Sunday, April 20, 2014

journeys, becoming, poetry, and how to make your soul grow...

the joy of journeys, continued..


this morning i revisited a note from this day in 2011 - back then, "Puertos" went live, the poetry collaboration between me, Rose Hunter and Steve Wing that was sparked as we all travelled at the same time, in different places. the image above is from the first page:  Puertos  [Matagorda - Yucatán] 

there also are notes, in a file with the title that still makes me smile, both for its title: "There ist nothing useful for you in this e-mail", and for the reflection on the nature of journeys it includes: "a trying journey --- stuff always goes wrong, right (!)"

and more journey effects:  figuring out which books to take, i browse books and notes, and arrived at the book from Kurt Vonnegut i have since a while, "Galapagos". it might make a good journey read, maybe, i thought yesterday. and was greeted this morning by Vonnegut quotes, in the brain picking newsletter, here's the online version: If This Isn't Nice, What is?

Which includes this anecdote that goes both for moments in life that go right, and for journey moments:
One of the things [Uncle Alex] found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy. He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”
So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”
From there, i looked for a video, to hear Vonnegut's voice (something i tend to do more and more, out of curiousity for the person who wrote the words).. and arrived here: "Back in 2006, a group of students at New York's Xavier High School were set an assignment “ to write to their favourite authors and ask them to visit the school. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to reply. " - and the students now turned his letter into a film, with practical life advice and an assignment..: 


Make Your Soul Grow from Dogtooth Films on Vimeo.

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