Over at The Gloria Sirens, we decided that during February, we would concentrate on our love of language, and we are going out with a BANG with some quietly fierce fiction by Paula Whyman. Yes, we’re logophiles; so are many of you. As Lisa Lanser Rose wrote on Feb. 1, “We love language, we sing praise to writers, we live for readers, we cherish poetry and prose and song. The dictionary is a box of bon-bons for the brain.” We hope you enjoy this rumination over (mostly) one word and many of its implications.
Month: February 2015
Dumbass, or Words We Learned from Our Fathers
A deceitfully short look at the varied meanings of “ass,” by the always-thoughtful Katie Riegel. She packs a powerful punch using only 362 words. No wonder she’s one of my favorite writers.
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We laughed the colors of grief and helplessness and our own anger, and we breathed in the colors of hope and confidence, and then we laughed all of it out again.
Read it here, on The Gloria Sirens.
What Do You Remember?
To remember: to be mindful about one’s past, with intensive force.
To be mindful: to go to your wild places, savor life, and write. (This definition is by Lisa Lanser Rose.)
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This month, we Gloria Sirens are devoting ourselves to some of our best-loved words. As you will see, I don’t always go with the grain, but this rant does turn to praise.
“Mindful” is one of the words that rub me the wrong way. It seems to be timid; I am not. It seems to be pale green, the color of wispy sprouts grown by a slight person in his or her perfectly-behaved organic backyard garden, each tender organism painstakingly planted and growing at a measured pace; I am not pale, I’m not green, I’m not perfectly behaved, I am probably up to my knees in chemicals, not that I’d care, and I don’t need anyone to take care of me. This word seems to be minding its own business; I’m a curious cat and a natural gossip. This word and I have nothing in common, so it’s not surprising that I don’t like it, not even as a friend.
Feature: It Is Never Too Late To Feel Beautiful, or To Be Courageous
“You are never too old to try something daring; you are never too young to be inspired to take those steps you’ve been afraid to take.”
Click on “Tracey’s personal statement” to cast a vote for her. (I don’t know Tracey, but I am inspired by her!)
It can be really hard thing to take a risk and put yourself out there. There is always possibility that the naysayers are right, or that the little voice in your head gets to say, “I told you so.” There come a point where life has had too many “I wish I hads” and you just have had enough of being afraid.
My cousin Tracey is participating in the EM Mag Spring Cover shoot on ExploreModeling.com and I want to help her get more support! Visit her profile and you can choose to like, share, and to vote for her and give the other contestants a good showing (you can vote up to twenty times every day until the end of the contest).
Be inspired!
Tracey’s personal statement: I am a 51 year old floral designer. For most of my life I’ve been someone’s daughter, wife, mother, employee. A…
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Statute of Limitations – A Short Story by Paula Whyman
If it weren’t for Pogo and Ann, there might have been no trouble at all. They were part of Mike’s old life, which Ginny had loved when she first met him back in college, but when they married, she outgrew it and waited for Mike to do the same.
I just have to say... 