Gathered Notes
June
Welcome to the June edition of Gathered Notes, a monthly collection of art, poetry, book, movie, and music recommendations that have brought beauty into my life this past month.
Art: High Street, Oxford, J.M.W. Turner, 1810 Public Domain, credit
Poetry: “Trinity Sunday” by Malcolm Guite
In the Beginning, not in time or space,
But in the quick before both space and time,
In Life, in Love, in co-inherent Grace,
In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,
In music, in the whole creation story,
In His own image, His imagination,
The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,
And makes us each the other’s inspiration.
He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,
To improvise a music of our own,
To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,
Three notes resounding from a single tone,
To sing the End in whom we all begin;
Our God beyond, beside us and within.
----
Watching, Listening, Reading
Show: Ted Lasso
Summary: An American football coach is hired to manage a British soccer team; what he lacks in knowledge, he makes up for in optimism, determination, and biscuits.
My review: I’m only on season 2, but so far, I’m loving this sweet feel-good show. It makes me laugh. It’s smart. And you don’t have to care about soccer for this to be a show that will pull on your heartstrings.
----
Listening:
Reading: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Summary: (back cover) Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.
My review: I couldn't put this book down, and I know the story will stay will with me forever. It was a hard story--tough--but important, and skillfully told. I loved the character of Demon (Damon), and his resilience inspires me.
Quote of the Day:
“a good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead
-----
Writing life: I’m going back to school this fall! I was just accepted into a two-year Creative Writing program at Oxford. Most of the work will be online, but next summer, I’ll be onsite, studying in the same place where my favorite writer lived and worked. It’s a dream come true, and it doesn’t even feel real yet. I’m sure it will, once classes start in October. In the meantime, I need to get to work and finish writing my current work-in-progress which is a romantic fiction project that I’m excited about.
-----
This newsletter occasionally contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on and buy through one of these links, I do receive a small percentage at no extra cost to you. Thank you.
Quick Links:
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.
So excited for your creative writing course!! What an amazing opportunity!