One of a few photos shot for today, 10/27/09, while waiting for a writer/editor at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.With a name like "Rollo," you likely want to be tough or have something worth saying. I don't know if Rollo May ever got his ass kicked, but he could sure get folks to pondering with the wisdom he could spit.
"Freedom is a man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves." --Rollo May
I first came across Rollo by way of an artist friend 10-or-so years ago. He liked to quote R.M. by way of a question and proceeded to scrawl it onto an abstract painting he gave me. The quostion (quote/question) goes like this: "What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?"
That question sticks with me. It comes from May's book, "The Courage to Create," which now sits on my bookshelf with a fair amount of underlinings, dog-eared pages, and chicken-scratch in the margins.
I generally relegate my own writing to the margins of the day. I get to it before the day officially starts or at the end of it, when the kids are sleeping. The inherent problem is that there isn't always time in those margins as the page itself seeps off into the sides. The same thing can happen with running, yoga, longboarding, etc., but I have found a way to make time, push the margins, to give those activities permission to happen.
Enter the 30-day challenge. My aim is to write something worthwhile--essay, aphorism, blog post, poem, fragment, etc.--and to take at least one "cool" photograph for each of the next 30 days. Cutting myself some slack, I didn't say the writing or photos have to be good, just that the practice gets instilled and I make a commitment to myself, the time, and the attempt. The writing and the photographs don't have to relate to each other, though they might. I'll be posting photos on Facebook. And I'll see if I can't share some of the writing and/or photos here.
That's my challenge. We'll see where it leads. What challenges or gauntlets have you thrown down for yourselves?
5 comments:
MV, Love it when you write as apposed to just giving a race report or adventure updates, although i enjoy them to. I am looking forward to seeing what turns up over the next 30 days. I do the same challenge with my drawings. Hope to have a blog site to share them soon. Later, Bards
:) Hits home...during my grad work I had to write something every day for a whole semester for a writing workshop. Now, I don't really enjoy the act of writing like you, so that was really tough for me, but I've got to say my writing improved dramatically. At the expense of my English lanugage usage, of course. I look forward to reading more from you this month!
And the pics too!
The most I ever wrote was when my HS creative writing teacher made us sit quietly and write for the first ten minutes of class EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. At first I was bent and felt pressured to write, then I quickly found that 10 minutes was not enough. Some of the best things I have ever put on paper came out of that.
Now I try to write every day, somewhere. I keep a journal for my midget at home, and one for myself (there ARE some things I spare the innernets from). I'm also trying to craft/sew more, because it makes me happy and Allah knows I need some damn happy.
Give the shore a big ol squeeze for me!
Excellent. PS that is the second time this week i've heard of that rollo may book, will have to find it now thanks for theturn on. diane diprima, my fave poetess, says 'THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST THE IMAGINATION. All other wars are subsumed in it...'
ahh, yes....
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