Gathered Notes

October, '24

Welcome to the October ‘24 edition of Gathered Notes, a collection of art, poetry, book, movie, and music recommendations that have brought beauty into my life this past month.

Credit

Art: Sunshine in the Living Room, Carl Holsøe

Poetry: Flannery’s Manifesto, by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell

I do admire her confidence that my
gift comes from God. That it’s not a game or
a trick, an affliction that she must endure.
My gospel-knowing mother fears that I
might be the fearful servant, the one who
buries his treasure in the dirty ground.
She might be right. But what else can I do
but write what my crooked heart tells me to?
I know I am a trial, hard to be around.
But what else is making fiction for
if not to trouble folks, mess with their heads,
make them question why they rise from their beds
if not to marvel that the world’s still here,
that some body watches and holds it all dear. 

Watching, Listening, Reading

Movie: His Three Daughters

Summary: Emotions run high when three estranged sisters reunite in a cramped New York City apartment to watch over their ailing father during his final days.

Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon

My review: Five stars. This film's pared-down nature is beautiful in its simplicity, allowing the story and the talented actors to shine. This movie was both funny and emotionally wrenching…a realistic picture of the emotional dynamics that come into play when someone is in hospice care. 

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Listening:

Spencer Lojoye: indie folk music

Reading: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

I rarely read novels more than once, but this book is an exception. This was my third read-through. I love this story that much. Ford’s writing has influenced my own in many ways, in what I aspire for it to be. I particularly love how he makes the story’s setting become its’ own character and how his books spark a desire in me to learn even more about the events and places he writes about. 

Summary: In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

Quote of the Day:

“Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, but truth. And the art that speaks it most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction; in particular, the novel.” ~ Eudora Welty

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Writing life: 

1. I’m enjoying being a student of creative writing so much that I decided I don’t want to be done when I finish my current program at the end of the school year--so I’m currently looking at graduate programs. Onward.

2. Two years (to the day) after my writing buddy, a black standard poodle named Genevieve, passed away, we welcomed a new poodle into our home. Her name is Celine, and she certainly understands the assignment…she likes to lie on the couch in my office while I work. She’s perfect!

   

3. I recently participated in an author event in my community called Bookfest. It was a full day of meeting readers and signing books, and it was so much fun to meet people. So, if you’re reading this newsletter after meeting me there, welcome!

   

How about you? What kind of art or music is bringing beauty into your life right now?

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May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness; protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you: may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.