poster for the release event I'm sharing with Jim McClintock, author of LOST ANTARCTICA, to be held this Saturday at Anniston Museum of History:


And now, from THE WHITE DARKNESS by Geraldine McCaughrean:
"What kind of word is big enough to describe Antarctica? To begin to capture anything here, big would need twenty-seven syllables. Words can’t cope. The space between the letters ought to make them elastic enough, but they aren’t. The tails under the g’s and y’s and qu’s and j’s ought to help them grip, but they slide about helplessly. Cliffs are the length of counties. Icebergs are the size of cities. Prospects run as far as the sky. Parallel lines never meet because there’s no disappearing point. Adjectives die in the wing the moment they see Antarctica, and plummet onto the Plateau. Words are no good."...which are fighting words for a poet, you know? Must. Find. The. Words.
You can discover the words I chose by reading WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA! :) May you enjoy your visit to the frozen continent. 

Me & Darth Vader (or Why School Librarians Are the Best)

Guess who I met yesterday at Somerville Road Elementary School?

A bunch a great kids, librarian-extraordinaire Sally Savas, so many enthusiastic teachers ... and Darth Vader!



I'm exhausted but had to pop in to say Happy Poetry Friday! Please visit Catherine at Reading to the Core for Roundup -- and get your penguin fix with a lovely post about WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA. Thank you, Catherine! I'm so honored and grateful. xo

What To Say about Selah?

Hello and welcome to Spiritual Journey Thursday! Today we are discussing Michelle Haseltine's word "Selah."


Confession: "Selah" is a new word for me. A quick Google search revealed that "Selah" is

1. the name of a city in the Old Testament
2. sometimes means "rock" because the city was a walled fortress
3. is found in Psalms and could be a musical notation
4. might be a word used for emphasis, similar to "Amen"
5. might mean something like "so let it be done"
6. might simply be a word that means "pause"

So, thank you, Michelle, for expanding my vocabulary!


I have this memory of watching the Charelton Heston movie THE TEN COMMANDMENTS over and over again with my siblings, and one of the repeating lines in that movie is "So let it be written, so let it be done." I know because my brother l still loves to repeat that line. :) In the movie it was what the scribes would say whenever Rameses put forth an order. It always sounded very formal and definite and certainly indicated action, though usually of a negative variety!

In my own life I have certainly experienced times when I needed to pause, think, not rush into action. But then there are the decisive times, the times when it's been time to DO instead of TALK or merely THINK about doing.

This often comes up in the creative life, doesn't it? How many times have I talked to a writer at a conference, and they tell me their wonderful ideas, and the next year, when I see them at the conference, they are still just talking (and not writing)? I find this so frustrating, especially as I realize it is related to fear. As long as one is just TALKING, there is no risk, no one to criticize, no failure.

I get it. It is So. Hard. To Fail. I put up road blocks to my writing, too. Writing is hard and scary. Which makes this a great word for writers: Selah. So let it be done.

#ReadYourWorld: Multicultural Children's Book Day is here!

Hello and Happy Multicultural Children's Book Day! 




For the second year in a row I signed up to feature on my blog a review of a multicultural children's book FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS! compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Check it out!

And be sure to visit to website to read about all the other wonderful multicultural books just waiting for readers like you!

Let the Gee's Bend Fun Begin!

This week I am visiting Decatur, Alabama, where LEAVING GEE'S BEND is their "River City Read." The best part is that the quilts are on display through March 5 at Carnegie Visual Art Center and four of the quilters -- Mary Ann Pettway, China Pettway, Lucy Witherspoon & Gloria Hopkins will be in residence from Feb. 12 - Feb. 21!

So, my job is to share the story of Gee's Bend at the schools, where I will be talking with students and faculty, and at the library so that the community will be able to more fully appreciate and enjoy this wonderful experience. I'm excited! Here's the library poster:


Full report coming next week!