http://nwpr.org/post/lifes-minutiae-gain-new-magnitude-dunns-lines-poetry
"One of the points that I make in the essay is the similarity between
poetry and basketball is a chance to be better than yourself. To
transcend yourself, if you're hot that day. And that happens in writing
in our best moments. Where we find ourselves saying what we didn't know
we knew, or couldn't have said in any other circumstance.
So those are the moments in poetry I live for now. I can't play basketball anymore."
To being better than ourselves, in whichever ways we can.
Showing posts with label npr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label npr. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Ustad Farida Mahwash, On Love (And Music)
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=256562024
"Art in general, she says, and singing especially, is all about love. I am a messenger of love. It doesn't matter if you're Jewish, Christian, Buddhist or Muslim. I love humans, all humans."
In the simplest of definitions, is this what art all comes down to?
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Alan Fletcher On Music
I'm thinking a lot about work (still). Maybe it's one of those questions that will always be with me. Most people go to work for a certain amount of time and it takes up a good deal of their lives, and of the people I know, most don't really enjoy their jobs. Oh, there are parts of each job, maybe, that they'll like, but overall, not really. And I have to admit I've been that person. Who hasn't?
I still have so many questions about work and fulfillment and meaning. Reading this article gave me a little more perspective. There's a difference between a job and work, right? Between what you do for a living and who you are as a human being? I think so.
Alan Fletcher (president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School) is speaking about music, but I really think his words apply to anything you love to do, even if you're not doing it full-time, even if you're not getting paid for it. Because not everything is measured in money or externally praised. Maybe some things you just have to do.
"The music is the mission, not the money."
-Alan Fletcher
"Meanwhile, you are here to do the beautiful work that is the heart of our whole profession. You have made a profound choice in your lives, a choice for music. You have followed up that choice with an immense amount of hard work."
-Alan Fletcher
For full article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/07/08/200002444/music-is-the-mission-not-money
To hard work - at your job, certainly, but also on something you love to do.
I still have so many questions about work and fulfillment and meaning. Reading this article gave me a little more perspective. There's a difference between a job and work, right? Between what you do for a living and who you are as a human being? I think so.
Alan Fletcher (president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School) is speaking about music, but I really think his words apply to anything you love to do, even if you're not doing it full-time, even if you're not getting paid for it. Because not everything is measured in money or externally praised. Maybe some things you just have to do.
"I believe in you, in your gifts, and especially
in your ability to use very hard, purposeful work to make something of
lasting value from those gifts."
-Alan Fletcher
-Alan Fletcher
"Meanwhile, you are here to do the beautiful work that is the heart of our whole profession. You have made a profound choice in your lives, a choice for music. You have followed up that choice with an immense amount of hard work."
-Alan Fletcher
For full article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/07/08/200002444/music-is-the-mission-not-money
To hard work - at your job, certainly, but also on something you love to do.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Terius Nash, a.k.a The-Dream on Songwriting
I read this article a while ago, and kept meaning to do a post. I always feel like I never have enough time to do everything I want to do, and I keep wanting to make it a priority to do things that make me happy and make me wonder. Here are two quotes about songwriting (and really, the importance of doing things that reaffirm your humanity, that keep you connected to yourself, and to something outside of you that's well, mysterious):
"It's hard to explain. It's definitely more spiritual — why I would be doing music in the first place, if I didn't get goose bumps and stuff? We're so excited, all of us — we're like kids...that just found out that you can mix the packs of Kool-Aid – mix the powder with the sugar, and just eat it straight. We used to do it as kids — I have no idea why we used to do that. But that feeling of childlike – childhood — finding something for the first time."
- The-Dream
"it feels like the sun is rising, without me having to say that in the lyric.
With music and with harmony it's just one of those things, man. Yeah, I can't even explain it. It just makes me feel alive, I guess."
