The WordPlay Word-zine Volume VII, Issue 24 June 18, 2018 Dear ,
Are you a tree lover, too? I've loved trees since I was a little girl, at least as long—and as much—as I've loved stories, which is saying a great deal! I've come to love both even more as I enjoy, story by beautiful story, the book I mentioned last week called Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. I'll be featuring this book in the zine soon; for
now, I have another quote for you, from a chapter called "Maple Nation: A Citizenship Guide":
Trees constitute the environmental quality
committee—running air and water purification service 24-7. . . . When it comes to civic beautification, they alone create the crimson fall with little recognition. We haven't even mentioned yet how
they create habitat for songbirds, and wildlife cover, golden leaves to shuffle through, tree forts and branches for swings. Centuries of their falling leaves have built this soil, now farmed for strawberries, apples, sweet corn, and hay. How much of the oxygen in our valley comes from maples? How much carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere and stored away?
I'm so grateful for trees after reading this chapter that I find myself thanking them when I walk through a generous gift of their shade on these hot days—and I cheer them on for their tenacity in setting down their roots as deeply as they can and reaching for the sky. Like this tree Richard and I
saw growing straight out of a rock in the middle of the river that Richard when we hiked down to Crabtree Falls week before last.
Every tree has its
story. And so does every branch on each family tree. WordPlayer Linda Whitesitt, this week's featured writer, may love trees and stories as much as I do. I'm inspired by two of her latest projects: one, a book about her grandmother Egedia (and other relatives on her family tree) and the other, a new website called "TreeStories." I'm sharing her invitation for YOU to share one of your own
stories right below. And, as always, you can scroll on down to read the featured writing (one of Linda's "TreeStories"), play with this week's prompt, and see what's coming up in WordPlay.
Then, go thank a tree...
Love and light,
Maureen
AN INVITATION TO SHARE A "TREE STORY" ABOUT SOMEONE "IN THE 'COMMUNITY' OF YOUR LIFE"
What would the trees of
our childhood — the oak we climbed, the willow that held our swing, the maple we leaned against as we read our favorite book — tell us about who we are? What about the other “trees” in our lives? What would we learn about ourselves by writing and sharing stories about the people in our family tree?
A few days ago I was pondering my relationship to my family tree and the possibility of messages from people in its branches making their way to me when a daily meditation by spiritual writer and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr popped up in my inbox with these words from Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak:
. . . The Quaker teacher Douglas Steere was fond of saying that the ancient human question “Who am I?” leads inevitably to the equally important question “Whose am I?” — for there is
no selfhood outside of relationship. We must ask the question of selfhood and answer it as honestly as we can, no matter where it takes us. Only as we do so can we discover the community of our lives.
As I sat at my desk thinking about Steere’s questions and Palmer’s words, I realized that the more time I spend in the company of my ancestors, conjecturing the circumstances of their lives and imagining the stories they’d like me to remember, the more I come to appreciate “whose I am." The people in my family tree are inextricable members of the community of my life. Listening to their songs, I am led to “who I
am."
I invite you to add your stories about the people in the “community” of your life to the TreeStories collection. Perhaps by sharing these stories
with each other, we will come to know that the answer to the question “Whose am I?” connects all of us in “one vast story about being human, being together, being here.” (Frederick Buechner)
TreeStories is . . . - A gathering of stories about ancestors who have inspired us and filled us with gratitude
- An online home for tales of elders who have educated and entertained us
- A way to preserve stories of our own life we’d like our grandchildren to remember
- A collection of stories in honor of someone in our family tree
- A site to share stories of mentors, teachers and friends who have shaped us
- A place to tell how writing about our ancestors and elders has given us joy
To submit your stories: - Send stories in prose (2000 words or less) or poetry as an attachment (MS Word document) in an email to [email protected]
- If you would like to have your story accompanied by a photograph, please send it as a jpg file in a separate attachment in the same email. Make sure to identify who is in the
photograph
- In the subject line of your email, put Submission.
- In the body of your email, please include a short bio (50 words or
less).
Format your stories: - At the top of the first page, put your name, email address and title of your story.
- At the bottom of the last page, you may include links to places readers can find out more about you (websites, blogs, Facebook page, etc.), your writing
and/or the person(s) in your story. (Please add TreeStories to your own website(s) and blog(s) so that your readers might enjoy this collection.)
All rights for stories and photographs are reserved to individual author.
