37days

Women make language - Marilynne Robinson

If there were no girls like them in the world, there would be no poetry. -Willa Cather, My Antonia

Suzanne Maggio-Hucek has inspired me to focus on women this month, in honor of Women's History Month. And so, a month of women, some you will know, others you won't, all women. All 500 words (ish) or less. Let's go, we're already a day late.

Marilynne Robinson is not a name I knew until recently when her novel, Housekeeping, was assigned reading in my writing course. I'm only three-quarters through it, and already I've put on real shoes and eyebrows and run back to buy everything she's ever written, including her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Gilead.

There are only a few people I've read who had the same impact on me, spurring a reading marathon of everything they wrote: Canadian novelist Carol Shields was one after I read her book, Unless, and the spectacularly brilliant Richard Powers was the other after reading The Time of Our Singing, which ranks at the top of my "best books ever" list. Well, of course as a child, there was Astrid Lundgren, too, due to my Pippi adoration/fixation/obsession.

With gratitude for this intentional community

We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race. -Cicero

As this third year of 37days ends, I’ve spent this last week reading again the comments left on this site in 2007—and visiting the websites of their authors, as well as re-reading the hundreds of emails I’ve received from 37days readers these past twelve months, each telling a story, holding me up, helping me understand things I hadn’t seen before. And for that, my gratitude, my thanks.

To everyone who has emailed me directly, my thanks to you. It is a gift to hear from you about how my stories have held meaning for you, and to hear your own stories—and to acknowledge how similar our journeys are, after all. And to the people below who posted comments on 37days in 2007, my thanks again for engaging, for leaving words of wisdom for us all to ponder and learn from. So much of the charm of Blog World comes from our serendipitous “findings”; perhaps in this list, if you dip into the links, you’ll find whole new worlds of insight from wonderful writers and thinkers and human beings becoming. I hope I haven’t missed anyone; if I have, let me know and please accept my apologies. With thanks for your engagement with me in this exploration of life; you give me so much:

Marilyn, Dan, Carolyn, Catherine, Nicole, Gay, Sarah, Leanne (may she rest in peace--Leanne passed away this year at age 48 after a brief illness), Mr Brilliant, Christy, Andy, Kismet, Marcia, Katie, Carol, Joy, Esther, Shelley, Ferruty, Theresa, Chris, Joy K, RedSonja, Aurora, Betsy, Franky, Sue, Karrie, Heidi, Elizabeth, Deirdre, Cate, Nicholas, Tana, Wendy, Mel, Cynthia, Jane Poe, Pearl, Hilde, Melanie, Kim, Jeff, Denise, runliarun, Mardougrrl, Dan, Liesl, Sally, vanesscipes, Jylene, Bill, Diana, Tracy, Michael, Shawn, Maryam in Marrakesh, Sebastian, Mahima, Meg, Sognatrice, Jasper, Jackie, Ellouise, Shelley, Anitha, Danielle, Bob, Nikki, Andrea, Eliza, Chris K., Josiane, Pete A., Robert, Leah, Karen, Carmen, Ruby, Donna T., Brenda L., Robert, Kelly, Jill, Becca, Clem, Carla, Tori, Mary, Roberta, Lisa G., Kelly, Lyco, David, SL, Julie, Meg, Nina, Chris B., Kay, Ro, RDL, Shonnie, Kylie, Lydia, David Z., David D., Colleen, Writerbug, Michelle, JCR, terrilynn, Angelfeet, Mary M., iswan, Kate I, Adele W., eb, Lela, Grace T., AdriftAtSea, Virginia P., Martha A., Shephard, Marcia, Zoely, Callipygia, Shannon, Carolyn, M-S, Marie, Stella, Jim, ChelleR, Catherine, inlandempiregirl, The Purloined Letter, Viaggiatore, Kurt, Barbara, Lisa G., Kelly Rae, Lisa, Lucy, Maggie, Laura, David Z., Boadicea, Donna S., janewilk, Sue M., Heather R., Nicole, Howard H., Kat, Brain, Per Stromsjo, Paul T., Becca, Teresa, Red, SSH, thodarumm, t, Kikipotamus the Hobo, Miss G Marshall, Timothy, Eva, k, Laurel, Midwest Kitchen, Maura, Alexander, JL, jana, Melissa, Callipygia, Emma W., John, Amy, Roger von Oech, Jim Ley, aileen, Ann Moore, amy, m, tali, vfa, Emily, Dawn, tallulah, Terri, Frivolitea, Lill, Debra Roby, Dean, Pia K, Granny Sue, Timothy Johnson, Jay River, Michael Wagner, Lela Davidson, Tim Davies, Roselyn, Anitha, Ramona, david cooper, Andy, Rosemary a.k.a. Ms. Marshall, Kate, Rick, Leia Lona, Allan Smithee, Beth, Sergio Fucchi, Christine Martell, Katiebean, K, Marica Sevelj, Fey, Margery Glickman, Emily, Betsey, Becky, Brandi, Deborah, Adriaan, Bill Mea, Richard Atkinson, grace, T., Meta Hara, Julie, Megan, Priscilla Palmer, Joh, Steve Sherlock, Terri, carolee, Amy McCracken, ellouise, Roger, Shelley Dickerson, Lill Hawkins, Radiant woman, Raquel Xamani Icart, maddie, Roberta Youtan Kay, Carmen, Esther, Catherine, Mary Anne, Ann Moore, Toni, Chelsea, Kim Moser, Karen (Lion and Magic Boy), Jack Yan, blue girl, ren.kat, Chris, Shula, Mike Duffy, rebecca, Sara Gold, Jayne, Jennifer, Julie, david, Trish, Chris Bailey, Donna (kygirl), bee, Cate, Maxine Dangerous, tanaya, Lori Pelham Cobbs, Carla, Meg, Voice of Sanity, Susi, Kerstin, Carrine Langley, Jillian, Ann Torrence, Dean Fuhrman, Kris, Vera, Virginia W. Pence, Dr. Jillian T. Weiss, Joan Fowler, Nancy MacDonald, The Old Foodie, Jeannie, Lela, Susan, Gerry, mary castagnoli, Connie, Jeannie, Chris Corrigan, Jeris, Jeremy, Rita Cartwright, Danielle Keister, Christine Kane, Catherine Faherty, storyteller, Karynne Courts, kim, David B. Drake, Liz Plummer, Jill, jenclair, Tina Su, Judy, Kait, Sandy Renshaw, Tyn, Lela, Cindy Jones Lantier, NaughtsNCrosses, Nina, Princess Haiku, Wyanne, stephanie, Judith Green, sue, Susan, atticus, Joan, LLinda, e.beck, Kathryn Knoll, Talia, Callie, Viv McWaters, Nancy Bea, Amy Lenzo, Matt, Kelli Schwert, Victoria, Fred, Tawanda, Dawn, colleen, Jeris, Nancy, Caren, John Maver, piscesgrrl, dandelionseeds, Cat, Dave Pollard, Carrie K, lawyerpoet, Betsy Hilt, Katie Green, Ronnie Brown, Sharon, t -rae, Donna, Joh, Barbara D., Karen...

