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Several years ago, my husband and I visited Vermont during October. As we made our way through small towns and two lane roads, the beauty of the leaves and the tranquility of a slower paced way of life was overwhelming.
If I live to be 100, I will never forget one particular left turn. As I looked out the front of the car, as far as I could see on either side of the road, were towering trees FULL of the brightest, most vibrant, clean yellow leaves. Their reflection made everything in sight appear yellow.
Immediately, the words of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” came to mind. I have always loved that poem. At that moment, though, I understood it. I saw a ”yellow wood”. I knew the simplicity of seeing two small roads going in different directions. I felt the pull of wanting to explore both directions and not having the time to do so. I identified with the struggle of choosing one while hoping that I wouldn’t later be sorry to have chosen wrongly.
Today, after a beautiful fall day, I am thankful for natural beauty that surrounds us all. And I’m thankful for having made that left turn down a single road in a yellow wood. It has definitely made a difference for me.
Today, I am thankful for encouragement. I find encouragement in many forms – spoken words, scripture, music, beauty, laughter, people, etc.
Encouragement is actually defined as “the act of heartening, supporting and/or stimulating”.
How thankful I am that I have people and things in the world that encourage me. I hope that, as I am encouraged, I also occasionally serve to encourage those around me.
If you are thankful for something (or someone today), go to Rebecca Writes to participate in the 4th Annual November of Thanksgiving.
I have a sick child at home today so here is a post from the past…
When the James Frey memoir “A Million Little Pieces” came out, I picked it up and put it down in bookstores more than once. There was something about the title and the cover that appealed to me. Yes, I am a book marketers dream! After Oprah chose it as one of her book club selections, millions of copies disappeared from bookstores and I decided to wait until it showed up at the library to read it. I still haven’t read it.
Before I got to it, it was revealed that Frey had fabricated and/or significantly changed events portrayed in the book. Although the main elements of Frey’s account (drug abuse, alcoholism and criminal behavior) were true, some of the details were made up. More recently, Misha DeFonseca and Margaret Seltzer (aka Margaret Jones) have admitted that their “memoirs” were indeed fictional stories.
The controversies surrounding these “false memoirs” bring up a number of interesting questions. Certainly, there are no right and wrong answers to them but here are a few of my thoughts…
What is the difference between “memoir” and autobiography?
My dictionary defines memoir as “an account of the personal experiences of an author”. Interestingly, there is nothing in the definition to indicate that a memoir is an accurate, timely or truthful account. Just that it is an account. By contrast, an autobiography is a “history or a person’s life written or told by that person”. The use of the word history indicates the events included in an autobiography are things that can be verified.
Are the standards for “good writing” the same in a memoir as they would be for fiction?
In some ways, it is hard to judge writing ability with a memoir. Other than examining strictly technical elements, negative reactions to memoirs can be perceived as negative reactions toward the author and/or the events they are recounting. Basically, a memoir should be as provocative, entertaining, (INSERT YOUR OWN DESCRIPTIVE WORDS HERE) as any piece of fiction you would read and enjoy.
Why such an angry, extreme reaction to the news that these memoirs were not true? What if we thought it was fiction to begin with?
When I think about why I still haven’t read “A Million Little Pieces”, I have to admit that I am not sure I want to. It was one thing for me to think that I would be reading a true story but it’s something else completely to know it’s not all true. I think I would spend some of my reading time wondering what parts were true and what was not. Unlike people that actually paid good money to purchase Frey’s book, I didn’t feel cheated by the revelations.
What I did feel, though, was a change in expectation. When I start reading a book that I think is true, I look for elements of the characters, settings and events that I can relate to. When reading something I know is made up, I tend to let myself escape more and enjoy the language of the writing. In other words, I focus more on details and timelines in a memoir. In fiction, I allow myself the luxury of the “big picture”.
