“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”  
―     Sylvia Plath

Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences.”  
―     Sylvia Plath,     The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath is one of those writers young women read when they are balancing between angst and fulfillment.

She is so compelling because her life was a complexity of passion, love, creativity, despair, fear, and futility.  Through all of that, she was an excellent author and poet.  And, even though she was wracked with mental illness, she managed to have the start of a good marriage and produced two children. Of course, after a while, the darkness overwhelmed her and she took her own life with her two young children in the next room.

Sylvia had already made a splash in the literary world with her books and poetry but I wonder if she would be so well remembered if she had merely had a heart attack or died in an auto accident. Part of the attraction to her writing is due to her tragic life. This is true of many writers, not just with tragic lives but sometimes with flamboyant lives. Is a prerequisite of being a notable writer having an interesting personal life? Or, is there something about having the drive to write that makes a writer have a tragic and/or flamboyant life? What makes up the personality of a writer?

The question I ask is more specifically about women writers. George Sands, Willa Cather, Louisa May Alcott, Flannery O’Connor, Mary Shelley, Margaret Atwood, all are well known authors and all have had ‘interesting’ lives. Would we still read their books if they were typical middle income, suburban type people? Or, would they write if they were typical middle income, suburban type people?

I have recently developed a strong distaste for ‘artist statements’ that are required for most gallery shows. As a student of fine arts, I have always thought works of art should speak for themselves and sometimes they speak different messages to different people. Asking someone that produces a painting to ‘explain’ their style or the painting takes something away from the visual experience of viewing the painting. Perhaps this is true also of books and poetry. Maybe we should know less about the author and simply experience the words on the page for a full appreciation of the book or poem.

But, I have to leave with this one last quote from Sylvia Plath. Most writers will, I suspect, agree with this:

“Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.”

Sylvia Plath

“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness, but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day. 
”

Ernest Hemingway

Edna O’Brien, author of Country Girl, and many other books has recently been giving interviews and has shared a bit more of her life through her autobiography.  She is an Irish author compared in a way to Yeats with more of a view of the feminine side of life. 

I have read her books and have been interested in her words about her own life and more importantly, the life of a writer.  The thing that struck me over and over was that she said she has always been lonely and she thinks most writers are.

What connection is there between writing and loneliness?  A great deal, I believe.  First of all, it is important for a writer to have time to write.  If one is on ones own, there is more time for creative thinking and pursuits.  Also, if one is on ones own, there can be a brooding about being alone.  More than that, I think if a person is lonely, they carry that with them even when they are in a relationship or in a crowd.  That, I believe, is what Edna O’Brien is saying.

There is something in the pursuit of writing that requires the writer to separate him/herself from others and delve into the story and characters. Much like people in acting professions, writers become a part of their own stories.

Maybe this is the reason creative people have a harder time with relationships than others. If a person is innately lonely, the ‘treasured person’ or ‘other half’ must surely feel this. The loneliness of the artist is perceived by the partner as a type of rejection, furthering the loneliness of the artist. Or, if the writer is fortunate, the ‘other’ is willing to accept that loneliness aspect and be a part of the rest of the writer’s life. I think of Hemmingway, Piccaso, Beethoven, Van Gogh, of course O’Brien, and so many, many others.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to read any of O’Brien’s work, you may want to check out the Country series. Lonely or not, she manages to spin a great yarn and introduce the reader to some fascinating characters.

More than just not wanting the job, I would consider having the job the most vile of nightmares.  And that’s exactly what Margot Woelk thought when she was forced to become one of the food tasters for Adolph Hitler in WWII.

After her husband was drafted and left to fight in Hitler’s army, she fled Berlin to be away from the war as much as possible. Unfortunately she fled to Rastenburg where she was drafted into ‘civilian service.’  Recently, after decades of keeping this terrible secret, she decided to unburden herself of the horror she lived through.  Yes, at 95 years old, she finally felt she had to tell her story.

Rastenburg is a town fairly close to the Wolf’s Lair, the hiding place of Hitler during the later part of the war.  He was very much afraid, and for good reason, that his food might be poisoned.  To avert that possibility, he had a group of 15 girls drafted to act as food tasters for him.  Margot said the food was always of the best quality with each meal consisting of vegetables and fruits with either rice or pasta, prepared by the best of chefs. Although the food was delicious, with every bite there was the fear it would be her last.  You may recall, food was very expensive and hard to get during those war years and most civilians as well as most military were in a constant state of being malnourished. The job had it’s plus side in that she wouldn’t starve to death, but the down side was the looming possibility of poisoning.

