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July 7th, 2009
01:22 pm - Alphabet for Life
I love the spirit of these words by Renee Stewart:
~Accept differences
~Be kind
~Count your blessings
~Dream
~Express thanks
~Forgive
~Give freely
~Harm no one
~Imagine more
~Jettison anger
~Keep confidences
~Love truly
~Master something
~Nurture hope
~Open your mind
~Pack lightly
~Quell rumors
~Reciprocrate
~Seek wisdom
~Touch hearts
~Understand
~Value truth
~Win Graciously
~Xeriscape
~Yearn for peace
~Zealously support a worthy cause
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July 3rd, 2009
09:26 pm - Can't Not Write
I just finished reading Elizabeth George's Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life. I am fascinated by how other writers work and this book is part how-to, part "This is how I do it" by a successful author of 22 books.
Write Away ends with George summarizing the writing life. Writers write, she says, because "They have to breathe, after all. They have to live."
People who have not been seized by the passion for writing don't understand this compulsion, this desire to write no matter what. Writing is hard work, without a doubt, but it is also one of the most fun, pleasure-giving, "get lost in another world" experiences possible. I am often asked how I "make myself write." I tell the truth. "I can't NOT write."
I have happily lived with this condition for most of my life and feel fortunate that at this stage of my life, I can spend so many hours each day working on the craft I love.
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June 27th, 2009
08:49 pm - Sequoyah's Carvings
Sequoyah was one of many notable Cherokee men and women. As the only known person to invent an entire alphabet from a spoken language, Sequoyah holds a place in history. John Nobel Wilford's article in THE NEW YORK TIMES, "Carvings From Cherokee Script's Dawn," is not only a good recap of Sequoyah's story, but more importantly, tells how an archeologist found what may be "the earliest known examples of the Sequoyah syllabary."
The article also reminds readers how "thousands of Cherokees were literate--far surpassing the literacy of their white neighbors," which is part of the background of my young adult historical work-in-progress. How many of my early readers said things like, "These were Indians--as if they could read and write!" I quickly realized that most Americans are unaware of Cherokee history, and I needed to include scenes to show my protagonist's life that included not only her family's literacy (as proven by the 1835 census, which said there were ten literate people in the Bushyhead home), but how some illiterate white people responded to "uppity Indians" who could read and write.
WIlford's article also mentions "A Cherokee Baptist minister translating the New Testament using the syllabary." That would have been Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, my protagonist's father.
Enjoy the article and the color photo of the Kentucky cave carvings that are believed to be the earliest known examples of Sequoyah's alphabet, and might even have been carved by the great man himself.
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June 24th, 2009
07:07 pm - What Will Your Obituary Say?
A friend from California sent me this wonderful obituary of a woman I never met, but wish I'd known:
Frances Elizabeth Dean Smith "Franceye" 1922-2009
Poet. Muse. Activist. Precocious Child. WWII Vet. Beauty. Mother. Workshop Co-Founder. Citizen. Christian. Timekeeper. Bus Rider. Grandmother. Venice Beat. Choir Singer. Rabblerouser. Visionary. Survivor. Lover of French Fries. Great-Grandmother. Reader. Listener. Advisor. Crone. Goddess. Companion. Snaggletooth. Our Bearded Witch of Ocean Park. Beloved. Friend. FrancEye.
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June 23rd, 2009
01:59 pm - How Is Furniture Stripper Like Manuscript Revision?
I am currently restoring/repurposing a 100 year-old Singer treadle sewing machine that I inherited from my grandmother, Belle Neff Broyles. When she died, I immediately claimed the machine and had it moved from Illinois to California, where it sat in a shed because I wasn't sure quite what to do with it. We already had the furniture we needed, including a more modern sewing machine. Our home is not "country" or filled with antiques, and for me, an antique sewing machine just took up space without being of use. But still, the sentimental attachment--
So we then moved the machine (a heavy piece of furniture because of the cast iron pedestal) from California to Massachusetts four years ago. Once again, the machine languished in the corner of a garage. I thought of donating it to a museum or selling it, but never found any takers. Recently, I decided that it is a nice reminder of my paternal family and could make me feel good to have it around if it were useable. Thus, I decided to forgo the monetary antique value of a working treadle machine and transform it into something useful.