-The-Dream
For the full article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/06/19/193538349/the-dream-on-why-we-all-need-r-b
To goose bumps (the good kind), to wonder and to doing things that make us feel alive.
"It's hard to explain. It's definitely more spiritual — why I would be doing music in the first place, if I didn't get goose bumps and stuff? We're so excited, all of us — we're like kids...that just found out that you can mix the packs of Kool-Aid – mix the powder with the sugar, and just eat it straight. We used to do it as kids — I have no idea why we used to do that. But that feeling of childlike – childhood — finding something for the first time."
- The-Dream
"it feels like the sun is rising, without me having to say that in the lyric.
With music and with harmony it's just one of those things, man. Yeah, I can't even explain it. It just makes me feel alive, I guess."
-The-Dream
For the full article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/06/19/193538349/the-dream-on-why-we-all-need-r-b
To goose bumps (the good kind), to wonder and to doing things that make us feel alive.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Inspiration from Ari Cohen, of the blog Advanced Style
(For full article: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/01/174767233/-a-lovely-feeling-celebrating-older-women-with-fabulous-style)
"I didn't set out to be a photographer or a writer," he [Ari Cohen] says. "I just wanted to do something that I felt inspired by and start sharing it with people."
Simple, right? Maybe we don't have to start out with detailed five-year plans or even any clear idea of what we want to do...maybe we just need to start (for now, at least).
And one more thing - "Ilona Royce Smithkin, 93, is one of Cohen's most famous subjects...[art that she has made over a decades-long career] never brought her fame. The Advanced Style blog has. Now, she gets modeling jobs. She's on billboards. People recognize her on the streets of New York.
""It's a lovely feeling," she says, "like you are part of the world and the world is part of you.""
I'm pretty amazed by the fact that she's 93 and this whole new phase of her life- the modeling and recognition for her style - is happening now. Sometimes it feels like things aren't happening, or they're never going to happen. Dreams are completely out of reach (except perhaps in sleep). Only, the unexpected, the unpredictable...well, they do happen. You can live out your dreams.
To doing something that both inspires us and others. And of course, living out your dreams.
"I didn't set out to be a photographer or a writer," he [Ari Cohen] says. "I just wanted to do something that I felt inspired by and start sharing it with people."
Simple, right? Maybe we don't have to start out with detailed five-year plans or even any clear idea of what we want to do...maybe we just need to start (for now, at least).
And one more thing - "Ilona Royce Smithkin, 93, is one of Cohen's most famous subjects...[art that she has made over a decades-long career] never brought her fame. The Advanced Style blog has. Now, she gets modeling jobs. She's on billboards. People recognize her on the streets of New York.
""It's a lovely feeling," she says, "like you are part of the world and the world is part of you.""
I'm pretty amazed by the fact that she's 93 and this whole new phase of her life- the modeling and recognition for her style - is happening now. Sometimes it feels like things aren't happening, or they're never going to happen. Dreams are completely out of reach (except perhaps in sleep). Only, the unexpected, the unpredictable...well, they do happen. You can live out your dreams.
To doing something that both inspires us and others. And of course, living out your dreams.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Ballet, Art & Death
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/19/174753335/a-ballet-memorial-to-a-son-killed-at-war
"You're taking something which is horrible ... and turning it into something which is beautiful and life-affirming," Amy Wolfe tells NPR's Lynn Neary. "That's the way art is."
I think that's a damn good definition of art, don't you?
And I just think it's so incredible that we can take our grief and our pain and all the things we wished hadn't happened and turn them into something. Make them into something more. It's like that story Rumpelstiltskin, and how he spins straw into gold.
We can spin our sorrow into art.
To creating something beautiful out of whatever we have on hand.
"You're taking something which is horrible ... and turning it into something which is beautiful and life-affirming," Amy Wolfe tells NPR's Lynn Neary. "That's the way art is."
I think that's a damn good definition of art, don't you?
