Thinkin’ on Thursday: Women’s Wise Words by the (Baker’s) Dozen

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

I’m thinkin’ about women: women of power—women writers, women movers and shakers, women artists of all types. I’m thinkin’ about women I’d like to emulate, follow, know, and have a sit‑down lunch with. Women whose wise words have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, made me think. Made me take action. Here are a few of the best of them:

A woman whose books touched me in so many ways: “[My mother] said that I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understand of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~ Maya Angelou

A woman whose songs touched me, and a whole nation, a whole world: “It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. They words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page. ~ Joan Baez

A woman whose voice and twinkle of the eye I still miss: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.'” ~ Erma Bombeck

A woman whose legend inspired me: “It is necessary to try to pass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.” ~ Queen Christina of Sweden

A woman who made herself what she needed to be to flourish in her own lifetime: “It always seemed to me a sort of clever stupidity only to have one sort of talent—like a carrier pigeon.” ~ George Eliot

A woman who only became more beautiful as she aged: “I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good—or there because they’re lucky.” ~ Katherine Hepburn

A woman whose strength grew over time into a towering figure: “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” ~ Helen Keller

A woman who inspires me to keep writing: “If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you.” ~ Dorothy Parker

A woman whose words I loved even before I could read: “Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~ Beatrix Potter

A much admired woman whose life matched her words: “You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

A woman whose soaring voice made my soul soar as well: “There is a growing strength in women; but it’s in the forehead, not in the forearm.” ~ Beverly Sills

A woman whose strength encompassed a nation: “One only gets to the top rung on the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of abilities which you thought NEVER belonged to you—suddenly become within your own possibility and you think, ‘Well, I’ll have a go, too.'” ~ Margaret Thatcher

And finally, an unnamed woman who offers hope in times of stress: “Fear gives intelligence even to fools.” ~ Anonymous

See you next on Saturday’s Spellbinder!

These quotes came from a Treasury of Women’s Quotations, by Carolyn Warner, Prentice Hall, 1992, in 1998, through the hand of a strong woman whose friendship and laughter I still treasure: Connie Burrup.

Friday Friends: Six Degrees of . . . Connection

EASY AS A, B, C . . . from BB

I recently read an interview conducted by Kelly A. Smith wherein she had interviewed Allan Gurganus for the Spring 2010 Iowa Writers’ Workshop Alumni Newsletter. It was a brilliant, thinking-man’s, long piece. I kept a copy on file, and will probably be mining it for gold for a long time.

One quote which really got to the teacher’s soul was as follows:

“One of the great joys of being back at the Workshop is watching friendships grow between students. That’s one of the unsung roles of an attentive teacher—to promote comradeship in class. I tell my students on the first day that they’ll learn far more from each other than from me. And yet the teacher can be a secret mastermind, helping people notice each other, finding connections through each other’s consonant work.”

This is so true—students will learn from each other, and from the group at large, even more than from the person standing up front. I’ve noted connections throughout my very LONG career. I’ve seen them within a single group, I’ve seen them form from one year’s class to another, and —to my joy—I’ve even seen them develop across different schools, school districts, universities, and so on.

John, a debate student from Granger HS—years later—became a long-term judge for my students at Park City HS, like Wade, Tree, Wess, Korey, and many others. Wade became a connection of generations: his Uncle Keith, a former student from Granger, was apparently delighted that I had become his nephew’s debate coach as well. And, 46 years after Keith’s sojourn in my classes, I recently remarried: Keith’s Granger HS best friend, Herb. Jill, a drama student of mine from American Fork HS, helped me with everything from judging debates at Park City HS to helping out in a pinch with choreography for our musical. She, Wade and I have performed for various groups a number of times.

Then another twist: Shawn, from Park City HS, found out I was teaching a writing class in Canyons School District and encouraged his budding-writer high school daughter to come meet me to talk about writing.

What a joy to still be making new connections, and bridging them from one place in time and space to another, from one generation to another.

I feel unbelievably fortunate, “lucky,” if you will, to be—and to have been—a teacher.

See you day-after-tomorrow for “Sunday’s Snippets”

Thursday’s 13: “Oh, Go Stuff Your Flatchet!”

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

Do you love goofy, old words?  I do.  I used to tell my obstreperous high school students to “go stuff your flatchet!”  They were usually so startled, they’d stop doing whatever they had been doing, even though it only meant “put your sword away.”  I got those words from a lovely book called Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words by Susan Kelz Sperling.  Enjoy (and use) the ones below:

1. Too much hum can make a man’s head quop.
2. Hum: a strong liquor combination of ale or beer with spirits; quop: to throb.
3. All that hum may induce the man to long to hold his loved one’s feat.
4. Feat: a dangling curl of hair.
5. A woup with the feat of an elephant inside is considered lucky to wear, but larger woups could even anchor one’s feet at the base of a gofe.
6. Woup: a simple metal hoop or ring, not set with stones; gofe: a pillory.
7. Such a gofe would normally be erected on the wong where everyone could see it.
8. wong: a meadowland, used as a commons where cows were taken to graze.
9. Nowadays, a public wong is covered with nesh plantings and lush trees.
10. Nesh: fresh, delicate or soft, such as vegetables, foliage or fruit should be.
11. Braiding one’s hair with nesh flowers makes a beautiful kell.
12. Kell: a woman’s headdress, such as a close-set net or cap, or a even a fancy wig to don      for a party.
13. A lady’s kell is more elaborate if she is going to a ball where hum is served.

(If you ever go to such a party, and drink too much hum, be sure to stuff your flatchet in a safe place, so as not to injure anyone . . . including yourself!)

See you day-after-tomorrow for Saturday’s Softcover!