Sunflowers

I bought sunflowers.  They bring a little bit of joy and sunshine to my day.  I hope they do to yours as well.

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."  -Louisa May Alcott

Living Thought

"A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used." -Justice Holmes

Language.  Sentences, phrases, words, syllables.

I have always loved them.  I am the eldest child, so when I was little my parents did not have many baby books.  But they did have books -- lots of them.  My mother would choose one that had pictures and make up stories about them.  I would sit quietly for long periods of time listening, listening, listening.  Of course, when my brother came along and could not sit still for more than thirty seconds to listen to a story, my mom was baffled.  "I thought I was such a perfect mother because you were so easy!" she has said to me on a few occasions.  My brother, as it turns out, has become quite the reader as well, though I do not think he will ever have enough books to make his entire closet collapse under their weight... (Oh gosh, did that really happen??)

I think I knew I wanted to be an English major since before I knew what a college major was.  Reading books?  Yes.  When I arrived at college and learned there was specifically a Creative Writing track within the English major I said, "YES, PLEASE!"  Though so many of the stories we read in class dealt with the extremes -- either silly love stories that sound like Taylor Swift songs in prose or sexually explicit "art" -- there were gems.  Those classes made me write and edit and write and edit...

I always knew language was a powerful medium.  Journalism, political documents, books filled with moral lessons.  I wanted to be a part of it.

Then I realized I needed to pay rent and feed myself something besides peanut butter and jelly everyday.  Hence, law school.  Also something I've been wanting to do since... forever... or at least since high school.

Reading court opinions and law school text books is certainly not the same as reading 1984, but the language is so very precise and so very ambiguous all at the same time.  When preparing for mock trial in my Torts class, I got excited if I realized the special importance of a word or phrase and how to use that to the advantage of my client in oral argument.  Reading Justice Scalia's opinions are especially fun because of the emphasis he puts on the specific language of statutes or regulations.  It leads you to really think... what is in a word?  How clear is it really?  Gosh, darn it, what does "modify" really mean?  Can you really write pages about the definition of one word?  Yes, and the Supreme Court does.

As my Contracts professor says, "Judges are telling stories."  Their written opinions contain legal rules and reasoning, but in the end it's the story that matters.  As my Reg. State professor says, "There is no right and wrong answer, just better arguments."  As John Quincy Adams says in the movie Amistad, "Whoever tells the best story wins."

Is language really that malleable?  Is it all shades of gray?  As someone who believes in Truth, I find it hard to believe that words can mean almost anything you want them to mean... and yet, as a creative writer, I love their nuances.  In the end, it's our varying interpretations and biases that give words shades of meaning... But how, then, do we communicate with each other?  Yes, we use this language called English (with which I am currently writing)... and I am confident that if you are reading this post, you can understand its language... So there must be some black and white behind all that gray.  If there was not, we would still be communicating with grunts and pointing fingers.  I will admit and allow for linguistic ambiguity and evolution, but words do have inherent definitions and meanings -- language would be pointless without providing a solid medium with which to communicate.

"'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be the master, that's all.'"
-Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Trust Snape

To continue my Harry Potter excitement (because I may or may not have been squealing this morning in the Frassati kitchen)...

The purple "Trust Snape" sticker has been posted on my bulletin board since the sixth book came out in 2005.  I am a huge Snape fan, and want to post an entry about how awesome he is... self-sacrifice, love, and all that jazz... but right now Reg. State is calling my name.

Are you a Snape fan?  Because you should be...

Harry Potter, Get in My Life NOW

As I sit at my desk on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I want to throw my memo out the window.  I want it to write itself and turn itself in by Thursday night so that I can merrily be on my way to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I.

Yes, I am a Harry Potter nerd.  Why?  Because Harry Potter is awesome.

Get excited... there's some magic in the air...

Retail Therapy

Joys related to buying things.  Shallow?  Maybe... but when you examine what I've bought, it probably just makes me look like a nerdy jock.  (Oxymoron?)

1.  Running shoes.  They will hopefully help my poor feet through training for a half-marathon and 10-mile obstacle course.  In happy news, I am easily hitting 2.5 miles (yes, a small victory, but it is certainly a victory for me).  In sad news, my shin splints are killing me this week.  Back to the elliptical and bike it is.  Someone motivate me to properly heat and ice my shins.  Also, I need a lesson on how to wrap my feet.  [Note to self: Remember to bring tape to school.]

2.  Gloves + Headband.  I love me some Tennessee seasons, but I am still so much a Florida girl (where our four seasons are hot, hotter, hottest and hurricane).  Running in 40 degree weather is rough on the extremities.  I'm excited to use my new gear when I can ditch the elliptical and bike once again.

3.  Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda.  I bought a bilingual version, which will  help me practice my Spanish and my translation skills as I compare the English and Spanish.  I was excited to find that I had no problem reading the Spanish versions and even enjoy them more.  They are more musical.  Originals are always better than copies, no?
Here's a glimpse from the poem "La palabra."

"y no hablar es morir entre los seres:
se hace lenguaje hasta la caballera,
habla la boca sin mover los labios:
los ojos de repente son palabras."

4.  The Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick.  Peter was one of my favorite professors in undergrad.  I learned a lot about non-fiction creative writing in the two semesters I took his class... including the fact that biography is such a fascinating genre.  It is interesting to see how author biases factor into "non-fiction" writing.  That's what makes it "creative."  For example, I am sure whatever biography I would ever write about Elvis (of course, it is unlikely this will ever happen) would be so different from what Peter has written.  I am excited to read his work and wish I had done so sooner.  Better late than never, though?

5.  All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  This is really forward-looking, mainly because I am very excited about reading this book.  I've heard wonderful things about it, and it's been sitting on my mental "To Read" list for the past few years.  [*Note: There are about a million books on my "To Read" list... and that may be a conservative estimate.  Le sigh... English major.]  Dear fellow Legit Lit friends, how do we feel about having this on the group's "To Read" list next semester?

6.  Living L'Arche by Kevin Reimer.  L'Arche is an international organization that was founded by Jean Vanier in 1964.  It is a network of communities for people with intellectual disabilities and those who volunteer to live with and assist them.  From the synopsis of the book: "This book shows that compassionate love involves work, and risk, and commitment, but offers the possibility of transformation."  I've been wanting to learn more about the L'Arche communities ever since I first heard about them last year.  My younger sister (a.k.a. my favorite person in the world) has Down Syndrome and stories like this especially touch my heart.



So, if you would like to judge me on my purchases, feel free.  But remember... English major.

A New Thing

"Remember not the former things,
       nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
       now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
       and rivers in the desert."
-Isaiah 43:18-19

Beautiful poetry from Scripture.

This is one of my favorite passages (I even named my blog after it) because of its focus on renewal.  Every moment is new--every moment is an opportunity to begin again and again and again.

As Macbeth says, "What's done is done."

So, let's go forward.

Here is to another week!  May I live every minute of it.