For more
information about how to submit your own story to treestories.net, please click
this link: https://treestories.net/addyourstories/.
Upcoming WordPlay
EVERY PICTURE HOLDS A STORY - WEEK 8 Writing Class at Chautauqua
Would you enjoy using favorite photographs and other visual
images as springboards to write fiction, nonfiction, and/or poetry, and/or capture family stories? Then come learn some fun, easy methods to get started. We’ll also look at some ways successful writers have used images to inspire their words. If you like, bring your own pictures and photographs of things you’d enjoy writing about. A variety of images will be provided, too.
COURSE NO: 1710
WHEN: Monday, August 13th – Wednesday, August 15th, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Turner 105, Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722.
COST: $85
TO REGISTER: To register online, please click this link to be taken to the Chautauqua Institution
website.
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WRITING OUR WAY TO HAPPINESS - WEEK 9 Writing Class at
Chautauqua
Come explore time-tested ways writing can increase your happiness level.
This class will jumpstart your pen and provide inspiration and knowledge about the process of creative writing, whether your genre is nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. Ideal for beginners, and those interested in expanding their writing -for personal growth or for publication.
COURSE NO: 1712
WHEN: Monday, August 20th – Thursday, August 23rd, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Hultquist, 201B, Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722.
COST: $99
TO REGISTER: To register online, please click this link to be taken to the Chautauqua Institution
website.
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
NOW TAKING REGISTRATIONS FOR FALL 2018! This class is designed to fulfill your writing dreams and projects. You’ll set goals and support structures and watch your writing flow! You’ll
also get feedback on your work (any genre) and learn revision tools and methods. Each week, writing prompts will generate material for new writing or further a piece in process, whatever your preferred genre. Through examples of accomplished writers, you’ll learn techniques to aid you right where you are in the process.
* For the benefit of participants, an audio recording of
the class will be made each week so that participants are able to listen to classes they miss and/or review material covered at any convenient time and place. These recordings are available throughout the class session, along with all handouts, in a shared Dropbox folder.
WHERE: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead Street, Charlotte, 28204.
Click here for map.
WHEN: Wednesday mornings from 10:00 a.m. – noon, starting in September 2018. (Other class time/day of the week may be available.)
COST: $435 TO REGISTER: Please email us at [email protected] to start the registration process by filling out a short "Clarity Tool" to share your writing dreams and goals and where you are in the process (anywhere you are is a perfect place to begin).
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GIFT OF
MEMOIR WRITING PERSONAL AND FAMILY STORIES (Preserving Family History; Writing for and about Your Family; The Art of Memoir)
NOW TAKING REGISTRATIONS FOR FALL
2018! Our life stories are a precious legacy. Putting them in writing is a gift to all who know and love us—they can be treasured and enjoyed for generations to come. It is also a gift to ourselves. As best-selling author Rachel Naomi Remen says in her book Kitchen Table
Wisdom, facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom. If you are interested in writing family and/or personal life stories—those significant tales of adventure, transition, love, loss, and triumph, as well as lovely everyday moments from times past or the present, come learn specific tools and techniques to retrieve and record
them.
* For the benefit of participants, an audio recording of the class will be made each week so that participants are able to listen to classes they miss and/or review material covered at any convenient time and place. These recordings are available throughout the class session, along with all handouts, in a shared Dropbox
folder.
WHERE: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead
Street, Charlotte, 28204. Click here for map.
WHEN: Thursday mornings, 10:00 a.m. – noon., starting in September, 2018.
COST: $285
TO REGISTER: Please
email us at [email protected] to start the registration process by filling out a short "Clarity Tool" to share your writing dreams and goals and where you are in the process (anywhere you are is a perfect place to begin).
WordPlay Success Story "...Maureen’s wisdom, spot-on suggestions, clear vision of what I bring to my writing, and heart-tugging questions have inspired me to delve into their lives and my own, take the risk to retrieve the
parts of myself that resonate with their story, and hunt for the words that bring them . . . and me . . . to life." Linda and her very handsome cat, Omar -- definitely a valued member of her family
tree!
Linda has long been a champion of people’s stories. As a music historian, she’s written about women patrons of music and how their efforts changed their lives and their communities. As a
radio announcer, she’s promoted women composers and their music. As a producer of a cassette tape magazine — Raising Our Voices/Telling Our Stories — she’s interviewed women artists about their creative and spiritual paths. With each article, each program, each monthly offering, she wanted to make sure that the women she was writing about and talking with wouldn’t be forgotten.