She worked two and a half years as a food taster and never once saw Hitler. She saw his SS Guards and his favorite dog, but never him. When the war started turning for the worse for Germany, the SS Guards warned Margot to leave, which advice she took, heading back home to Berlin. The other 14 girls were from the Rastenburg area and they returned to their homes. Unfortunately for those girls, the Russians came in to their villages, captured them and shot all 14. Margot made it back to Berlin in time for the bombing and destruction of that city. After it was known that Hitler died, the Russians came in and took many prisoners, including Margot. As their prisoner, she endured 14 consecutive days of being raped and beaten. She did survive and managed to reunite with her husband and live another 75 years without revealing what happened. At first she thought she would be punished for working in Hitler’s household, then, after that worry subsided, she just wanted to put the ordeal behind her.

There are so many stories from that time of people doing what they had to do to survive and in many cases having to chose between living and dying. The world they inherited after the war provided very little to keep life going. And yet, somehow people do survive. There’s a resilience of the human spirit even in the worst of circumstances doing the worst of jobs. I salute that young girl who feared for her life with every lifting of a fork and final broke her silence to remind us of the unseen horrors of war.

There is a sad loss in the creative world of origami today.  On April 24, 2013, Russell Sutherland passed away and the art of origami will never be the same.

How should we feel when someone we only know through facebook passes away?  Russell’s death was like a blow to the gut for me.  Yes, I only knew him through his work and through fb but I always thought I might meet him some day.  He was only about 700 miles away, down in Corpus Christi. We spent time occasionally ‘PMing” each other and chatting about people we both knew and talking about his life and his art. He was a gentle, kind, giving, and most of all extremely creative person. I did feel like I knew him because of his art and because of what he was willing to share with me through his words. I know he had a tough childhood and he had current health issues. He seemed to be making his way through both of those problems. But, evidently he could not get past his current health issues and succumbed at a too young age, probably in his 50s. Yes, that is way too young to leave this earth in my opinion.

I found out after the fact that he had almost 2,800 friends on fb. He was so generous sharing his folding techniques and promoting others. I didn’t know he also sold his work. I would have gladly purchased something had I known he was short of funds, especially since I loved most of his folds. He really had something for everyone from flowers to sconces for the home to masks. I loved his home décor pieces but never knew I could purchase them. I feel some guilt over this now that I have found out he would have loved to have sold them. He never asked.

I would like to pay tribute to Russell but don’t really know how. Maybe the best I can do is to remember him and share his name and his website while it is still up and running. http://foldedexpressions.com For any artist, beyond their family and children, the best he/she can hope is for their work to carry on. Russell had no family. His ‘children’ were the origami pieces he created.

He will live on the in art of the many people he inspired through his work.

I was interested yesterday to see a thread via Stephen King (TOSK) that seemed to be generated by a post from Brian Klems.  That post is at: http://danasitar.com/2013/04/22/writing-a-book and is titled 3 Things You Shouldn’t do When Writing a Book. 

Well, you know people do write self help articles, all headed with either ‘3 things’ or ‘5 things’ or ’10 things.’  And, they are usually somewhat, if not totally helpful.  At the low end, they can still generate some arguments or some ideas on how to get you moving in the right/write direction.

The article from Brian Klems got a good thread started when he suggested that ‘writers’ should make sure to write a minimum of 30 minutes a day, even when they didn’t feel like it and even if it only generated a few hundred words.

The thread comebacks were everything from how wrong he was to many other suggestions. Some of those were that a writer should produce at least 5,000 written words a day or that writers should give themselves some time off if they need a break. This reminded me so much of comments about pitchers and hitters in one of my favorite sports–baseball.

Let’s see. A pitcher has a fast ball of pretty consistently hitting 97 miles per hour and can get it past the batter most times. He has 8 great games during his pitch rotation. Then, horrors, he has a run of 4 or 5 ‘bad’ games. His pitch just isn’t hitting the speed or he can’t control it any more. What happens? First of all, the fans are terribly upset when the team starts losing. And, of course, the sports writers are all in a tizzy and start to make suggestions of changing the lineup and of what in the world can be done to get the pitcher back up to grade.