The popularity of celebrity gossip, tabloid magazine, character assassinations and blogging has led to soaring popularity for reality-based entertainment. From TV shows to YouTube, our culture is obsessed (and may be addicted) to what we perceive as real people doing real things. I am not totally immune to that myself. While I enjoy, and often prefer non-fiction as a genre, I don’t like the idea that “false memoirs” and/or “fictionalized biographies” might find their places as accepted styles of writing.
When an author commits to writing a memoir, I think it should be as close to the truth as is possible for the author to remember. Ultimately, I think we all like to see someone rise above their circumstances. We like to hear that good wins over evil and that the human spirit is persistent and triumphant. Reading a memoir and knowing we are reading the truth provides encouragement and hope in a way we don’t expect when we read fiction. Perhaps, if we though “A Million Little Pieces” was fiction in the beginning, we would be pleasantly surprised to find postive things at the end, but we would not necessarily have looked for them at the beginning.
I admit that I don’t know as much about our legislative process as I probably should. While I enjoy the “pomp and circumstance” of inaugurations, military ceremonies and state funerals, I quickly lose interest in the “live action” of the U.S. Congress that I see on C-SPAN. From the outside looking in, everything about it seems messy and complicated.
Is it an oversimplification to say that many of our worst problems could be fixed if the documents (i.e. legislation)surrounding them were less complicated? Is it too much to expect that our elected representatives would actually READ and thoughtfully consider those laws before they vote on things that affect my daily life?
Like many Americans, I am concerned about what the health reform bill is going to end up looking like. I may be more concerned, though, about the fact that IF my congressional representatives read pending legislation at all, what they are reading isn’t what the final bills look like when the vote is taken. Victoria McGrane of Politico, writes “reading actual legislative text is often the least productive way to learn what’s actually in the bill”.
McGrane’s article describes a system where legislation is purposely written to be difficult if not impossible to read as well as people whose job it is to read it and present it to the voting member in readable language. Maybe I am way off base but, shouldn’t the people voting be able to actually read and understand what they are voting on FOR THEMSELVES. Is it possible that part of the waste and abuse in Washington is due to the fact that congressional representatives are waiting for the people on their staff to tell them what to think?
Just a few short days after reading McGrane’s article, I read an article by Robert Knight that reinforced much of what the Politico article had said. He reacts to news about the health care bill (voted on yesterday) that, at the time, was largely unwritten. According to Knight, it is not unusual at all for members of Congress to be expected to vote on legislation where the text is not even written. Is it just me or is that practice completely ludicrous? NO WONDER this country is in the shape it’s in. And not just where health care is concerned!
Maybe I am old-fashioned or unreasonable or too conservative (or whatever else someone may say about my opinion here) but it seems to me that, if all else fails, we should be able to expect our elected officials to demand, for the sake of their constituents, to see real words on real paper before making their way to the floor to cast a vote. If and when those real words appear, they should be understandable by the most average among our citizens. Finally, to the members of BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, do your job and, at the VERY LEAST, read it. You asked for the job and that’s what you’re getting paid for!
NOTE: I can’t take credit for writing this. Actually, I don’t know who wrote it but a friend of mine sent it to me and I couldn’t imagine not sharing it.
“Here we are again, Lord.
Their backpacks are loaded and their faces are scrubbed and their lunch accounts are full.
And I know you’ll walk with them, Lord. You always do. But a Mom still has to ask.
Will You walk with them?
Will You whisper to them what they need to hear, when I’m not there to whisper it?
Will You please, oh please, cover their school with the protection only You can give and will You keep harm far away?
Will You make their minds strong and ready to learn?
Will You help them understand that hard work honors the One who created them?
Will You guide their teachers, giving them patience and wisdom and creativity and more patience?
Will You bless them for their efforts?
Will You love all those children there…the ones whose lunch accounts aren’t full; the ones who feel alone?
Will You teach my children to be kind and unselfish and to love those who are different from them?
Will You point them back toward home just as soon as You can?
Lord, I give them to you today and everyday, trusting them to your care.
Amen.”
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