Antique lovers, don't read on. And furniture restorers, don't berate me. I already regret some of the choices I have made, but there's no turning back! First, I cut the belt that kept the machine working, then removed the machine itself, which is well-used and faded--not some perfect gem of an antique from the cabinet. I used a wire brush and Naval Jelly (I'd never even heard of this stuff--what a great name!) to clean the base of old paint and rust. Next, I spray painted the base, and I am now stripping off the varnish of the cabinet to refinish it to a table. Assuming I can soon find someone to cut the table top, within a short time, we will have a serviceable table with a beautiful iron pedestal complete with detailed Singer logo and other info.
At the same time, I am revising my Trail of Tears book, a manuscript that feels close to antique itself, I have worked on it so long. Just as I put a coat of stripper on a drawer panel of the sewing machine cabinet to get it back to the original state, I often let an idea "simmer until it works" and I know I am ready to cut out words, sentences, paragraphs, pages in order to peel away to "only what is necessary" in the book. The middle section of the book drags? Make it shorter! Punch up the language! Cull it to the essential scenes that keep the plot and sub-plots moving along.
Just as I use steel wool to buff away spots on the wood after the stripper has done its work, I then read and reread certain sections to be sure they are just what is needed, and no more. When I soon apply a stain to try to match the original wood tone, it may feel like those moments when I go through my manuscript with a different objective each time: Is Jane's voice true? How does the major conflict play out from chapter to chapter? Does a scene need to be moved in order to have more punch?
By the end of next week (if it ever stops raining so I have the best light to do all of the above), I may have a complete table that is not exactly like its previous form, but hopefully, more useful to me and still a sentimental reminder. And by summer's end, I hope to have a complete revision of my novel that is different than the previous revision, but ready to send out to editors.
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June 15th, 2009
09:34 pm - Goose Bumps
I have worked on a young adult historical novel about the Trail of Tears for over twenty years. The book has undergone numerous revisions, most recently, in a Whole Novel Workshop for Historical Fiction residency at the Highlights Foundation. Over these many years, I have occasionally discovered new resources to expand or validate the reality of my story, and that's always exciting for me as a writer and researcher.
Last week I spoke to a librarian at the Cleveland History Branch and Archives in Bradley County, Tennessee. I was looking for photographs of specific places to help me write about the book's initial setting. I have visited the area, but because of course everything has changed since 1838, I was unsure of the accuracy of my descriptions. The reference librarian didn't have what I wanted, but promised to send something similar that might be helpful.
When the envelope from the Cleveland History Branch and Archives arrived, I found even more than what the librarian had promised to send. One item was both blessing and gold mine. Although I can't say for sure that it is the original letter written by my protagonist, Jane Bushyhead, there's a strong possibility that the hand-written letter (exactly the same in punctuation and spelling to the widely-published letter Jane wrote to a school friend) photocopied and sent to me is indeed in Jane's handwriting . Just the possibility that I might have in my hands Jane's words in her penmanship gave me goose bumps. The handwriting is in the old style of that century. It seems if someone took the trouble to recopy her words, they would probably not have included all the small inconsistencies of a young girl's letter.
Here's a fragment of Jane's letter to Martha Thompson:
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June 9th, 2009
10:46 pm - Herons on my mind
I count my days in Great Blue Herons. The best thing about moving from Malibu, California to New England has been living by a lake and getting to kayak regularly. I kayak almost every day and usually see at least one or two herons as I paddle around the lake. My best day so far? FIFTEEN herons! Absolutely awesome and awe-inspiring. Once, on an early morning paddle, I brought my boat within a few feet of a four-foot bird. As I sat stone-still I could see the water dripping between its feathers. The bird inspected me with its golden eye, unafraid.
The other day, while kayaking, my husband, daughter and I watched a heron catch a fish on the shore. The bird cocked its head to the side (to get a different view/angle of the water?), suddenly stuck its beak into the water and came out with a round, flat fish. The bird swallowed the fish whole much as a snake might swallow a mouse, its throat widening as the fish slid down.
  
Last week, I experienced Great Blue Herons in another way when I hiked to a heron rookery near our home. From a short distance, we could hear the loud cheep-cheep-cheep of heron babies. The naturalist with us counted 88 nests high in the branches of dead trees in a swampy wetland. Each nest held 4-6 young herons. We watched the adults soar in and out of the spindly nests as easily as a jet plane lands on a wide runway. Herons mate for life and are also "place monagamous," so many of these birds have been coming to this same wetlands for many years. In the pictures below are dozens of visible herons, large and small. Good luck discovering them!
 
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May 28th, 2009
10:36 pm - Priscilla receives another award!
