“Spreading your wings” in a challenging world
May, 2016                                                                                           James Hurd  

 Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• New blog article: Learning to Love Manure Day
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com/home/ to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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.com, etc.)
See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

New blog article: Learning to Love Manure Day

I’ve always hated manure. So on my first day of work at the egg ranch, when Ron said, “the real fun here is manure day,” I thought he’d gone mad.

During high school, we worked on Marv’s egg ranch. Marv was the kind of guy who only washed from the waist up. A serious, bible-quoting Christian, thick-necked, bulbous-nosed, and rough-edged, he talked like someone had put sand in his toothpaste….

Read more here:   https://jimhurd.com/2016/05/06/learning-to-love-manure-day/

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Writer’s Corner
Term of the Week:   backstory

Backstory refers to a flashback. A history of a character in your story. A recollected memory. An explanation of something that happened earlier that allows the reader to better understand the primary narrative.

A giveaway that you are reading backstory is the word had.

 Examples:

“Harry met Sally. Sally had been a dancer in the Starlight Club in the 50s.”

“Harry remembered the last time he had been there—he had become very drunk.”

“Harry had worked as a bartender in several bars when he was in his 20s.”

Beware too much backstory! The reader is impatient, and wants to get on with the primary narrative. Descriptions of people or places, flashbacks, mental activity—these are all wonderful and necessary, but if they obstruct the flow of the narrative they may frustrate the reader. If you must use backstory, feed it to the reader is small medicine-like doses.
Book and Film Reviews
*Alert: These books and films are selected. Some may be “popular and contemporary,” but most of them have been around for awhile.

 The Intern. 2015. 121 min. Rated: PG-13. Robert De Niro and Ann Hathaway. A retired CEO interns under a beautiful young woman in a startup company, and saves her
bacon.

Hornet Flight. Macmillan, 2002. A Ken Follett page-turning WWII thriller about the Allied underground at the start of the war. The fate of millions hangs on an intrepid crew of men and women running around Denmark under the noses of the Nazis.                           

 Favorite quotes

♫   Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.      Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

♫   Thank you for sending me a copy of your book—I’ll waste no time reading it.
Moses Hadas (1900-1966)

♫   A story is the shortest distance between a person and the truth.             Fr. De Mello

♫   God gave you two ends: One to sit on and one to think with. Success depends upon which one you use most —
Heads you win
Tails you lose.

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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.

“Spreading your wings” in a confusing world

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• New blog article: Two Dead Babies
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com/home/ to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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.com, etc.)
See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

 New blog article: Two Dead Babies

As I’m loading the Cessna 185 in the oppressive heat of the Puerto Ayacucho, Venezuela airport, I wonder where I should lay the dead baby—in the cabin or the belly pod? The father speaks little English, but I can read his abject eyes. His home is 230 miles away, up the Orinoco River, and he has to return there to bury his dead little boy. Will we get there today?  ……

Read more here:   https://jimhurd.com/2016/03/28/two-dead-babies/

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 Writer’s Corner
Term of the Week:   Comma splice:  Two sentences joined by a comma. (Don’t do this!) Example: Susan and I walked down by the beach, we had a great time.

Book and Film Reviews
Dava Sobel. Longitude: The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time. Harper: London. 2005. The amazing story of seamen trying to determine their longitude, and John Harrison’s amazing clock solution. (Caution: you might learn something.) My rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Little Boy. 2013. 107 minutes. PG-13. The story of a little boy who desperately wishes his WWII soldier father back.    My rating:   ♥ ♥ ♥                                                   

Favorite quotes

♫   Be careful if you don’t know where you’re going—you might end up somewhere else. Yogi Berra

♫   Seeking God is like the mouse seeking the cat. You cannot be too careful.

♫   Every day in the US, nine children are shot by accident — almost all with a parent’s gun.

♫   Mixing church and state is like mixing ice cream and cow manure. It won’t hurt the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream.

♫   It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.        Irish proverb

*                      *                      *                      *

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“Spreading your wings” in a confusing world
James Hurd               February, 2016

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: Once Again to Colombia
• Writer’s Corner: Word of the month: alliteration
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)

See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

New blog article: Once Again to Colombia

It’s spring, 2011, and I’ve just agreed to join a team to help construct a medical clinic in Colombia. What am I thinking? I’ve got everything I need for this trip—except passion, skill and strength! I’m feeling exhausted—I even made a cardiology appointment. And yet in a way I can’t explain, I feel called. I guess callings are cruciform, but strange, and they sometimes go against common sense…. Read more here:   https://jimhurd.com/2016/02/08/once-again-to-colombia/

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Writer’s Corner
Term of the Week:   Alliteration
The placement near each other of words that have similar sounds. Example: “wind-wrinkled waves.”