Everyone wants to make suggestions and they can range from sending the pitcher ‘down’ to the minors, or moving his spot in the rotation, or trading him, or having him take a few days off. Does anyone ask the pitcher? Sure they do but usually in a rude or accusatory manner. It would be something like this: “Do you still think you can help the team?” Or, “What do you think you need to do to get back on track?” Or, “Should you work more on that fast pitch?” Or even the very obvious, “Why do you think you can’t control the pitch?”

This seems so much to be what happens when writers have ‘block’ or burn out. Should they be required to continue writing 30 minutes a day or 5,000 words a day? Should they be required to take the week off to regroup? Or is all of this based on very individual situations and personalities? My personal thoughts on this are that writers should write every day. It’s a matter of staying in a position to be open to the muse or to the momentum to write. I can’t say how much time others should write but I can say that in most disciplines, whether writing, pitching, playing an instrument, or teaching, every day should include some exercise of your passion/vocation.

I am grateful for the posts of people like Brian Klems with suggestions for new writers on how to get in the pattern of being a writer and I won’t quibble over the details of whether writing should be timed or should be by the word. Whatever it is, it is good, and directs a novice writer to move into the world of becoming a ‘writer’ and helps them become involved, motivated, and inspired.

For some reason, I find things.  Usually sparkly things.  They just catch my eye.

Over the years, I’ve found everything from diamond rings and earrings (usually just one, not a pair), pins, necklaces, and every type of US coin and a few foreign coins.  The finding usually happens on my walks but sometimes just when I get out of the car at a gas station or an office or the grocery store.  It’s not limited to metal items.  I’ve also found paper money (including a $100 bill), lots of cell phones, one Ipad, gift cards, and recently, a very nice Nikon camera. 

I am curious how people lose these items.  Earrings I understand because I have lost a few myself.  Coins I understand too as I have dropped a couple from time to time.  But what about cell phones?  Wouldn’t you notice losing your phone?  Or your Ipad?  I would go into terrors if I lost my camera and it isn’t nearly as expensive as the $900 + one I found in a parking lot. 

Usually I try to locate the owners of the items I find unless it is a bill blowing by me on my walk or one I find run over in a parking lot. Of course, if I saw someone running after that wayward bill, I would pick it up and return it to them.  Cell phones and larger items I take to the police station.  Evidently lots of people lose cell phones and the police are pretty good about finding the owners.  They have told me that sometimes people put their phone on their dashboard or the hood or roof of their car, and when they drive, the phone slips off on to the street or sidewalk.

I was able to find the owner of the Nikon by myself. I picked it up and looked at a few of the pictures stored in the camera and they were mostly of a cute baby having a birthday party. This finding was after dark in a parking lot and not too many places were open. The camera was on the ground near several cars and one of the cars had a baby seat in back. I noticed a restaurant nearby that was open and I went to it and looked through the windows. Couldn’t see anyone with a baby so I stepped inside. Sure enough, there was the child with family and I was able to get the camera back to them.

I’d like to be able to tell you how it is that I find things but I don’t know the answer. I just do. It has to do with the way I observe things and notice when something doesn’t quite fit in its surroundings.

And then too, it’s sometimes just the sparkle that catches my eye.

To my sewing friends, I apologize.  This is not about your thread. No, this is about the ‘threads’ of conversations via the internet; those sometimes long streams of back and forth natter that can be funny, nonsensical, pleasant, encouraging, cruel, hateful, or irrelevant.

I confess I don’t usually take the time to read threads unless it involves a post from a family member or very close friend.  I learned my lesson during the past presidential election period.  Or, I should say, during the two years of the past presidential campaign.  I have friends on the right, the left, in the middle and nowhere to be seen, and I was totally disgusted with the rants, accusations, innuendos, and pure bile that was spilled out over the internet.  It wasn’t usually the main ‘status’ that was bad.  It was the unsolicited comments. It was the thread.

At first I thought it would be good for me to see various points of view and try to understand where other people were coming from with their comments.  Then I realized it was bothering me deeply to see the underbelly of society on their soapboxes spouting vulgarity and sounding way too much like the old news reels of dictators from another generation.

