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Posts Tagged ‘may sarton’

Getting Unstuck

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged , , , , on June 12, 2024| 3 Comments »

Having writer’s block is like being stuck up a tree with no way to get down. — Art by Pat Bean

The Write Words

I moderate a small email chat group called Writer2Writer for Story Circle Network. Recently I asked participants to name their favorite author and then write about why.

I started the chat off by quoting Mary Oliver, one of my favorite authors, whose instructions for living a life is to “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” And since Mary was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, when Mary said tell, I’m sure she meant write about it. The words responded with me because that’s what I’ve been trying to do for most of my life.

But lately, I’ve been rather stuck. And that leads me to comment on a response to my writing prompt. It was from Stephanie Raffelock, who wrote: “A battered, dog eared, highlighted and underlined copy of May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude sits on the table next to my chair. I can quote the opening line without opening the book: “Begin here. It is raining.” 

“Such simple lines,” wrote Stephanie. “Crisp and real. Who knew that they would lead to years of journals, which in turn would lead to a first short story and later, essays. Begin here. That’s all I have to do to start writing on any day,” said my writing colleague.

And those words from Mary, Stephanie and May were exactly what I needed to get unstuck. I immediately sat down and filled a couple of pages in my current journal, and then started writing this blog.

Thank you, Mary, Stephanie and May.  

So, who, my treasured readers, is your favorite author and why?

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, and these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.

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Gender Bender

Posted in Books, Journeys, Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 7, 2021| 5 Comments »

Butterflies have invaded Tucson. I love it.

        

Poet and Novelist May Sarton believed that the best artists were androgynous, and that it was the masculine in a woman and the feminine in a man that gave creativity its spark.

Coming across that idea while reading Journal of a Solitude this morning, at a point in life when so many new terms for gender identity are being tossed about, brought my reading to a pause for a brain-think.

Just a few weeks ago, I had to ask a gay granddaughter and her wife, who were treating me to lunch at a downtown Tucson restaurant, what the waitress meant when she asked what pronoun we preferred. He/She, Him/Her, They?

“She/her,” my granddaughter had replied.

Back home, I did a little gender identity research on my own to reinforce my understanding of the issue. The research added the term non-binary to my brain cells. That’s the “they” of the waitress’ question. Some people, I learned, didn’t identify as either male or female.

Being as I’m 82 years old, and was quite unworldly until I was well-past 30, learning about differing sexual realities of humans was something that came late in my education.  Fortunately, I had a good teacher, a gay journalism colleague who struggled with sexual discrimination back in the 1970s.

He was a religious person, and we were good enough friends that I asked him how he felt about religion’s stance that being homosexual was wrong. His reply was: “God made me this way, so who am I to disagree with him.”

I agreed, and never had a problem from that point forward with accepting people for who they were. The only thing that matters to me is whether you are a caring person who does no harm to other people.

But what stopped me while reading Journal of a Solitude this morning was thinking about what May said about creativity. While I’ve always been thankful I’m female and not male, I’ve often thought that I also have what many might consider some strong masculine traits.

I think that’s true. And I think they have served me well. Perhaps it’s time to simply let people be who they are without any judgment. What do you think?

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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Stupid Birds … Or Not

Posted in Birds, Books, tagged on September 5, 2021| 3 Comments »

I sketched this red-winged blackbird on an outing to Antelope Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake on one of bird outings.

An old friend, whom I often dragged on many of my bird outings, told me that he only liked seeing the big birds. Translated that meant such birds as great blue herons, tundra swans, bald eagles and double-crested cormorants, all frequent sights around Northern Utah’s Great Salt Lake and Bear River areas where I frequently used to go to watch birds.

His comments were also a gently hint to me that he didn’t enjoy standing around for hours trying to get a glimpse of and identify any small bird that preferred to stay out of sight – like the tiny ruby-crowned kinglets that never stopped moving as they flitted between thick tree foliage, or the marsh wrens that sang duets from their hiding places in a patch of phragmite or cattails.