And I just think it's so incredible that we can take our grief and our pain and all the things we wished hadn't happened and turn them into something. Make them into something more. It's like that story Rumpelstiltskin, and how he spins straw into gold.
We can spin our sorrow into art.
To creating something beautiful out of whatever we have on hand.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Musicians/Diplomats
http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/02/22/172710714/musics-new-real-ambassadors
"In fact, the purpose of this trip and getting a chance to meet people is to tell them that, 'Hey, this is nothing like what you're hearing in the news. It's nothing like that.' "
-Ali Noor
It's such a simple concept, isn't it? Musicians traveling abroad, playing their music...changing people's minds about other people, in other places. Not politicians, not weaponry, not belligerence nor fear. Just music.
"In fact, the purpose of this trip and getting a chance to meet people is to tell them that, 'Hey, this is nothing like what you're hearing in the news. It's nothing like that.' "
-Ali Noor
It's such a simple concept, isn't it? Musicians traveling abroad, playing their music...changing people's minds about other people, in other places. Not politicians, not weaponry, not belligerence nor fear. Just music.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Poems in Prison
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/12/170657765/in-a-north-vietnamese-prison-sharing-poems-with-taps-on-the-walls
I haven't read this book, but the title of the article intrigued me. John Borling, this Air Force fighter pilot, while imprisoned for six years and eight months in Vietnam, "composed poetry - in his head, without benefit of pencil or paper." He had a tap code to communicate with other prisoners, and said, " a fragment of poetry — some remembered lines, however abbreviated — would be useful."
See, poetry can save lives! Okay, okay, maybe that's a little extreme. But hey, it helped make life more bearable in such a trying time. There's always beauty somewhere, right? We just have to find it, or create it.
To poetry.
I haven't read this book, but the title of the article intrigued me. John Borling, this Air Force fighter pilot, while imprisoned for six years and eight months in Vietnam, "composed poetry - in his head, without benefit of pencil or paper." He had a tap code to communicate with other prisoners, and said, " a fragment of poetry — some remembered lines, however abbreviated — would be useful."
See, poetry can save lives! Okay, okay, maybe that's a little extreme. But hey, it helped make life more bearable in such a trying time. There's always beauty somewhere, right? We just have to find it, or create it.
To poetry.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Thank You
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/28/168142027/decades-later-student-finds-teacher-to-say-thank-you
My name is John Cruitt, and I was in your third-grade class during the 1958-1959 school year. Two days before Christmas, my mother passed away, and you told me that you were there if I needed you. I hope life has been as kind to you as you were to me.
God bless you, always. With great fondness,
John
To saying, "Thank you." To giving thanks.
My name is John Cruitt, and I was in your third-grade class during the 1958-1959 school year. Two days before Christmas, my mother passed away, and you told me that you were there if I needed you. I hope life has been as kind to you as you were to me.
God bless you, always. With great fondness,
John
To saying, "Thank you." To giving thanks.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood"
Why yes, Jolabokaflod is a word. (It's new to me, too. And no, I'm not sure of how to pronounce it.)
Sometimes it seems like there's nothing but bad news being reported. So in the spirit of the holidays (Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever you may celebrate), here's a little something cheerful from a news outlet:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood
Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what's really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November. It's a national tradition, and it has a name: Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood."
"If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you're lucky," Bjarnason says. "It's much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year."
(Honestly, I probably only bought five to ten books this year...I like going to the library. Yes, I am one of the dinosaurs who still go to the library. You should, too.)
To books and reading and, of course, Jolabokaflod.
Sometimes it seems like there's nothing but bad news being reported. So in the spirit of the holidays (Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever you may celebrate), here's a little something cheerful from a news outlet:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood
Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what's really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November. It's a national tradition, and it has a name: Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood."
"If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you're lucky," Bjarnason says. "It's much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year."
(Honestly, I probably only bought five to ten books this year...I like going to the library. Yes, I am one of the dinosaurs who still go to the library. You should, too.)
