From Josee Wolff, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary: “…The pessimist observes a situation, generalizes about the bad aspects, and interprets them as a permanent and constant feature. In contrast, the optimist observes the same situation and sees the bad aspects,…
Tag: writers
A breed apart from ordinary humans, and responsible for much of their culture. Some would call them the salvation of humanity; others wouldn’t call them a cab.
Moving Lines
“FOR GOD’S SAKE LET US sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings.” — Wm. Shakspere, Richard II “Are you a dream, Merlin?” “A dream, to some. A NIGHTMARE TO OTHERS.” — Excalibur “Well, it’s…
Where Do The Ideas Come From?
LET’S MAKE THIS AN EXPLORATION of the landscapes of creativity — how does the creative experience feel to you? Mentally, I’m all about visualization: perhaps it’s synesthesia, but even smells and sounds have a visual component for me. So I’ve…
I Am In Love With Edna St. Vincent Millay
EVIDENTLY, SHE WROTE A POEM in 1928 called “Dirge With Music.” I have not yet read any of her other works, but I hope they’re like this one. The last stanza says it all: Down, down, down into the darkness…
Pithyism #101
UNLESS IT CONTAINS A CRITICISM of what the writer didn’t say, no letters-and-opinion section is complete.
Touching With Words
THE FIRST TIME I DISCOVERED that my words had an effect on other people was when something I wrote made other people cry. The people were my fellow high-school English students, and the topic was a personal essay we’d been…
Words To Bring Back: “Juggernaut”
– Definition: “1 chiefly British : a large heavy truck 2 : a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path” – Used in a sentence: “My sister’s new baby is a juggernaut of…
Storyteller’s Knot
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF any story is the point at which it’s attached to the reader.
Pithyism #108
WITH THE ADVENT OF BLOGGING, men of letters have become men of keystrokes.
First Graf: Goldfinger
IF YOU HAVE NEVER READ the original James Bond stories by Ian Fleming, you don’t know James Bond. You also don’t know sweeping prose that zips along like a rocket; lush description with a reporter’s eye for detail; fourth-wall breaking…
Ol’ Thinkypants’ Question For The Producers
“WHEN DID ART BEGIN TO be about purging one’s personal demons instead of making people smile, wonder or otherwise get over themselves?”
Am “I” The Only One?
IN THIS ELECTRONIC ME-FIRST age, it is both rare and a point of honor never to begin a blog post with “I.” (Nitpickery note: I mean the word and concept, not the letter. Yeesh.) Not that I’m not tempted —…