Book reviews
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude. Shambala Press. 1993. I’ve used this book for years, with my biblical readings. Thomas Merton was a Trappist Monk and a writer. Very short chapters. Packed with wisdom gained through prayer and reflection.

William Zissner, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Collins. 2006. The best single book I’ve read on writing. Zissner discusses simplicity, lead and ending, memoir, style, and much more. He will encourage you to write.                                                                 

Favorite quotes

♫   It’s hard to let your teenager find herself; especially when she doesn’t even seem to be looking.    Charles Swindoll

♫   Life is like a game of tennis. The player who serves well seldom loses.    Anonymous

♫   You should always go to your friend’s funerals. Otherwise they might not come to yours.   Yogi Berra

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

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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.

                                 “Spreading your wings” in a confusing world

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: Batching It
• Writer’s Corner: Word of the month: Hyperbole
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)
See pics related to Wingspread here: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

 New blog article:     Batching It                                                                                                                            Barbara is in three weeks of rehab for double knee replacement, so I’m living alone, and learning how to batch it. Take for instance toilet hygiene. I flush, reasoning that if you flush, you never have to clean the bowl, a practice that works pretty well for the first week or so. Besides, if anyone comes over and asks to use the bathroom I can just say, “Go use your own.”

I visit Barbara daily, but when I come home, I face something new—an empty, echoing house….     Read more here:   https://jimhurd.com/2016/01/22/batching-it/

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 Writer’s Corner
Term of the Week:   Hyperbole
Exaggerated statement, not to be taken literally. Examples: “I waited an eternity.” “The food trays were endless.” “The stench was killing me.”

Book and Film reviews
The Poet and the Pauper. George MacDonald (edited by Michael Phillips). 1983. Phillips delightfully re-tells two MacDonald stories that were originally written in the 1800s. Scottish Highlands. Nobility. Warm, Christian sensibilities.

Anne of the Thousand Days. 1969. 146 min. PG. The dramatic story of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, who could not give him the son he desired.  

 Favorite quotes

Here are a few sentences from memorable letters of reference:

♫   He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.

♫   This young lady has delusions of adequacy.

♫   He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.

♫   He has knack for making strangers immediately.

♫   He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room.

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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.

“Spreading your wings” in a confusing world
James Hurd               December, 2015

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: Getting New Knees
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)

See pics related to Wingspread here: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

 New blog article:   Getting New Knees 

We’ve been married forty-five years. Barbara needs two knee replacements, but she doesn’t want to do it. A friend had told her, “I had one knee done. Then I had the second knee done. It hurt so bad that, if I’d had a third leg, I’d have just said, ‘cut it off!’”

One doctor has told Barbara, “We won’t replace your knee until it hurts.” But both knees are hurting more now…. Read more here:  https://jimhurd.com/2015/12/11/getting-new-knees/

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 Writer’s Corner
Writer’s Term of the Week:   Personification
Giving human attributes to non-human objects. “The airplane sat there, daring me to get in and start it.”  “When I arrived in New York, the city didn’t seem to notice.” “The ice cream in the freezer was softly calling my name.”

Books and Film reviews
Toby Lester, The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name. Free Press. 2009. This is a book about America, and the maps that put it on the map. A wild romp exploring dusty libraries, cartographic workshops, sailing vessels, and the people that changed the way we view the world.

Doc Martin. This wonderful British film drama, set in the charming town of Port Wynn, is set to start a new TV season. (Previous seasons are available on DVD.) An anti-social and somewhat dysfunctional doctor gains the hearts and praises of the townspeople. Beautiful landscapes. Humorous situations.

Favorite quotes

♫   He loves nature, in spite of what it did to him.    Anonymous

♫   I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges. Anonymous

♫   What we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.    C.S. Lewis

♫   Not only is there no God, but try finding a plumber on Sunday.    Woody Allen

♫   Atheism: A non-prophet organization.

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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.