To books and reading and, of course, Jolabokaflod.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
My Little Bit of Sugar
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/27/163560417/beth-orton-these-songs-are-my-little-bit-of-sugar
"Sugaring season is the season when you tap the trees for sugar that turns into maple syrup...I liked also the idea that sometimes you can smell that spring in the air even though it's the dead of winter; you just get that vague glimpse of it, and there's that sense of hope that it brings. I just thought, all in all, it just creates this wonderful imagery of writing songs: For me, it takes a lot of experience to make a little bit of sugar. These songs are my little bit of sugar, I think."
-Beth Orton
I love this whole idea of turning experience into "a little bit of sugar." I think a lot of the time it's so easy to get caught up in how things are going, and sometimes it seems like nothing's going right. But maybe the thing is, it just takes a lot of experience to make a little sugar...it takes a lot of things going wrong - or at least the feeling that things are going wrong - for you to create something or realize something that turns out to be worthwhile.
To turning experience into sugar, whatever form yours may come in.
"Sugaring season is the season when you tap the trees for sugar that turns into maple syrup...I liked also the idea that sometimes you can smell that spring in the air even though it's the dead of winter; you just get that vague glimpse of it, and there's that sense of hope that it brings. I just thought, all in all, it just creates this wonderful imagery of writing songs: For me, it takes a lot of experience to make a little bit of sugar. These songs are my little bit of sugar, I think."
-Beth Orton
I love this whole idea of turning experience into "a little bit of sugar." I think a lot of the time it's so easy to get caught up in how things are going, and sometimes it seems like nothing's going right. But maybe the thing is, it just takes a lot of experience to make a little sugar...it takes a lot of things going wrong - or at least the feeling that things are going wrong - for you to create something or realize something that turns out to be worthwhile.
To turning experience into sugar, whatever form yours may come in.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Vaddey Ratner: The Power of Storytelling
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/14/158691935/in-the-shadow-of-death-stories-survive
"I actually want to tell a story about the power of storytelling to transcend suffering. Because it was the stories that saved me, the stories, the poetry that my father left behind."
-Vaddey Ratner
I haven't read this book - I only read this review this morning - but this quote pretty much encapsulates everything this blog is about. I think words and storytelling have immense power - the power to transcend, to transport. To save.
To stories, poetry and words transcending suffering.
"I actually want to tell a story about the power of storytelling to transcend suffering. Because it was the stories that saved me, the stories, the poetry that my father left behind."
-Vaddey Ratner
I haven't read this book - I only read this review this morning - but this quote pretty much encapsulates everything this blog is about. I think words and storytelling have immense power - the power to transcend, to transport. To save.
To stories, poetry and words transcending suffering.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Faith and Poetry (Natasha Trethewey)
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/08/154566358/natasha-trethewey-poetrys-always-a-kind-of-faith
Faith. What comes to mind - God/Buddha/Jehovah/etc. and religion? Family? Country?
Poetry. High school English class. Memorization. Shakespeare and incomprehensible words. Blah blah blah. Why should I care? Why does this matter?
I used to not like poetry. I hated analyzing it. I didn't get it. And then I don't know, I started reading it more. First, it was because I had to. Now, it's because I want to. (Funny how that can happen, isn't it?)
I love what Trethewey (new U.S. poet laureate) says about poetry.
"I think poetry's always a kind of faith. It is the kind that I have," Trethewey says. "It is what can offer solace and meaning but also ... allows me to understand these events."
If someone asked me to explain why poetry is relevant today, I think that quote is a fine answer. (Of course, not everyone finds faith in poetry. Sometimes it takes some ice cream or talking to a friend or crying it out or whatever. But I've always been able to find comfort in words.)
There is so much going on in the world today. If you skim newspaper headlines, sometimes it seems like there are only negative things: war, destruction, fires, death. Greed and corruption and people hurting other people. And yet there are still poets. Still artists and dreamers and people trying to live their lives the best way they can.
