just a splash of oliver
Posted: September 28, 2009 Filed under: Books, Writing Leave a comment »“She was style, she was an old loneliness that nothing could quite wipe away. She was vastly knowledgeable about people, about books, about the mind’s emotions and the heart’s. She lived sometimes in a black box of memories and unaswerable questions, and then she would come out and frolic – be feisty and bold.”
Oliver, Mary. Our World. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.
adam and eve
Posted: September 13, 2009 Filed under: Books, Reading, Writing 3 Comments »
I heard the creation story in a new way this week. As I listened to a man at my church read about God pulling light from dark, I thought I heard God laughing. Huh? Before, I’d always imagined Creator God as so serious as he created, wearing a furrowed brow and a concentrated expression. In my old mental picture, he methodically checked items off a list.
Manatee
Abomindable Snow Man
Where did this crabby, organized God in my imagination come from? I think I thought Adam and Eve’s impending disobedience, the suffering-to-come, would have had to temper his joy in the moment. Or maybe I just project my overly anxious creative processes on to Him.
Anyway, this time I pictured God suddenly splash a trail of stars against the dark curtain of sky. He threw the stars effortlessly, as easily as we season our dinners with salt. Gold tore through the sky. Angels shouted. And God laughed too. I imagined His brow unfurrowed, his laughter carefree, like a young boy’s, like my brother’s.
This is just an idea I had a few days ago – a series of images and sounds that washed over me. What do YOU think it was like then, as the sky unfurled and the nothing became something? How do you picture it happening?
last day
Posted: September 1, 2009 Filed under: Books, Media, Writing Leave a comment »Today is my last day of work.
Here is a picture of me nearly two years ago, on my first interview here.
I was so scared at first, scared of messing up, scared of my own squawky voice. But then I remember that as the interview progressed, I became riveted by that push-pull between the desire to be known and the need to protect oneself. I’m still very interested in that tension.