What an honor for PRISCILLA AND THE HOLLYHOCKS to be included as one of five picture books on the Massachusetts Book Award recommended list. Thank you, Massachusetts Center for the Book! See http://bit.ly/pDOAz for more info, but here's the complete list.
Picture Books
•As Good as Anybody by Richard Michelson. (Knopf) Lessons from the parallel upbringings of Martin Luther King and Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel culminate in their 1965 march together against discrimination, from Selma to Montgomery.
•One Hen by Kate Smith Milway. (Kids Can Press) The true story of Kojo, a young boy from West Africa, who realizes that one small
loan will result in a successful venture. An inspirational story about a little help, i.e., a micro-loan, that makes a real difference.
•Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A Nivola. (Frances Foster/FSG) The story of 2004 Nobel-
Peace-Prize-winner Wangari Maathai who launched the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and changed her homeland one seed
at a time.
•Priscilla and the Hollyhocks by Anne Broyles. (Charlesbridge) With a backdrop of the Trail of Tears, the true story of a young slave,
Priscilla, separated from her mother, who is sold away, and connected to her past through hollyhock seeds she eventually gains the
freedom to plant.
•Sisters of Scituate Light by Stephen Krensky. (Dutton Children’s Books/Penguin) During the War of 1812, two sisters trick the
British soldiers into retreating from Scituate Harbor, by playing the flute & drum. Based on a true story.
Middle Reader
•Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O’Connor. (Frances Foster/FSG) An intergenerational cast of characters find their lives
intertwining at the up-for-sale Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains.
•Lost and Found by Andrew Clements. (Philomel Books/Penguin) Twelve-year-old twins Jay and Ray take advantage of a paperwork
error at school and discover what it is like not to be considered as one of a matched pair.
•The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall. (Knopf) The Penderwick sisters and their Aunt Claire hatch a Save-Daddy
Plan to find their widowed father a new wife.
•The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. (Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) An old-fashioned and zany story of a nanny, her
badly behaved charges, and a long lost heir.
Young Adult
•Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Book II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson. (Candlewick)
Octavian joins a Loyalist navy regiment that has promised freedom to African-American slaves after the Revolutionary War.
•Impossible by Nancy Werlin (Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin) Successful crossing of genres, realistic fiction and fantasy, with Lucy Scarborough, a foster teen who must work to perform three impossible tasks to free her from an ancient family curse.
•First Daughter by Mitali Perkins. (Dutton Children’s Books/Penguin) This sequel to Extreme American Makeover follows the
escapades of Sameera, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl living with her adoptive parents in the White House. Being the First
Daughter has unique pressures and challenges, and Sameera tries to choose her own political path.
•The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World by Nathaniel Philbrick. (G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin) A vivid account of the epic
saga of how the Pilgrims and the Native Americans maintained fifty years of peace and of how that peace was shattered by one of the deadliest wars ever fought on American soil.
•My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger. (Dial Books for Young Readers/
Penguin) Follows two best friends and pseudo-brothers through a whirlwind year in Boston that includes activism, baseball and
friendship with the Mexican Ambassador's daughter. An engaging writing style with alternating perspectives and Instant Messaging.
•Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman. (Razorbill/Penguin) In this dystopian novel Honor struggles to fit into the regulated
society of her new home, but when her parents disappear, she questions everything.
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May 21st, 2009
11:18 pm - Favorite Characters/Beloved Friends
Which characters have stayed with you long after you finished reading the book they inhabited? Ramona Quimby? Charlotte and Wilbur? Karana, who spent 18 years alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins? What is it about a specific character that transcends pieces of paper bound into a book, and inches his or her way into your heart?
Two weeks ago I read Carolyn B. Cooney's wonderful historical novel, The Ransom of Mercy Carter. I read the book with an author's eye more than as a relaxed reader. I analyzed how Cooney used third person limited for the two main characters, and how she masterfully created a variety of settings with all five senses. Yet I got caught up in the story, which is filled with the compelling drama of history, a clash of cultures, difficult decisions. Cooney chose to fictionalize the story of Mercy Carter, a Deerfield resident who was actually captured by Native Americans and French men and taken to Canada. Having few details of the real Mercy's life gave Cooney the freedom to take the facts (her abduction, her decision to live the rest of her life with her Kahnawake family) and show us the possible story behind those facts. "This we know:" Cooney says in the Author's Note. "she choose not to be English again."