So here's to faith, and poetry. If you think you don't like poetry, please try reading different types of poetry. I bet you'll find at least a few poems you relate to and love.
Faith. What comes to mind - God/Buddha/Jehovah/etc. and religion? Family? Country?
Poetry. High school English class. Memorization. Shakespeare and incomprehensible words. Blah blah blah. Why should I care? Why does this matter?
I used to not like poetry. I hated analyzing it. I didn't get it. And then I don't know, I started reading it more. First, it was because I had to. Now, it's because I want to. (Funny how that can happen, isn't it?)
I love what Trethewey (new U.S. poet laureate) says about poetry.
"I think poetry's always a kind of faith. It is the kind that I have," Trethewey says. "It is what can offer solace and meaning but also ... allows me to understand these events."
If someone asked me to explain why poetry is relevant today, I think that quote is a fine answer. (Of course, not everyone finds faith in poetry. Sometimes it takes some ice cream or talking to a friend or crying it out or whatever. But I've always been able to find comfort in words.)
There is so much going on in the world today. If you skim newspaper headlines, sometimes it seems like there are only negative things: war, destruction, fires, death. Greed and corruption and people hurting other people. And yet there are still poets. Still artists and dreamers and people trying to live their lives the best way they can.
So here's to faith, and poetry. If you think you don't like poetry, please try reading different types of poetry. I bet you'll find at least a few poems you relate to and love.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Meaning & "a moment without meaning"
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/06/19/155344057/stars-planets-and-the-meaningless-life
Astronomy is not really something I've taken a great interest in. But something in this article resonated with me.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about meaning. The meaning of life - well, the meaning of my life, in particular. And this article was just plain reassuring.
My favorite quotes from the article: "In a small patch of sky, in a small wedge of space, there are worlds out there right now. There are, most likely many thousands of them. These are places just like here, places where you can stand and look around. These are places with landscapes."
"Thus, for me, anytime I can be lifted from the crushing sense that this is all there is, it's a good thing. Anytime I can be reminded that there is more, so much more, than this mortal coil, it feels like a good thing.
One doesn't have to search the Kepler archive to find that feeling. It can arrive in the form of art, poetry, your kids laughter or just looking up and out. I hope you get a moment to do that today.
May you have a moment without meaning."
Sometimes you need a moment to step back from everything in your life and realize that in the grand scheme of things, whatever you're worried about isn't as big a deal as you're making it. I mean, I am one person out of almost seven billion in the world out of possibly thousands of worlds. It always comes as somewhat of a shock, realizing my own insignificance. (Not in a bad way...sometimes it's reassuring.)
Would it be strange to say that I guess there is more to life than life?
Astronomy is not really something I've taken a great interest in. But something in this article resonated with me.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about meaning. The meaning of life - well, the meaning of my life, in particular. And this article was just plain reassuring.
My favorite quotes from the article: "In a small patch of sky, in a small wedge of space, there are worlds out there right now. There are, most likely many thousands of them. These are places just like here, places where you can stand and look around. These are places with landscapes."
"Thus, for me, anytime I can be lifted from the crushing sense that this is all there is, it's a good thing. Anytime I can be reminded that there is more, so much more, than this mortal coil, it feels like a good thing.
One doesn't have to search the Kepler archive to find that feeling. It can arrive in the form of art, poetry, your kids laughter or just looking up and out. I hope you get a moment to do that today.
May you have a moment without meaning."
Sometimes you need a moment to step back from everything in your life and realize that in the grand scheme of things, whatever you're worried about isn't as big a deal as you're making it. I mean, I am one person out of almost seven billion in the world out of possibly thousands of worlds. It always comes as somewhat of a shock, realizing my own insignificance. (Not in a bad way...sometimes it's reassuring.)
Would it be strange to say that I guess there is more to life than life?
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