Courage of the Poet
The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness.
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Possessions
ByHeatherI started with nothing and I still have most of it left.
— Unknown
Magic is a vanishing art
ByHeatherMagic is a vanishing art.
— Bumper Sticker
The Whole World is an Enigma
ByHeatherI have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
Sometimes I find myself agreeing with Umberto.
Other times I want to say, “Chill dude . . . Life is a Cabaret, old chum!”
The Law of Anecdotal Value
ByHeatherChoose the experiences in life that offer the most anecdotal value — that is, look for the opportunities that have the most likelihood of producing a cool story.
At the The Moth Chicago Grand Slam this year Peter Sagal (yes, that Peter Sagal) relayed these words of wisdom, passed on to him by a theater professor at Lewis and Clark College many years before.
With a tip of the hat to The Moth, make it a story-worthy life.
Lincoln’s Legend and Legacy
ByHeatherThe color of the ground was in him, the red earth;
The smack and tang of elemental things:
The rectitude and patience of the cliff;
The good-will of the rain that loves all leaves.— Edwin Markham, Lincoln, Man of the People
I watched the Bill Moyer’s special last night on Lincoln’s Legend and Legacy. Since moving to North Carolina a year and a half ago, I have become a student of the Civil War. The passion with which both sides fought and Lincoln’s incredible role in holding the Union together ignites in me a deep fascination for my adopted country.
The excerpt above is but a few lines from a rich and delightful poem by Edwin Markham. The second verse alone brings tears to my eyes and is worth committing to memory. Steel away a few quiet moments today and indulge yourself in a full reading of Markham’s Lincoln, Man of the People.
Nobel Legacy
ByHeatherI can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.
— George Bernard Shaw