These being the following six themes.
- Creation
- Love
- Joy
- Despair
- Destruction
- Farewell
The next step is for us to select written pieces to represent these headings, so everyone is invited to respond to this blog by adding passages of written word which you feel are relevant to the headings, and please state which heading you feel the piece relates to.
Hopefully there's enough scope there to inspire, without having to crowbar stuff in.
Looking forward to your suggestions.
Phillip
9 comments:
James Gillespie said...
I'd like to propose this passage from Slaughterhouse Five for War (Destruction)
'Billy turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.'
That is a wonderful piece of writing James - amazing how it moves backwards. Wonderful. I have actually never read the book - its inspired me to read it....got a copy for a friend ;-)
Mike
Love the themes, good balance!
I would like to suggest one of my idols Martin Luther King speeches.
I have a dream, is probably the most popular, but if you have time to read some of the other such as Loving your enemies or Eulogy for the Martyred Children which I will show you a little extract ( Despair?):
"Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. (Mmm) It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah) Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah) But if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, (Yeah. Well) and that God is able (Yeah) to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace. (Mmm)
And so today, you do not walk alone. You gave to this world wonderful children. (Mmm) They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. (Well) Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. (Yeah) And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. (Yeah) They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, (Well) nor did they die discussing and listening to filthy jokes. (Yeah) They died between the sacred walls of the church of God (Yeah) and they were discussing the eternal meaning (Yes) of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. (Yes) Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare (Well): Good night, sweet princesses. (Mmm) Good night, those who symbolize a new day. (Yeah) And may the flight of angels (That’s right) take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you."
I would love to know more about the new logistics information, is the hub will become a crazy interactive experience???
Up for the meeting next thursday!
Nice suggestion Alicia, could also fit 'Farewell'
I like this one for 'Joy'. It's from 'Things I have learned' - Stefan Sagmeister. Probably too short though.
Happiness has been designed by evolution as a compass, a tool to show us the way. We are made to pursue the things that make us happy, like fat, sugar, warmth and sex, in order to help us stay alive as individuals and as a species.
Permanent happiness,however, is not achievable-if we were able to reach a state of prolonged happiness, it would simply not work as a compass anymore, and we would wind up lying about , doing nothing, and getting fat. Evolution designed us to seek happiness but has no interest in our achieving it over a sustained period of time.
gmail.comGreat idea Alicia - maybe if you can put a couple of slides and thoughts together on this for next Thursday and present at ditto&digit. Very powerful
Phillip - love the Sagmeister quote. They would be perfect as ditto-bites - like the following one on Clouds (maybe we can build up a bank of these as inserts?)
How so like clouds us mortals be
Shape changing drifting, floating by
Sometime Low. Sometimes High
And oft times so anchored we
Forget the days we flew that breeze
That filled our sails and let's us be.
Michael
Love the idea of Ditto bites. Also, great poem Michael, isn't that one of yours?
It is Phillip - thanks, I have some other pieces that I will post.
cant wait for Thur and Fri - James made a great suggestion on how we can keep the submission time longer for people to enter texts. Maybe the ditto bites is the way? Short sharp pieces, and maybe broader than the themes? Looking forward to the week ahead - snowed in here in Suffolk, guess we will be tomorrow too.
Mike
This is a quote I've always thought was from Nelson Mandela but have since discovered it's from a poem by a woman called Marianne Williamson...
"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
...for the Creation theme?
Pete
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