Lately, she’s become fascinated with the lives of her ancestors, how their strength in facing life’s challenges could give her courage to overcome her own, how there are lessons to
be learned in their stories. This is the work that has led her to TreeStories.
She is also a musician, and one of the things her years of violin playing have taught her is that music can heal. Her work with people’s stories has taught her that words written and spoken from the heart are healing as well. She hopes readers will find such stories at TreeStories.
Check out Linda's website here: www.treestories.net
Connect with Linda on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/familytreestories What Linda says about WordPlay "I am filled with gratitude that a wonderful synchronicity (Maureen’s word of the week from the WordPlay Word-zine two weeks ago) led me to Maureen and her “Gift of Memoir” class four years ago—an amazing gift from the universe that helped me find exactly the teacher I needed when I was ready to
find her. With Maureen as a trusted guide, what started as a vaguely defined project to write about my immigrant ancestors has morphed into a work-in-progress, but close-to-finished, verse novel that tells the story of my maternal grandparents’ experiences homesteading on the prairies of southern Saskatchewan and eastern Montana. In each memoir class, and later in “Under Construction”
classes, Maureen’s wisdom, spot-on suggestions, clear vision of what I bring to my writing, and heart-tugging questions have inspired me to delve into their lives and my own, take the risk to retrieve the parts of myself that resonate with their story, and hunt for the words that bring them . . . and me . . . to life.
Maureen is a remarkable midwife for writers who are searching to give birth to stories that reveal the richness of our shared humanity. One of her midwifery skills is creating a community of writers whose words — in their own stories as well as offered in response to class members’
writing — have led me deeper into my grandparents’ story. Through their questions and suggestions for alternative words and phrases, they have prodded me to listen more deeply for my grandmother’s voice (the storyteller in my book). I am deeply thankful to them and to Maureen for sending me in directions where unimagined discoveries have flowed into my writing." A NOTE FROM LINDA ABOUT HER FEATURED WRITING
The poem is an excerpt from my work-in-progress verse novel based on the life of my maternal grandmother, Egedia Peterson Johnson — Hope as Wide as a Prairie Sky. Knowing her love of poetry, I chose to cast her story in verse, and after many attempts at different forms, I decided couplets were the best fit for a book of her memories told in her voice. The white space reminds me of the emptiness of the prairie. The couplets suggest the love between her and her Swedish immigrant husband, Elof Johnson, and the furrows of dirt they spent their life turning.
Belonging to the Land
by
Linda Whitesitt My maternal great-grandparents, Johanna and Anders Peterson, immigrated to America in 1868. In this poem, I imagine what my grandmother, Johanna's and Anders' youngest daughter Egedia (born ten years after they settled in Minnesota), might have written about her parents' difficult decision to leave Sweden.
Linda's great-grandparents, Johanna and Anders Peterson ____________________________________________________
Mama loved her Swedish land, guardian for the memory of her mother
who died when Johanna was only two. She’d cared for it after Grandpa remarried,
farmed her own tiny parcel when he divided a portion of his land between her and her sister Klara.
It was land she'd tilled and coaxed, laid her body on when she grew tired.
Land where she’d planted her feet when she cured meats and curdled milk,
sheared sheep and leached ashes for soap, cut peat from bogs for heat.
Mama saw herself in her land, in the sun and moon and rain who were her partners. If we go to America, she wondered,
who will I be in a land
that sees me a stranger? Papa grew up about a mile across the valley from Mama on land his forebears
had worked for generations, first as tenant farmers,
then as owners.
Centuries of family stories were etched in its ground, remembered by its trees.
Everywhere he looked, Papa read the history of his kin.
Every breeze that brushed his face carried their songs. If we go to America, he wondered,
how will I live without the music that made me?
____________________________________________________
For more information about how to submit your own story to treestories.net, please click this link: https://treestories.net/addyourstories/.
WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt
This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week,
it's "tree."
PROMPT: Two choices this week! Do one, or do both.
- Write your own "TreeStory" about someone in your family tree. Bonus: send it to share on Linda's website (or send one you've already written). Details here.
- Write a scene, story, poem, essay, article, etc. that features a tree.
It's fun to play with prompts in community with
fellow writers, and to be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here. MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water.
She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another." Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after
all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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