13: Write Up My Alley
1. I recently had to get up in the middle of the night to write down this thought about how made-in-China products in the U.S. are like invasive species.
2. I read books slowly either because I don’t like them or I like them too much and don’t want them to end.
3. I think an odometer should be called an oldometer. Mine turned over at 60 + this year.
4. “Write up my alley” came as a typo in comment to a friend about a Death Café. I meant to say “talking about death AND drinking tea, that’s right up my alley.”
5. A highlight of last week came when Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane came on over the loud speaker while I was eating a cheese burger and French fries at 5 Guys. I thought it would make a nice impromptu music video to honor Lou, the Velvet Undergounder who recently passed away. See HERE.
6. You know, those were different times … Oh, all the poets they studied rules of verse … And those ladies, they rolled their eyes …
7. Ultimately, the technical part of writing can always be worked on, but you can’t invent a voice. My writer’s voice is stream of consciousness language that I can trace back to my childhood. It’s untamed and seems to come from the underworld. I’ve learned to yield and listen to it. It’s the raw material of writing that once collected into notes, I’m compelled to make something of.
8. I may have missed Woodstock by a matter of degree, but at least I was HERE.
9. My friend Katherine has five sons who I like to think of as the original Five Guys.
10. Breaking ground by horse power on the high school’s new farm school was covered by the Roanoke Times and picked up by the Associated Press and the Washington Post. I went to the event to get pictures of one of the horse loggers for a story I was doing and ended up covering it too HERE.
11. The Affordable Care Act: I’m thinking that the loss of preexisting conditions alone is worth the price of admission for me. It got to the point that I wouldn’t tell my doctor my health issues because every time I got labeled with something new my rates went up.
12. THIS really appeals to the survivalist in my and the tea lover!
13. I like PBS’s Shields and Brooks but David Byrne is my favorite Talking Head.
________Thirteen Thursday ______Photo is from one of my son Josh’s collage journal.
November 21st, 2013 2:30 am
I think #4 counts as a Freudian slip.
November 21st, 2013 4:04 am
Maybe for #7 my writer’s voice has gotten buried under a ton of distractions and just given up.
November 21st, 2013 8:31 am
love that original 5 and your 2 boys and their 2 boys ??
November 21st, 2013 1:30 pm
good for you for listening to your voice. Sometimes I have great difficulty in even allowing myself to have a voice.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
November 21st, 2013 2:43 pm
Absolutely LOVE number one on your list. This is why I no longer buy Christmas decorations (aside from lights) but make my own — because it’s next to impossible to find anything “made in the USA” any more. My Make-A-Wish T13
November 21st, 2013 3:07 pm
Love the low-tech campstove vid. Too bad my backpacking days are pretty much over.
PS: My Beloved Sandra & I leave VT for VA on Sunday. Her daughter’s in Fredricksburg. I don’t imagine we’ll be visiting Floyd, but I’ll be thinking of you anyway.
November 21st, 2013 3:28 pm
I checked and you’d be about 4 hours away from Floyd, Ron. Come some time for a weekend and see the Friday Night Jamboree (and me!).
November 21st, 2013 6:06 pm
I agree with Alice about #4, but perhaps more of a “Floydian slip”? 🙂
November 21st, 2013 7:55 pm
As always—and I know I say this almost every time—-Another fascinating and eclectic T13.
I always love when you talk about writing, Colleen….AND, How To Make A Stove is an invaluable piece of info—-Especially if there is a power outage. One can make this ahead of time, keep the alcohol on hand….And your ready for anything!!!
November 22nd, 2013 8:22 am
Great list, Colleen. I agree with #2. I do the same thing, usually because I don’t want the story to end. 🙂
November 22nd, 2013 7:38 pm
those were different times…man, how I love that song! Loved the video, my artist friend 🙂