The past few days since the Boston Marathon bombing, and since the voting on weapon background checks, and since ricin laced envelopes showed up in Washington, the door has been flung wide open again on overly long threads. I only peeked a little, but I am guilty of giving in to curiosity.

Oops.

Learned the lesson again.

I have some friends that post ‘like’ to various fb pages that seem to present interesting ideas about politics, religion, food choices, mother nature, etc. If they took time to read the threads attached to them, I am sure they wouldn’t ‘like’ them and in doing so, share them with their other fb friends. Some of the thread comments are pretty filthy. I understand many sites have ‘trolls’ but some of the thread comments are by people who support the original status. They just want to make sure to denigrate anyone who doesn’t agree with the status. Very odd that people would take the time to do that. Very odd that I would waste time writing about it, let alone thinking about it.

I spent some time last night prioritizing what I want to see on fb and cleaning up some of the junk without ‘unfriending’ anyone. I’ve also made a pledge to myself not to read threads unless I absolutely think it will be worth my time and intellect. And I’ve also decided that the very best threads may be the ones from my sewing friends. The kind you can hold between your fingers and use to create something worthwhile and beautiful.

My hat’s off and my thimble is on to my hardworking sewing friends and their amazing threads.

“Those who dwell as scientists or laymen among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”  Rachel Carson

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”  Henry David Thoreau Walden

Thinking more about Earth Day and mother nature in general, I look back to the work of Rachel Carson. She was a pioneer in her education, her way of thinking, her work and her life. She brought science to us in a readable form and ignited a generation of naturalists and ‘tree huggers.’

My own life was impacted by Silent Spring. It was published in 1962 when I was too young to have a clue that it existed. Thankfully, I discovered it in the early 70s when I was old enough to read and understand it. They say that because of the force of that one book and the horrors of pesticides, the EPA was started and DDT was banned in the U.S.

I was lucky to have parents who were organic gardeners and who preserved most of our food and took us out looking for ‘wild’ food like grapes, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, mushrooms, onions and other yummy things. My Dad fished and bought our meat from local farmers whom he knew and trusted. When I was a child, I loved gardening and looking for things growing wild in the country. I still love finding wild asparagus and just recently found two wonderful pecan trees to gather from this coming fall. To note here is that my parents weren’t organic gardeners because they were on a mission. That’s simply how they had been taught by their parents and the canning/preserving was because they were frugal and had 4 children. Also, the food just tasted darn good.

As a little step off course here, I remember when my Mom bought TV dinners for us kids for a treat on Saturday night. We were so excited to try them and, oh, were they not good! But, it was still fun and Mom did give us a chance to try out what was being advertised on TV. We also didn’t go to fast food restaurants, except as a rare treat. We only had ice cream when we had relatives over and we hand cranked it. Wonderful tasting, but it was a treat, not an everyday thing. And, finally, although my Dad owned service stations and we stored ‘pop’ in our garage for the machines at the stations, we rarely had any ourselves. We just didn’t like it too much and it was expensive. (Yes, at 10 cents, it was still expensive for a family of 4 on a budget.)

It was interesting to me to see that Rachel Carson enjoyed reading Beatrix Potter when she was a child. Me too. There wasn’t a mention of her reading Walden but I somehow think she might have taken an interest in the writings of Henry David Thoreau. She choose a life that was difficult for a woman at that time–at this time too. She was dedicated to her science and to her writing. She also died too young, at age 56, from the overall effects of breast cancer.

I think of people like Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, and Beatrix Potter when I am out tromping around on paths not much taken. I think most people would benefit from getting out there in the wild or on country roads and letting nature works it’s magic on them.

Maybe, in all that tromping around, some would find the path to their own significant life.

Aw, 1970.  I can almost hear the chants of anything anti war, anti establishment, anti anyone over 30, anti military industrial complex, anti *ahem* you get my drift.

But, today I am thinking about that first Earth Day and what it meant to so many of us at the time.  Hard to believe it has been 40 years and, although some things have improved, it’s still mostly the same old story.

