George Orwell Descriptions #1

"At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down, his feet printed themselves on the wet gravel." -Orwell, George. "A Hanging."

I cannot recommend www.brainpickings.org enough. It's quickly turning into my favorite site on all things interesting. Here's a video I found with Ira Glass, of This American Life , talking about creativity and success.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Woody Guthrie's 1942 New Year's Resolution List.

A pretty good list, if I do say so myself. I make lists too. I must start looking at them more often, though. Otherwise, I end up repeating the list year after year and nothing ever, ever changes. Well it's not that bad, but I certainly forget to do things like shave or buy new socks, or remember not to get too lonesome. So here I go with my attempt to "Keep Hoping Machine Running" for good ole' Woody Guthrie.

I thought this was a pretty sweet letter from Leroy Pollock to his son Jackson Pollock from 1928.

This is just a great quote:

"The secret of success is concentrating interest in life, interest in sports and good times, interest in your studies, interest in your fellow students, interest in the small things of nature, insects, birds, flowers, leaves, etc. In other words to be fully awake to everything about you & the more you learn the more you can appreciate & get a full measure of joy & happiness out of life."

You can find the article here at http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/why-not-be-jubilant.php

And down here you can read it in full.  

Dear Son Jack,

Well it has been some time since I received your fine letter. It makes me a bit proud and swelled up to get letters from five young fellows by the names of Charles, Mart, Frank, Sande, and Jack. The letters are so full of life, interest, ambition, and good fellowship. It fills my old heart with gladness and makes me feel “Bully.” Well Jack I was glad to learn how you felt about your summer’s work & your coming school year. The secret of success is concentrating interest in life, interest in sports and good times, interest in your studies, interest in your fellow students, interest in the small things of nature, insects, birds, flowers, leaves, etc. In other words to be fully awake to everything about you & the more you learn the more you can appreciate & get a full measure of joy & happiness out of life. I do not think a young fellow should be too serious, he should be full of the Dickens some times to create a balance.

I think your philosophy on religion is okay. I think every person should think, act & believe according to the dictates of his own conscience without too much pressure from the outside. I too think there is a higher power, a supreme force, a governor, a something that controls the universe. What it is & in what form I do not know. It may be that our intellect or spirit exists in space in some other form after it parts from this body. Nothing is impossible and we know that nothing is destroyed, it only changes chemically. We burn up a house and its contents, we change the form but the same elements exist; gas, vapor, ashes. They are all there just the same.

I had a couple of letters from mother the other day, one written the twelfth and one the fifteenth. Am always glad to get letters from your mother, she is a Dear isn’t she? Your mother and I have been a complete failure financially but if the boys turn out to be good and useful citizens nothing else matters and we know this is happening so why not be jubilant?

The weather up here couldn’t be beat, but I suppose it won’t last always, in fact we are looking forward to some snowstorms and an excuse to come back to the orange belt. I do not know anything about what I will do or if I will have a job when I leave here, but I am not worrying about it because it is no use to worry about what you can’t help, or what you can help, moral “don’t worry.”

Write and tell me all about your schoolwork and yourself in general. I will appreciate your confidence.

You no doubt had some hard days on your job at Crestline this summer. I can imagine the steep climbing, the hot weather, etc. But those hard things are what builds character and physic. Well Jack I presume by the time you have read all this you will be mentally fatigued and will need to relax. So goodnight, pleasant dreams and God bless you.

Your affectionate Dad

"Nothing is impossible and we know that nothing is destroyed." 

We are all here just the same, no matter how we change.  I like that.

Words To Live By

“Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is fighting
some kind of battle.”
― T.H. Thompson and John Watson

Found this on Flickr. Sufjan Stevens at Prospect Park (Brooklyn) 8/2/11. Looks like a more developed show than when I saw him about a year earlier. The wings and banjo combo is pretty stellar.

2011 Favorites

As we ring in the new year, here's a look back at some of my favorites of the past one.

Here's Youth Lagoon's video for the climactic track "Montana." I especially enjoyed the editing and nostalgic feel to the video.

The wonders of a rewrite.

Here's an edit by Raymond Carver. He would write up to 30 drafts, adding and crossing out words, until he felt the story was finished. I like this edit because it just shows you that sometimes less is more. Much more.