I've read about this 1704 Deerfield Massacre before (and know it was as much a battle between the French and English as between native peoples and those they deemed interlopers). Mercy Carter's story brought it alive for me. In the weeks since I finished the book, I've thought of her numerous times. Mercy joins Karana, Ramona, Charlotte, Wilbur and others on my list of "favorite characters/beloved friends."
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May 14th, 2009
11:55 pm - Robert Frost, poetry and miles to go
Today I visited the Derry, New Hampshire farm where Robert Frost and his family lived from 1900-1911. Much of his most famous poetry was written in this locale; he was actually more successful as a poet than as a farmer. This particular farm passed on to other hands. His poems, too, have passed from person to person through thousands of hands as generations have appreciated Frost's insights. As he himself wrote, "A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." In 1960, Frost came to read at the University of Arizona Poetry Center. My mother and older brother, both UA students at the time, attended his reading, and I remember their excitement and awe at hearing the man who would soon after read at President John F.Kennedy's inauguration. Like most Americans, I grew up with snippets of Frost's poems. As a child, I associated Frost's "miles to go" lines ( see below) with the life of American doctor Tom Dooley, whose biography was in our home. So instead of snowy woods, I pictured a self-sacrificing man working with the Vietnamese. An odd association for a child, but Dooley became one of the everyday heroes I recognized in my world.
Now, as a person living in New England, I read the poem with different eyes. I have an enhanced understanding of woods, snow, villages than I had as a child growing up in the Arizona desert.
I may not have consciously studied Frost's work since university days, but my life experience informs my understanding of:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
I have loved the words themselves, the association with Dooley, and my own understanding of how I intend to live whatever number of years I have left. Now I add the layer of Frost's farm and new learnings about his personal life to that multi-layered appreciation of an oft-quoted poem:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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May 6th, 2009
08:20 am - Another Award for Priscilla!
I just found out that PRISCILLA AND THE HOLLYHOCKS made the 2009 Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year list! Hopefully, this means even more children will learn about Priscilla's courage and resiliency,
From the Bank Street College web site:
"The CHILDREN'S BOOK COMMITTEE was founded almost 100 years ago to help parents, teachers and librarians choose the books that children will find captivating and transforming.
The Committee reviews over 4000 titles each year for accuracy and literary quality and considers their emotional impact on children. It chooses the best 600 books, both fiction and nonfiction, which it lists according to age and category for the Best Children's Books of the Year list."
Hooray for Priscilla!
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May 4th, 2009
12:46 am - A Cabin of One's Own
VIrginia Woolf wrote an essay stating that 'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.' I'm one of the lucky women who has an office of my own (and previously, a charming writing studio my husband built for me in our CA back yard). And this week, I am blessed with a cabin of my own in a grassy field in Pennsylvania.
Here at the Highlights Whole Novel Workshop in Historical Fiction in Honesdale, PA, six dedicated writers are working with two mentor teachers and several other authors and editors with the goal of improving our works-in-progress. I am focusing on my long-standing Trail of Tears project. Other writers have brought their own manuscripts, all presenting fascinating periods of history, events and perspectives that have not been told before. So not only is it exciting to work on my own book, but I enjoy hearing about others' projects which I won't detail here because these are not--yet-published works.
In my day and a half here, I've met with my mentor teacher to discuss her comments on my 250-page manuscript, and am making necessary changes to improve the work. What began as a third person perspective and has in recent years been written in first person is returning to third person limited POV. I'm trying to clarify and bring the emotional heart of the story to life. Scenes that no longer move the story or serve the story's emotional heart are deleted with a few taps on the keyboard. By changing to third person, I open up possibilities for more setting details and a wider perspective on the action.
At previous points, I thought this book was done. I was, sadly, badly mistaken! I even had a lunch with two HBO execs about a possible mini-series when the book was (I must cringe here) probably quite amateurish and uneven. (They had actually read the entire dull book and were very gentle and supportive-- and I got to see the HBO office at the top of a building in Century City!)
This Whole Novel Workshop is giving me time, a place, resources and encouragement to improve this manuscript so that, hopefully, this work will be publishable and will find a home with a house wanting to offer young readers an engaging young adult historical novel on the Trail of Tears.
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April 30th, 2009
03:30 pm - Leaving InkWorld
I am suffering the grief that comes with having finished a third LONG book that is part of a trilogy, in this case, Cornelia Funke's INKDEATH. These books take place in a world created when a bookbinder named Mo reads words aloud that become real. Haven't we all had moments with the best books when we do feel we inhabit book settings, where the characters are real to us and we care for them as much (while immersed in the reading) as if they are real?