“Spreading your wings” in a confusing world
James Hurd               November, 2015

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: Retirement Surprises
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

 Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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.  Stories about how childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America. Buy it here:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)

See pics related to Wingspread here: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

 New blog article:   Retirement surprises 

Time’s clock hurls us all on a one-way life ticket, and when you reach retirement, you can’t rewind. You find yourself still busy, but different busy.

Your employer no longer tells you what to do. But your partner—loving and kind—brims with fresh ideas to fill your days, and believes that now that you’ve retired, you should be working on becoming a Better Person. This apparently includes such things as exercising, controlling your weight, maturing spiritually, spending more time with the grandkids, and significantly, taking a greater role in kitchen and housework.

From our first date, Barbara and I never talked about division of labors, so on our honeymoon I began to prepare breakfast…        Read more here:  https://jimhurd.com/2015/11/23/retirement-surprises

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 Writer’s Corner
Writer’s Term of the Week:   Slugline
For instance, a text break where you insert the scene’s date and place (e.g., “London, 1935”)

Books and Film reviews
William Zinsser, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (Collins, 2006). A marvelous little book, written by the master. Easily read and understood. How to describe persons and places, the memoir, fear, confidence, your audience. He gives you confidence that you indeed can write.

War and Peace. 1956. 208 minutes. This is the classic Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda version about Napoleon’s siege of Moscow and his disastrous retreat after he captured it. There’s a newer War and Peace done in 2007.

 Favorite quotes

♫   Murder, considered a crime when people commit it singly, is transformed into a virtue when they do it en masse.      Cyprian, 3^rd African Bishop

♫   We put our best foot forward, but it’s the other one that needs the attention.    William Sloan Coffin

♫   Only half the lies people tell about me are true. Yogi Berra

♫   You should be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.    Yogi Berra

♫    A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.     Leo Tolstoy

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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.

Spreading your wings in a confusing world
James Hurd               October, 2015

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: All Hallows Eve
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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.  Stories about how childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America. Buy it here:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)
See pics related to Wingspread here: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

New blog article:   All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en story) 

I know that Hallowe’en should be a sacred time in preparing for All Saints Day, November 1, so my apologies for this horror story.

The three-story, 100-year-old house is obscured by a tall oak with its leafless, witch-finger branches that slash across the full moon and pierce the night sky. The wind is rising and rain threatens. On this cold autumn night, smoke pours from the chimney, but no light escapes the shuttered windows. The passing years have flaked off big patches of paint from the porch rails….    Read more here:  http://wp.me/p5hvfJ-70

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Writer’s Corner
Writer’s Term of the Week:  “Resonating the Lead”

Ending where you began. Circling back to where you opened your story. Resonating the lead will give your reader a sense of satisfaction, closure, a feeling that you’ve fulfilled your promise.

Books and Film reviews
The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected (Nik Ripken [a pseudonym], with Gregg Lewis. B&H Publishing. Nashville, TN. 2013. 322 pages). Ripken (a pseudonym) set out to carefully listen to and record the stories of persecuted, oppressed Christians in Somalia, several Arab countries, Russia, Eastern Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. Ripkin’s question: Where is God amidst all this suffering, and how can I trust a God who would let bad things happebn? The stories captivate. But the parallel story is the challenge to the American church, and Ripkin’s journey about doubting God when he sank into doubt and despair, followed by his “resurrection” after he saw the courage and persistence of persecuted Christians around the world.

Favorite quotes

♫   He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.    Winston Churchill

♫   Every nation makes decisions based on self-interest and defends them on the basis of morality.    William Sloane Coffin

♫   It is one thing to say with the prophet Amos, “Let justice roll down like mighty waters,” and quite another to work out the irrigation system.    William Sloane Coffin

♫   It is a mistake to look to the Bible to close a discussion; the Bible seeks to open one.    William Sloane Coffin

♫   He’s a modest little person, with much to be modest about.    Winston Churchill

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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.

“Spreading your wings” in a complex world

Contents

• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Newest blog article: Longing for Life
• Writer’s Corner
• Book and Film reviews
• Favorite quotes

Subscribe free to this E-zine

Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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—Wingspread: A Memoir of Faith and Flying.

Stories about how my childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America. Buy it here:  jimhurd.com (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)
See pics related to Wingspread: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

New blog:   Longing for Life

Daily joys make life complete
But unlived joys oft’ seem more sweet.