I thought about that while reading May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude with my morning coffee. She was an avid gardener and also one who kept a supply of seed on hand to feed wild birds. But for this April day entry, May had noted that there were only starlings, red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds at the feeder. “Too stupid,” she wrote.

Now as much as I’m a May Sarton fan, I think she misspoke here. I think her disgust was not because these are stupid birds, but because they are some of the birds that everyone can see almost daily in this country, from ocean to ocean and border to border.

 Here in Tucson, I have three bird species that I see every day: house sparrows and mourning doves when I take my canine companion Scamp for his first walk of the day, and an Anna’s Hummingbird that tries to guard the nectar feeder hanging on my balcony every day from all intruders.

 When I also catch a glimpse of a bright yellow and black American goldfinch, or a Cooper’s hawk skimming overhead, my morning walk seems more special. Like this morning when a broad-billed hummingbird visited my balcony feeder. While the broad-billed is not as brightly colored as the Anna’s – the male of which has brilliant magenta head feathers – I was more thrilled because I don’t see this species every day.

 We humans are a funny lot. Perhaps we are more stupid than the birds. For sure we’re not so fond of the saying: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

And just what does that mean anyway?

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , on January 28, 2013| 14 Comments »

A Change in my Blogging Voice

One of the few pieces of art that I did while living in Gypsy Lee. I painted it during a 10-day stay at Zion National Park, which is one of my favorite places to visit.

One of the few pieces of art that I did while living in Gypsy Lee. I painted it during a 10-day stay at Zion National Park, which is one of my favorite places to visit.

      “…The whole part of a journal is to catch events on the wing.” May Sarton

From the Road to at least Temporary Roots

            My dookie beginning to 2013, thanks to the flu-crud and a broken foot, has slowed this wondering-wandering old broad down.

But I was slowing down even before that. Today marks the first day of the second month in which I traded life on the road in a 22-foot RV called Gypsy Lee for a 600-square foot apartment in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains.

A canyon wren that I saw, and painted, in Zion National Park.

A canyon wren that I saw, and painted, in Zion National Park.

I spent almost nine years in Gypsy Lee, which I realized is more time than I lived in any one home with roots in my life. These past years were the culmination of a lifetime of dreams, and I’m proud of myself that I made them come true. They were the ones in which I truly felt I was living the life I was supposed to lead.            I hope travel will continue to be a part of my life, well as soon as my foot heals and lets me once again handle the three flights of stairs up to my apartment. But for now I am enjoying my choice of a temporary home base.

And I can’t help but think that perhaps being slowed down for a while isn’t even going to turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Yes, I’m still a Pollyanna kind of girl who will never give up looking for that rainbow after the storm.

Zion, River Walk 2

My inspiration for my tree and canyon wall painting — Photo by Pat Bean

One of the silver linings to have magically appeared has been Betty Ann, a neighbor who now gives my energetic canine companion, Pepper, her daily four walks. She’s turned out to be a kindred soul, who shares my love of books, writing and animals. If not for her I would either have had to move in with my gracious, Tucson daughter, who is currently doing my laundry and shopping, or sent Pepper home with her until my foot healed. I wasn’t fond of either of those choices.

The second bit of silver is that my forced inside time has me once again dragging out my art supplies. I carried them around with me in Gypsy Lee, but except for a rare occasion they stayed packed away. Now I have room to keep them handy and hope to return to being artsy fartsy, as I call my amateur endeavors. I’m even going to be brave enough to start sharing them with you.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling my way as to what this blog will be all about in the coming year. The best I can tell you is it’s going to be eclectic and “my life on the wing.” Hopefully it will once again be daily as well. I think I have my blogging mojo back. But don’t hold your breath.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Relax – Go with the flow http://tinyurl.com/abhdxpv Since I’m been doing this since breaking my foot, I liked this post for making me feel better about myself.

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