Having spent MANY hours listening to the three books in this fantasy trilogy, I felt roughly tumbled back into my own world as the last words of INKDEATH sounded over my car CD player. One of the differences in experiencing an audiobook instead of turning pages of a physical book is that the reader doesn't know when he or she is close to the end. Physically reading the book, I have often had the tingle of regret ("Oh, no! I'm almost done!") or the quickening of pace when I wanted to rush to the end of a different book. Listening to CDs in a car, I drift inside the book's world until there is music or other suitable closure. That way, I am drawn along on the author's ebb and flow, the highs and lows which could turn into a climax and denouement, or just act as part of the building toward the ending. In a long work such as these are, I sometimes find it easier to keep track of a huge cast (over 100 characters) when a gifted actor reads their voices as unqiue personalities.
Stories were originally oral, with one person recounting a tale whose ending the audience may not have known. Those experiences were more likely akin to audio-reading. The act of holding a book (is this also true with a Kindle?) is pleasurable in a different way.
Funke says this is a trilogy (and at over 1800 pages, it's a long read or listen-to), but I felt she left the door open to future books if she chooses. The author admits to one villain who "got away," and might call her back to his story.
Funke is a prolific writer with a wide variety of fictional subjects. In a video, the author talks about the process of writing a book: "You fill a treasure chest and after a while, when you've filled that chest, you can start understanding the story. . .It's always about finding the right path through the labyrinth of ideas you have."
I agree with Funke when she says, "I would never be able to write all my ideas. It's impossible with just one life." Aren't we fortunate to have that one life to write?
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April 27th, 2009
08:56 pm - Other Writers' Generosity
Michele Barker, the gifted author of A Difficult Boy, hosted me on her blog a couple of weeks ago, and I forgot to share that interview. As I've said before, children's book writers and illustrators tend to be generous with their time, resources and support, so I want to list the link to Michele's interview with me and recommend her historical novel. I enjoyed A Difficult Boy, and look forward to meeting Michele next weekend when we will both participate in the Whole Novel Workshop for Historical Fiction in PA.
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April 22nd, 2009
10:12 pm - Multiple Languages
Dictionary definitions of language focus on human human communication through writing, signs, sounds, gestures or other methods. Most of us are multilingual in that we can communicate in spoken and written language, communicate with and through our computers, could manage basic gestures to get certain points across, and have other ways in which we communicate.
I love learning new languages, whether linguistic, musical, or movement-oriented. I majored in French in college, but have long focused on my Spanish skills through study and conversation. In communicating through a language other than my first tongue, I pay attention to its sounds, rhythms and meanings. Nonverbal communication helps me with context, too, of course.
I learned the language of music as a young child. As I sing or play the piano, guitar, flute or recorder, I am reading a unique language of notation, rhythm, dynamics, structure. I also love to dance and recently have gone back to tap dancing for the sheer pleasure of its varied noises: shuffle ball change, heel draw heel toe toe heel, flap heel heel draw hop step flap. When I am involved in music or dance, I communicate with other people. It doesn't matter if the members of an orchestra or dance corps speak the same verbal language (i.e., Russian or Farsi or Italian). If they can read music or follow choreography, communication happens and people are brought together.
I am a polished public speaker in English and passable in Spanish, but written communication gives me the chance to play with rhythm and texture, sound and meaning. I have the luxury of revision, hearing words out loud to see how they flow, searching for the perfect word and combination of words.
Years ago, when our family was traveling in France, we stayed with friends who spoke French and Japanese in their home. The parents both knew English, and the older son was studying English. The younger son was fluent in his parents' languages, but spoke no English. Our son, who was the same age, knew some Spanish, but no French or Japanese. While the rest of us chattered away in English, the boys spent hours communicating in the language they shared: chess.
What are your favorite ways to communicate?
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April 18th, 2009
09:32 pm - In Outer Space
When my kids were young, we often listened to storytelling tapes. Two of our favorite tellers were Jay O'Callahan and Jim Weiss. My son, in particular, was formed by these brilliant artists' telling of new stories and retelling of old. Tonight, I was privileged to spend an evening with Jay O' Callahan in someone's living room as he told us the new story he is working on for the 40th anniversary of NASA. Jay shared his process of researching an immense subject (space and its exploration in tthe past forty years) and how he found ways to make one hour-long story encapsulate "a love letter to NASA."
