Friday, March 27, 2009




Let me rest here in my armour. Let me lay my weapons down.
I would close my eyes and rest, put off the fight to win the crown.
The voices say, "Why labour? You are weary. It is night.
What's the use of constant vigilance? Why keep on with the fight?
Victory is never certain in this battle you are in.
Are you sure you have good reason? Is there any hope to win?"
I am fully armed and weaponed but I'm losing all my drive,
And I feel a slight confusion as to why I am alive.
But a shield is no soft pillow and my armour presses me,
So I'll stand, appearing ready to engage the enemy,
Hoping I will have the courage to get up each time I'm down,
And find reason to keep swinging in this fight to win the crown.

Hermina Janz, Mar 27, 2009
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

 

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”
-Henry Van Dyke
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Thursday, March 5, 2009

 
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It is a dangerous thing to find a fascinating new author. Not really new, because it could be someone who wrote hundreds of years ago, and often is. I mean an author you haven't read before, but the first time you read something of his or hers it just grabs you. Not necessarily because the writing is so poetic, or because the imagery is so beautiful, though that is often the case, and it is gratifying. But sometimes it's about a person, place or experience that is described so well, so plainly believably, that you could swear you might have sat across from that person, or have seen that place with your own eyes, or have gone through that exact same experience, with whatever complicated emotions that included. The danger then is that that author's name takes its place on your list of authors whose works to read. A list already so long that it could happily fill all your time, and really distracts you when you have to drag yourself away to go and fry potatoes or make coffee.
After reading "The Liar", a short story by Tobias Wolff, and Dakota by Kathleen Norris