Reprisal: A Thanksgiving Tree

11-18-12

So, this is a thing we did today. It was actually quite warm outside. It's a reprisal of this, done by the estimable Curtis and Robby like five years ago.

I had lots of fun, especially since I was singing. That's not normally something I do with people, on camera. I'm very insecure about how I sound.

Anyway, it's a thing.

(P.S. This was also my 250th post. Epic.)

Sundown

3-25-12

Fiction-y, I suppose.
____________

His voice rumbled as he read.

She supposed she should be listening to the words instead of being lost in thought. However, she couldn't help thinking about how great this moment was.

Sure, she'd been through Saturday night worships before--Hallowed Moments in high school, Evensong in college, campfire at camp. Even when she'd stayed at her ex-roommate's house. But she'd never had family worship before--the family gatherings she was used to were not of such quality.

But this place and this time and these people were different. Something in the atmosphere, the presence of those surrounding her. Something she couldn't quite name but liked just the same.

Something warm and welcoming and wonderful.

To have chosen one's friends and ended up with a family was entirely the gift of God, it would seem.
______

Entirely recognizable, in my opinion. But who knows?

Christmas on the Promenade

12-1-11

Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite event at Southern. At least, I'm pretty sure it is. Most everyone gathers out at Taylor Circle, listens to the academy band, watches the Thanksgiving tree be lit, and then walks up and down the Promenade listening to musical groups perform, looking at the decorations, and eating doughnuts and drinking hot chocolate or hot cider.

I found a couple different groups of friends to walk with, especially after I lost the one group when trying to make it through the hordes of people (students, staff, faculty, community) in front of Lynn Wood and the food tables. (I found them again by the library, where we listened to the Jazz Band and discussed Harry Potter.) It feels like it's the holiday season now--and that last year wasn't the same when it was canceled due to rain. Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite school event, but I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because of the feeling I get from milling around, seeing people I haven't seen for weeks, and listening to music.

It's like most everyone can pretend that it's not the week before the week before finals, that there's not major projects and/or papers to finish and turn in, that all there is to do in the world is strolling down the Promenade, seeing friends, smiling, shivering in the cold and not regarding the cold.

The stars are brilliant tonight--and I saw them as I came back to the village, the sounds of jazzy Christmas music fading behind me. The smell of wood smoke and snow was in the air, though I wouldn't know why either smell was there. But my heart was warm and my feet were light. Even if my feet were a bit cold after the two and a half hours I spent at Christmas on the Promenade.

More later.

News

1-23-11

I seriously think that Writing for the Media is my favorite class thus far this semester. (We haven't started our first big assignment yet; that starts tomorrow, and by the end of tomorrow, I may be singing a different tune.) We had this inverted pyramid exercise, and, except for adding a few necessary details, my tiny attempt was the one my group picked to read to the class. The professor even said that I had a "strong" lead, and suggested that I change "resident" to "man" to give a clearer picture of the person.

So my finished lead (for this fictional story; it was, after all, an exercise) reads as follows: "A 20-year-old Murfreesboro man died Monday when his car smashed into a utility pole at the intersection of Main and Broad streets." I suppose I could fit the "How" in as well, and say, ". . . when he lost control of his car and smashed it into a utility pole at the intersection of Main and Broad streets," but the rest of the little article goes into the "How."

See, we're supposed to pack as much information as possible into that first sentence, information that answers the questions of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Some people might claim that this type of writing isn't creative, but, in my opinion, jamming that much information into a grammatically correct and easily readable sentence requires some thinking.

I got to thinking that maybe this will help my fiction writing as well. You know, make every word work for its presence on the page. Double or triple duty, if possible. I think that's one way that good worldbuilding and good foreshadowing is done--through great economy of words and details.

Basically, I'm enjoying this class because it's broadening me as a writer, even if technically my writing will be narrower for the purposes of the class. ("Just the facts" is the name of the game in Writing for the Media.)

More later.