For whatever reason, I have never cared one way or the other about space travel. I love to look at moon and stars, but could never really see others' passion for leaving this good earth and journeying into space. Vacationing on the moon? Moving to Mars? I wasn't interested. I was touched by the human interest side of space exploration: Crista McAuliffe's courage and loss of life with six other crew members on the Challenger (1986), the first American woman to explore outer space (Sally RIde), the first African American astronaut in space (Guion S. Bluford,Jr.). The science of space exploration, the why and how, never captured my fascination.
Jay's story tonight hooked me. He blended a fictional story with multiple tales of the men and women who have been part of NASA's work on the ground and in space. Once again, I am amazed at the power of story to transform my own interests, prejudices, understandings of the world. Thanks to O'Callahan (below) I will read and react differently to news of what is happening in NASA's continuing quest to explore the outer reaches of our solar system.
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April 14th, 2009
11:40 am - Dealing with the now
In Terry Pratchett's wonderful book, The Nation, there's this wonderful quote:
"People need time to deal with the NOW before it runs away and becomes the THEN. And what they need most is nothing much happening."
Perhaps I need more "nothing much happening." I'll see if I can schedule that into my calendar!
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April 12th, 2009
11:55 am - Dreaming in Spanish
The day I arrived in Argentina, I naturally began to speak and think in Spanish. My first night there, after having only been in the country twelve hours, the words that came out of my mind as I wrote in my journal were Spanish words. I dreamt in an Spanish/English mixture, but in my dream, was self-conscious of my bilingualness. The next day, when someone asked me if I spoke English, I replied, "Si." My Argentinean daughter, who speaks English to no one except us part of the time, had her inner English-speaker turned on,as well. That same night after our first reunion in five years, Nadia dreamt in English. At a store the next morning, she replied to someone in English, which made absolutely no sense to the other person.
Our brains are miracles. They take in an enormous amount of information each moment, and somehow we are able to process all that new info on a conscious and subconscious level. The fact that Nadia and I both reverted to our second language so easily after long periods of disuse shows both our desire to communicate and our inner wonder at the ability to do so. I wish I knew more about research on brains and our capacity tro communicate, whether via language, nonverbals, writing or other forms.
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April 8th, 2009
08:59 pm - Traveling the World
I spent the last two weeks in Buenos Aires and on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Buenos Aires is the bustling capital of Argentina with 13 million inhabitants (nicknamed porteños, or "people of the port") who enjoy cafe con leche, alfajoros, medialunas and dulce de leche. Easter Island has one town of 3700 people where fresh fish and tropical fruit make up a large part of the diet. Buenos Aires feels more European than Latin American and deserves it reputation as "the Paris of South America." Easter Island is the most isolated inhabited island in the world. I met someone who said no one on the island had seen an airplane until the 1960s--that's isolated! And of course, the plane couldn't land since there was no airstrip. (NASA helped fund the current landing strip so that the island could function as an emergency/alternate landing site for space shuttles etc.)
I went to Buenos Aires to meet the infant child of our Argentinean daughter (who lived with us as a foreign exchange student when she was in high school). I traveled to Easter Island for the mystery of ancient moai, the ancient statues carved from volcanic rock with primitive tools thousands of year ago.
As I return to my normal life and reintegrate into my writing routine, I may share other thoughts and insights from my foray into two distinct cultures. For today, I'll share some highlight photos of each place.
 
 
 
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March 17th, 2009
10:08 pm - Saddened by Aliteracy
Today, I attended the "Picturing the Past" conference at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, Presidential Library and Museum. Besides getting wonderful resources to add to my school visits and having opportunity to dialogue about writing historical fiction, I found these words thought-provoking:
"If you can find a spark of passion, something you're good at. . .and figure out a way to make a living with it, then you'll never work a day in your life."
Wendell Minor, author illustrator
"The best book I can do is one in which I am learning."
Walter Dean Myers, author
When author Ellen Levine spoke about aliteracy, I felt a deep sadness that when so many people around the world crave the luxury of literacy, others who can read choose not to. Home from the conference, I found an excellent 2001 article from The Washington Post, "The No-Book RepoortL Skim It and Weep: More and More Americans Who Can Read Are Choosing Not To. Can We Afford to Write Them Off?" The article features a quote from Mark Twain that we have on a refrigerator magnet:
"The [person] who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." -- Mark Twain
I spend so much of my time writring, reading, thinkling about reading and writing, and hanging out with people who are readers and writers, I am out of touch with a world in which reading is inconsequential and unnecessary. I can only hope that those of us who are passionate about literature can share that passion in ways that attract, inspire and call back readers who may have put their focus elsewhere.
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