Wally Lamb

I have never really given a book review on here, but I must do it now. Over the last year I read 2 of the most fabulous, real, raw, true, funny, honest, strange and beautiful books. Wally Lamb somehow captures both genders in amazing and painfully honest ways. The first book I read is She's Come Undone, about an obese girl coming of age and growing through adulthood with a multitude of problems and interesting circumstances, and unlike current trends in comtemporary fiction, the ending is comfortable and happy, not post-modern and strange. Loved It! The next is probably the best book I have ever read- I mean ever...including everything I read in college pusuing a literature degree. It is called I Know This Much Is True. This book is about twin brothers, one has a mental illness, and the other is "normal" which means nothing as you will see in the book. It is a beautiful weaving of 4 generations from Italy to America and the strange truths and lies that grow us into who we are. His new book The Hour I First Believed, came out in November and I have just started it and already I find myself relating to each character and experiencing the master painter at work. Lamb paints people with words. Wonderful and inspiring fiction- check it out!

Go West Young People

I bought On The Road By Jack Kerouac, for a friend last night. Instead of actually giving it to her, I began to read it because it is the original scroll version, unedited and uncut. More authentic. We own 2 other copies of this book, but this one is different...so, maybe she will get it and maybe not. Haven't decided. Anyway, one of the first and most telling passages of run on sentences in the book, describes his problem of forever planning the trek out West and yet never getting around to going on the trip.

Christo, my husband, has always been afforded the opportunity of wonderful family trips all over this country and even into Canada. Riding wild horses, fly fishing in icy rivers, hiking incredible forests, biking over barren landscapes, you get the picture. And Yet, he and his buddy Kip, planned the Great VW Bus Adventure, and never got to go.

Call me the Yoko Ono of their teenage years, but somehow I weaseled my way into the plan and pushed the best friend out.

He bought that 1970 VW Bus, at age 15 (and with his own money), for the purpose of escaping into the great wide open; just two guys, 100 pounds of rice and a lot of Holden Caulfield angst. The boys planned and tinkered, and dreamt and struggled through the rigmarole of high school drama. And then, like a sudden snow in September, I came into view. The bag of rice and I were at war for a spot on that bus. I would not be missing the bus...the rice had to go and just like that, I was co-captain of the trip. Kip moved to the back of the bus and eventually he was altogether out.

Poor Kip. Somehow lost in the shuffle of our teenage romance, he moved on. Don't feel too bad for him though. He did go north and jumped on a different kind of bus. The kind that has educational classes through the logging fields. He became an intense activist and still is one of the most environmentally conscious people I know. He married a beautiful woman who is brilliant and witty and surely made for him. And of course, he went West and happens to live on the opposite of the country now in Bellingham, Washington. So, he actually gets the last laugh, you see. While he is experiencing the thrill of having lived the dream, we are still planning ours.

While we are still trying to get a bus ready, (it is in pieces in our garage) we know our day will come. We are no longer at liberty to pack 100 pounds of food, because now we must pack 100 pounds of kids. And yet, we love this crazy life and we long for our crazy trip and all of the unexpected surprises. Perhaps our trip out West will be to visit Kip and Brooke and we shall laugh as we eat their wonderful vegan victuals served over rice.

Feeding The Lake

photo by jennysweedler

The "Feeding the Lake" philosophy is why I named my blog "everybody gets prizes"...

Madeleine L'Engle in her book, Walking on Water- reflections on faith and art, made me realize something about myself as a writer and an artist, that has given me new perspective and fresh ideas.

Humanity is like a large mass of creative energy that longs to express itself in many diverse ways. As we begin to set our impulses free, we feed the lake, or pour into human culture and society for the good of it. Some of us are Michelangelos, Beethovens, Shakespeares etc. while most others are regular people with regular to zero acclaim. (Van Gogh was almost one of those.) What we all do is feed the lake, regardless of our popularity. As long as you express yourself and pour yourself fully into this work, you will find faith at the end of it. You will find Him in this desire to create, as we are created.

The best part of Being a part of this created process is that we all get prizes.

Prize: We get the chance to create and feel what it is like to birth something and have it validated by others perhaps. Before the Earth was formed it was a shapeless mass and before Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling was bare. There is always the before and after with the creative process.

Prize: We get life and the opportunity to give it to others through having children, adopting, encouraging, enriching a life in countless ways etc...
I want to be an inspiration to my children and to others that they are made for the purpose of using gifts and abilities. I don't want to hinder others by discouraging them from pusuing a passionate life and following dreams.

Prize: A Heavenly home- the epitome of desire for of all those who are created in His image and for His glory. We want this deeply and so our work and our way of life will reflect this.

If Heaven is not one of the prizes you long for, then perhaps you are not aware of who you are and why you are here. Ask and it shall be given- Seek and you shall find...when that door opens everybody gets prizes.

Read a book- go to new places

Recently, my sister in law was in town. This is interesting because she lives in China most of the year. When she comes, I try to talk to her about Chinese culture, her perspectives etc. Inquiring minds want to know around here. (As I write this she has returned to China and has begun a 2 year language program.)

This visit, while on the beach, we discussed American life and the vast difference with other world cultures. Now those that know Leslie, know that she is a world traveler. She has been to Costa Rica, Uganda, Tajikistan, Thailand, all over Europe, and not just for a measly week-extended stays people. So I think she has a pretty good grasp on our culture and also on some others.

While we were conversing on the beach that warm Florida day, we began to discuss the closed- mindedness some Southern Americans seem to have. We covered racism and it's nasty effects on those not fortunate to travel and see for themself that all people are relatively the same. She shared with me that she thinks that not seeing and experiencing other places besides your own backyard may be why some people remain ignorant in their views. I quickly agreed. One needs to get away from their "own" to get a clue as to how the other half lives. But like all things with me, I could not leave it at that. Many days later, the conversation kept me awake at night and I worked through it over and over.

I think that I felt concern for myself; I had not traveled nearly as far or as wide as she. Was I a racist, or uncultured? I certainly felt as though I was not due to 3 semesters with my Africana Studies professor Dr. Gayles. (He opened my eyes a million times to racism in America.) No- I can say I am not, so what makes me, an untraveled lady of the South not ignorant?

BOOKS. I began to work through the issue with new eyes. If you read, you cannot hide behind your fears of other people and their different ways. If you read, you DO travel to new lands, speak new languages, eat exotic foods, learn new customs and walk in another person's shoes. You can stay just where you are and never leave that cozy chair and yet be all over the world at the same time. That is true time and place travel. That is the key to getting a new perspective- Glorious and freeing Books! I love them like old friends.

I read constantly. This week I read A Severe Mercy by Vanauken and My Antonia by Cather. I have traveled to England and had tea with C.S. Lewis, fished in the Keys, hiked Virginian forests, had wonderful conversations about God with philosophers of the last century, played in the Nebraska prairies among bull snakes and rattlers, danced in a circus tent with young ladies in too short dresses, attended an opera and the list goes on. I did this all for under 3 dollars at a used book shop. (Talk about being green!)

I encourage everyone to read so we can have better conversations, get new perspectives, see with fresh eyes. You can be alone for the rest of your life, in a cell, on a remote island, but with a stack of great books, you are not there at all.
Of course, I went back to Leslie and we re-discussed and she agreed with the me of course, because after all, before she was a world traveler, she was a great reader. And she still is.