“Spreading your wings in a perplexing world”
June, 2017                                                            James Hurd      

 Contents

• New blog article: A Dream Dashed
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Quotable quotes

*****************************************

New blog article: A Dream Dashed

It’s 1959, I’ve just turned 18, and I’m standing in the ready room of a tiny airport outside of Chicago, scanning for my name on the list of students Moody has accepted into their two-year aviation and mechanics program. I have no other goals, no other plans, except flying. I read down the names—Doerksen, Hoisington…

Read more here:   https://jimhurd.com/2017/06/02/a-dream-dashed/

(*Request: Please share with others, and leave a comment on the website after reading the article. Thanks.)

 Writers’ Corner

Writer of the Month: Gregory Boyd

Greg Boyd is crazy, but mostly crazy good. He writes about theology—not the boring kind, but stuff you care about. His most recent book: Crucifixion of the Warrior God. Fortress Press. 2017. He addresses the question: Is the enemy-loving Jesus the son of the Old Testament Warrior God?

Other of his books:

Letters From a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions about Christianity (1994); reprint edition, 2008.

 God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict (1997). The reality of spiritual warfare.

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church (2006). A critique of the church’s involvement in politics.

Word of the Month:   Epigram

A short quote or aphorism at the beginning of an article or chapter.

Quiz of the Month: What does the thesaurus bird eat for supper? (Answer next month!)

 Answer to last week’s quiz: Disinterested means   a.  Impartial

 Tip of the Month: Your first paragraph is the most important, and must do several things: 1. Compel the reader to read the second paragraph. 2. Define the “envelope,” the parameters, of your piece. 3. Raise several questions in the reader’s mind. 4. Create tension. 5. Signal the genre of your piece—is it mystery? memoir? essay? 6. Signal the style of your writing—humorous, formal, casual?

 More “How to write good”

•  I did not object to the object.
• The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
• There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
• They were too close to the door to close it.
• The buck does funny things when the does are present.
• A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer.
• To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
• The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
• Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
• I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
• How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Book and Film Reviews 

Anne of Green Gables: A new beginning. First in a Netflix series based on the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery about an orphan girl on Prince Edward Island who is adopted by Matthew Cuthbert and his sister, Marilla. Warm, engaging. This is a new movie interpretation.

 Gregory Boyd. Crucifixion of the Warrior God (2 volumes, Fortress Press, 2017). Boyd views the violent images of God in the Old Testament through the compassionate lens of the New Testament Christ. A powerful portrait of the enemy-loving God. Nerdy, heavy going, but he promises a “Cliff Notes” version coming out soon.

Subscribe free to this E-zine 

Click here https://jimhurd.com/home/  to subscribe to Wingspread  Ezine, sent direct to your email inbox, every month. You will receive a free article for subscribing. Please share this URL with interested friends, “like” it on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, etc.

 Buy James Hurd’s Wingspread: A Memoir of Faith and Flying.  How childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America—and Barbara. Buy it here:  https://jimhurd.com/home/  (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.)
See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

Quotable quotes on egotism

♠   Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

♠   The nice thing about egotists is that they don’t talk about other people.                                                                                                          Lucille S. Harper

♠   Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.
Frank Leahy

♠   I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but now I see I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin

*       *       *

Follow “james hurd” on Facebook, or “@hurdjp” on Twitter

If you wish to unsubscribe from this Wingspread E-zine, send an email to hurd@usfamily.net and say in the subject line: “unsubscribe.” (I won’t feel bad, promise!) Thanks.