‘Tis not the pilots lust the sky
But groundlings who may never fly.

The healthy take each day for granted;
The dying count each day as blessèd.

Gluttons scorn their daily bread;
The starving judge one dry crust good.

Wives live bored in nuptial bliss,
Single souls seek just one kiss….

 Read more here:  http://wp.me/p5hvfJ-6N

(*Request: Please leave a comment on the website after reading this article. Thanks.)

Writer’s Corner
Writer’s Word for the Week:  Psychic Distance

Where does the narrator stand relative to the character?  How far does the narrator take the reader inside the character’s head? For instance, the narrator can zoom out for a panoramic view and then zoom in for an up-close, detailed description.  The narrator can describe as an objective outsider, or as an emotionally-engaged insider. Track how you use psychic distance in your writing!

Books and Film reviews

Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything. 2014. A dramatic film about the life and loves of Stephen Hawking, astrophysicist. Hawking, now a 72-year-old quadriplegic, advanced human knowledge about the universe’s beginnings, but has not found faith in God. Heavy on the love life, and light on the physics and cosmology. ***

Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission. Michael Gorman. Eerdmans. 2015. Wonkish, with occasional Greek words. But a powerful, holistic reading of St. Paul’s letters to the churches, where Paul sees the new, local churches in Asia and Europe as Christ’s guerrilla-movement for bringing in shalom, and indeed, the Kingdom of God. ***

Favorite quotes

♫   A member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease!”
“That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.”

♫  “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”  Clarence Darrow

♫  “There’s nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won’t cure.” Jack E. Leonard

♫  “God is to our generation what sex was to the Victorians.” Malcolm Muggeridge

♫  “The Church is a whore, but she’s our mother.”  Philip Berrigan

*                                  *                                  *                                  *

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

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

“Spreading your wings” in a complex world
James Hurd               August, 2015

Contents
1. E-zine subscription information
2. How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
3. Newest blog article:
4. Writer’s Corner
5. Book and Film reviews
6. Favorite quotes
 

Subscribe free to this E-zine   Click here http://jimhurd.com to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine 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—Wingspread: A Memoir of Faith and Flying  Stories about how my childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America. Buy it here:  jimhurd.com  (or, at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, etc.)
See pics related to Wingspread: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

New blog article:   Fear GPS Betty!  

I’m a bad navigator—missing exits, choosing the wrong route, getting turned around. For years I’ve had a recurring dream where I’m driving around lost in a foreign city. I’m apprehensive, late for my appointment, and clothed only in my underwear. Too proud to stop and ask directions, or even consult a map….
Read more here:  http://wp.me/p5hvfJ-6z

(*Request: Please leave a comment on the website after reading this article. Thanks.)

Writer’s Corner
Writer’s Word of the Week:  compression. If you wish to write about one decade of your life, compress it. List a few significant events, but pick out just three highlights and expand on them, instead of droning on about everything.

Iowa Summer Writing Festival. My weekend at the University of Iowa was like drinking from a firehose. Powerful suggestions for “telling your tale.” The challenge now is to apply them, practice them, integrate them into my own writing. Pricey, but very valuable. (They provided coffee the first day, but meals and lodging are on your own.) http://www.iowasummerwritingfestival.org/

Books and Film reviews
Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection. Just finished this book. A powerful tale of seduction, waywardness, and the long road to redemption, set in late 1800’s Russia. A wealthy prince seduces a poor housemaid, driving her into prostitution. He later accompanies her to exile in Siberia, trying to atone for his sins. Great descriptions of scenes and characters. I frequently put a “W” (“writing”) in the book margins where I see ideas for my own writing. He takes an “omniscient” view, revealing to the reader the thoughts and intents of the hearts of his characters. Motivations.

Remains of the Day (based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989). I recommend this film of blind, misguided loyalty and lost love. Set in 1930’s England in the mansion of wealthy Lord Darlington. His Butler, Stevens, is 100% loyal to Darlington, in spite of Darlington’s Nazi sympathies. Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, loves Stevens, but Stevens is oblivious, and does not return her love. Years later, he encounters Kenton in a poignant conversation.

Favorite quotes

♫   Education is what someone does to you. Learning is what you do for yourself.

♫  You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not ever get there.
Yogi Berra

♫  God gave you two ends: One to sit on and one to think with. Success depends upon which one you use most —

Heads you win
Tails you lose!

Anonymous

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