Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 87

New Video from Beyond 50 radio

This is the slide show developed by Beyond 50 Radio from an interview with Daniel Davies. Didn't they do a good job?

Memoir, plot, writing….

Re-reading Dickens, with his magnificently improbably plots of coincidence and far more characters than one can keep track of, reminded me of Memoir.

In Memoir we tend to think that we are at the center of things, and that our view matters. This is true - to an extent. What makes great memoir is the sense that we are not the only story; that all stories intersect in some way. And what readers delight in is the sense that this person's specific story is also a tale for all of us, at all...

Smiling Statues (Ancient Greece)

http://mandarb.net/virtual_gallery/media/sculptures/originals/kore_original.jpg

Those smiling statues I blogged about a couple of days ago…. What could they be smiling about?

Here's an idea. I think that the date of their creation, about 550 BC might be important. The smiling Buddha is one of the few other smiling statuary figures that exists, and it is from around this time — although separated by some thousand plus miles of well-traveled trade routes.

Perhaps the smile is the smile of...

Bridgewater State Writing Institute (Aug 1 - 7)

The Institute will be blasting off this year, looking at Memoir and Creative Non-Fiction and so much more.  Jerald Walker is the guiding light, ably assisted by Bob Atwan, with a cameo by me.

Here's the link:

http://www.bridgew.edu/externalAffairs/NEWI%20Home.cfm

Check it out, writers!

Smiling; and Joy.

Leafing through my copy of Janson's 'History of Art' I noticed, again, that in about 530 BC statues appeared in Greece, all of which were smiling enigmatically.  These statues are called kouros and kore, and are thought of as being 'archaic' forms.  This means that they aren't that good by 'our' standards.

Later statues rarely have smiles.  They have extremely life-like looks of horror and so on, but no smiles.

So why don't statues smile?  If I walk along and someone smiles at me it brightens m...

Writing Short - the new way forward?

I've noticed that many books are now rather, um, brief. I just read a delightful book of 150 pages, of which about 40 pages were pictures, or one sentence quotations taking up one page, and other such things.

The book itself was excellent - but short.  In this case it made its points well, but the larger question is…. are we becoming a culture that simply can't deal with long books — unless they are about vampires?

The Huffington Post asks for 200 words or less.  Twitter allows only 140...

For some time now….

For a number of years I've been wondering about creating a learning center - one in which the emphasis is on growing human beings as thoughtful, creative, expressive individuals, while at the same time nurturing critical thinking skills.

Often 'critical thinking' is a buzz word that implies heartless analysis and the rejection of all that is not strictly 'rational'.  This is a pity.  There is plenty in the world that we don't yet understand, but to reject intuitions because they cannot be...

That time of year again

Yes it is.  In every corner you can see them, gathering, clustering, lurking.  At first you just think it's a coincidence, but then, as you notice more and more of them you're left asking, what's going on? Is this a conspiracy?

I'm talking about TV sets and computer monitors, clustered around the sides of buildings, around phone poles, everywhere.  Old, ratty TVs, cast aside by the digital wave. Clunky computer monitors, abandoned by owners who won't take them to the recycling centers or pay f...

The descent into the self

I've been researching this idea, from a Jungian perspective, where it is a key element for reaching the core of being. Now, does anyone have any information on such things as the Eleusian Mysteries or the way the Delphic Oracle was set up? I suspect that the same psychic imagery was written large in those ceremonials….

The Shocking Truth! All Is Revealed!!

To those who regularly follow my blog (thanks, Marnie!  And thanks Garima.  Oh, and Uncle Bill, too.) have sometimes asked the me a very personal question, the answer to which has been concealed until now: What's the link between your two loves, writing and restoring motorcycles?

I'll reveal all, now. When I restore motorcycle, the older the better, I take something that is not complete, not running, and perhaps in very bad shape. I give it love and attention.  I free what is stuck, I r...