Being raised Catholic, I was exposed to Saint Patrick at an early age. In Dallas, my family went to Saint Patrick's Catholic Church from the time we moved there in 1971 until I graduated from high school and left for college in 1980. Every week, the bulletin showed his name with the clover, and the church colors were green. So just how did Saint Patrick happen to be associated with March 17, the clover and the color green?
It's been said that Patrick, a Brit, was a young man of just sixteen who was captured by Irish pirates and enslaved in Ireland. He saw in a dream that he was to escape, and when he was successful, he joined the church and studied to become a priest. Even though it would have been much easier for him to stay and preach in England, he opted to return to Ireland to spread the good news of Christ.
The clover is said to be St. Patrick's way of teaching the holy trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, because if you observe a usual clover leaf shape - it does have the three leaves extending from the stem. How the four leaf clover became associated with St. Patrick another story. Blue was the original color used to represent St. Patrick, but the connection to green with the saint is said to have come from the relation to the shamrock. March 17, 461 is the day that St. Patrick died.
The St. Patrick holiday was declared in early 1600 by the Catholic church, and today, it is celebrated all over the world with green clothing and four leaf clovers, parades and corned beef and cabbage (an Irish treat). So this Sunday, on March 17, wear your green and eat your meat to celebrate a man who strove to Christianize the pagan Irish.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Small Town Benefits
Another advantage of living Spacewoood is its proximity to another nearby small town that is much more citified, yet not cosmopolitan. Marble Falls is a huge resource for beauty, decent food, interesting entertainment and its awesome library. It seems that when I attend an event in Marble Falls, the people that are there are truly interested in what they are pursuing at the event. One example is the tea party rally we attended a number of years ago that had droves of people attending, speaking and selling their wares. It was a beautiful day in Johnson Park along an inlet of the Colorado River. Hats, t-shirts and bandanas spoke to the red, white and blue of the organization, with many smiling faces and friendly people.
Today, I was pleased to be able to attend the Writer's League of Texas writing workshop at the library. There were at least 30 hill country writers there, all seeking knowledge from professionals, many eager to speak up and comment.
Three speakers addressed individual topics, and each was excellent. The first was Scott Wiggerman, a Texas poet, who gave us prompts and had us fill in the blanks of an existing poem by Denise Levertov. Alliteration with the letter "S" - Singing separately, yet almost one, Assonance with "ahh" - pulled over, arguably pausing. and Assonance with the long, deep vowels, You pause for the groove of love, often lonely. Scott gave me good marks on my efforts. He was clever and interesting.
The second speaker was my favorite, Suzy Spencer, a true crime writer that graduated from Baylor. The titles and topics of her books are, as she stated, not to be expected from a girl that went to Baylor, including Wasted, a story of murder involving a lesbian love triangle. She noted that the book was banned from the library in Nacogdoches in 1996 because the word "lesbian" was on the cover. Her latest book is Secret Sex Lives that details the chase of sex that people undertake. Written from a journalistic perspective, she details a wide variety of zany sex pursuits.
Her words were very impactful - noting that we must start a book with a big Kaboom!, especially if we are writing a proposal letter for a non-fiction book. She emphasized the geometric line that curves up to the end of the story, building suspense with vulnerabilities and conflict that matches the needs of the characters. Some of the ingredients of a good story may include laughter and emotional renderings. She also said that we writers must have the big picture when we start writing. I could go on, but I must address the next writer.
Carol Dawson was the third speaker, and she addressed Voice in writing. She addresed the fact that we as humans have been telling and listening to stories for as long as humans have lived, and that our brains need stories. I can relate to this because its so much easier to tell and listen to a story than just a list of fact - at least for me.
Carol noted that voice will set the tone of the story and can be determined by person - first, third or omniscient - and also the tone - active, reflective, passive, ironic, truthful, inviting, justifying, loving or many other ways. She read the intros from a wide variety of books and asked us to point out what we heard or felt from the writing. She stated that we need suspense in the beginning, middle and end to keep the reader tagging along.
Overall, it was a very productive session for me, to get my writing brain in gear. I hope to pursue more writing and formulating on my potential novel, children's story and cookbook/non-fiction in the coming year. A representative from the league stated that just 200 words written per day for a year will be a complete 70,000 word book at the end of a year. Sounds doable to me, now let's see if I can do it. Love and Peace.
Today, I was pleased to be able to attend the Writer's League of Texas writing workshop at the library. There were at least 30 hill country writers there, all seeking knowledge from professionals, many eager to speak up and comment.
Three speakers addressed individual topics, and each was excellent. The first was Scott Wiggerman, a Texas poet, who gave us prompts and had us fill in the blanks of an existing poem by Denise Levertov. Alliteration with the letter "S" - Singing separately, yet almost one, Assonance with "ahh" - pulled over, arguably pausing. and Assonance with the long, deep vowels, You pause for the groove of love, often lonely. Scott gave me good marks on my efforts. He was clever and interesting.
The second speaker was my favorite, Suzy Spencer, a true crime writer that graduated from Baylor. The titles and topics of her books are, as she stated, not to be expected from a girl that went to Baylor, including Wasted, a story of murder involving a lesbian love triangle. She noted that the book was banned from the library in Nacogdoches in 1996 because the word "lesbian" was on the cover. Her latest book is Secret Sex Lives that details the chase of sex that people undertake. Written from a journalistic perspective, she details a wide variety of zany sex pursuits.
Her words were very impactful - noting that we must start a book with a big Kaboom!, especially if we are writing a proposal letter for a non-fiction book. She emphasized the geometric line that curves up to the end of the story, building suspense with vulnerabilities and conflict that matches the needs of the characters. Some of the ingredients of a good story may include laughter and emotional renderings. She also said that we writers must have the big picture when we start writing. I could go on, but I must address the next writer.
Carol Dawson was the third speaker, and she addressed Voice in writing. She addresed the fact that we as humans have been telling and listening to stories for as long as humans have lived, and that our brains need stories. I can relate to this because its so much easier to tell and listen to a story than just a list of fact - at least for me.
Carol noted that voice will set the tone of the story and can be determined by person - first, third or omniscient - and also the tone - active, reflective, passive, ironic, truthful, inviting, justifying, loving or many other ways. She read the intros from a wide variety of books and asked us to point out what we heard or felt from the writing. She stated that we need suspense in the beginning, middle and end to keep the reader tagging along.
Overall, it was a very productive session for me, to get my writing brain in gear. I hope to pursue more writing and formulating on my potential novel, children's story and cookbook/non-fiction in the coming year. A representative from the league stated that just 200 words written per day for a year will be a complete 70,000 word book at the end of a year. Sounds doable to me, now let's see if I can do it. Love and Peace.
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