Shall we continue the conversation on the other side of 2007, in 2008 and beyond? Let's.

[sculpture from here]

Read this book...

Thanks to everyone for diversity book club suggestions - you are helping to create an amazing list. Keep those suggestions coming...

The first book we're reading for our April meeting is "The Time of Our Singing" by Richard Powers. My philosophy professor from way back in my days at Guilford College recommended it - thanks, Jonathan!

Called "one of the best novels written about race in America," I am halfway through it now and it is going on my "books I wish I had written" list. The 4-page fictional account of Emmett Till's murder alone is one of the most insightful, amazing passages I've ever read. Take this for example:

"His crime swells past rape, worst than murder. It spits in the face of creation. What the whites must do, they do--no rage to their motion, no hysteria, no lesson. They exterminate by deep reflex--a flinch that comes before even self-defense. They put a bullet through the fourteen-year-old's brain, as they might kill a rabid animal. A desperate protection, the safeguard of their kind."

"They exterminate by deep reflex--a flinch that comes before even self-defense." Richard Powers is a masterful, smart writer - the Chicago Tribune calls this book "a bold and vibrant set of variations on the themes of music, race, and time." The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that "this is a novel God might relish and call enriching. Powers' heart-cry should win big prizes." The Christian Science Monitor wrote, "the best black novel to appear in America since Beloved has just been written by a white man."

"The power of music in its relation to a racially divided family and culture is dramatized with unprecedented brilliance in this panoramic novel..." "Massive and dazzling...." "Opens up a universe of thought and makes you hear the legendary music of the spheres...."

At 631 pages, it's not a wee tidbit of a book. As one book club member wrote: "I checked out Richard Powers’ book today. I want to thank you for choosing the largest novel in the library. I had to have help from one of the librarians to carry it to the car!"

"Wisdom," I wrote him back, "takes work."

Start a diversity bookclub

In any community, there are diversity issues - the natives vs the newcomers, race issues that pit black against white, gay and straight clashes, classism - and often, we're not equipped to talk about them. Dialogue that approaches the issues head-on sometimes is too difficult, we avoid it, or we talk "at" rather than "with" those we perceive to be different from ourselves. We demonize the other and try to prove them wrong rather than understand their point of view. We don't bridge, but create both metaphoric and literal gated communities instead.

Can literature help?

Reading list...

Readers were generous to share their suggestions for our 2007 reading challenge - you can find the list of books suggested by 37days readers here. The challenge has begun!

[These lovely and too-well organized to be in my home shelves are indeed, not mine. Instead, they are from the gorgeous home of friends in jemez springs, new mexico...I want to live there and do nothing but read Dostoyevsky and translate War and Peace into pig latin and drink Revolution Lavender Earl Grey tea and occasionally embroider a pin cushion or make soap or pour candles into handcrafted tin molds while composing operas about Abraham Lincoln with Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson]

Account for your days

“So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom” -Psalms 90:12

Flinging oneself into a new year is an easier jump if the past is accounted for, the ledger closed. I’ve written some 175,000 words on 37days this year. That’s a lot of periods, semi-colons, subjective cases and semi-annual partially plural separating conjective commas each week. I’ve held dear each piece of grammar I cannot diagram, despite Mrs. Harbison’s best efforts in the 7^th grade.