Part of Earth Day was just getting out on the quad and having a love fest.  We loved each other and we loved good ole Mother Nature.  The weather cooperated.  The timing was also good because it was before we had to quite worry about finals and we still had a feeling of freedom and a desire to celebrate the arrival of spring.  Yes, we were also worried about a world that would be lost to war and all of that Vietnam era stuff.  We worried that the government ‘spies’ would be checking us out and making a list of who was naughty or nice.  But, we still had an awfully great time just being together and caring about each other and the world in general.

This morning I was listening to some ‘talking heads’ making comments about the first Earth Day, and without exception they said there was no concern about climate change then because that was before global warming.  Hey wait a minute guys!  I was there.  No, we weren’t concerned about global warming, we were concerned about the big freeze that was coming.  No kidding. The Hadley CRU climate center in East Anglia had results from studies showing a slight global cooling from 1940 on. Yes indeed. We were about to enter a new ice age if we didn’t do something real quick. There was talk about auto emissions, coal plants, livestock, etc., etc. I had become a vegetarian several years before and I didn’t have a car so I wasn’t in control of some things. But the power plants in Central Illinois were powered by coal and I was feeling very guilty. I bought more sweaters at Goodwill, turned the heat down to about 50, and shivered a lot. (I was skinny in those days.)

Except for that little slip from the talking heads, the reports are about right. We did care about the cutting down of trees, the wastefulness of our society, air and water pollution, and almost everything else that involved the earth. People joined Peace Corps en masse, people dodged the draft and ran for Canada or where ever they could to get away, some formed communes, some went to The Farm, some dropped out and are still dropped out. Most though made it through those turbulent times and ended up with lives very similar to their parents. Nice house, two cars, 2.5 kids, steady job, dinner out on the weekends, every thing they had condemned their parents for.

The good thing is that some people did spend their lives either working publically to ‘save the earth’ or in their own quiet ways making changes in their own lives that made a difference. Those changes include not being wasteful, recycling/repurposing, using or growing organic foods, cutting down on meat consumption, not littering, not using herbicides/pesticides, using public transportation when possible, being careful and mindful of the earth’s resources.

Other people have made a business of the politics of Earth Day and I am ashamed of them. They lead people off the real goal of being good stewards of the earth. We are currently tangled in the politics of Earth Day and I would love it if we could get back on track. Don’t force legislation for windmill farms so that politicians that own them can make a ‘windfall.’ Don’t force preservation of woodlands so others can confiscate the acreage and make a profit from it. Don’t shut down coal plants without providing affordable energy for the masses. Do the transition in a thoughtful and non-greedy way so that people can adjust and no politician or friend of a politician can reap untold rewards.

I want to see Americans stand together on Earth Day and create new ways to get us to where we need to be. I want us to be good stewards of this magnificent Earth together.

Somehow I think I should end this with: Peace Brothers and Sisters

Oh yeah, if you never look up any other time, you just have to look up tonight!  The Lynid Meteor Shower should be putting on a display all night for you.

The best time to view the shooting stars is right before dawn on Monday morning but I plan to stay out from 11:00 p.m. Sunday evening til 4:00 a.m. Monday.  That is, unless I see plenty of ‘wishers’ early on, then I will just go in and go to bed satisfied at having seen a fantastic show from Mother Universe.

You might encounter brightness due to the moon or to city lights.  What you need to do is get as much away from city lights as you can, dress warm if you are in a cold area (which most of us are if you live anywhere north of Texas right now), take some snacks and warm drinks and some good music to listen to.  You can also take a friend or several friends and make a party of it.  I would suggest holding off on too many *drinks* because you don’t want to miss the show, you might have to drive home, and it might make you forget to bundle up and take care of yourself. On the other hand, if you have a very dark deck, like we have, you can just slip out there with some good wine or beer and truly relax with nature.

The good thing about this sky show for those of us in the north, is that it comes at a time when the mosquitos aren’t awake yet. One less thing to be concerned with.

Now, where do you look?  Straight up is the best way to spot them.  More guidance, if you don’t need to be talking with friends, stay quiet. I have often times heard the meteors hitting the atmosphere and bouncing off. Not that it happens every time, but it is a wonderful thing to experience if you can.

No more advice on this one but I did want to encourage you to go out and find out for yourself how cool this can be and what a great show Mother Universe can put on for us.

Only available for viewing from tonight through the morning of April 23 so bundle up, get on out there, and have some stories to share with your family, friends, and co-workers.