I worked in a dark room once, one of my first jobs at a newspaper. I didn't have a clue what I was doing which wasn't anything new in those days. A precedent, you might say, started when I was in first grade and was instructed to fold a grocery bag. All the other kids were folding their bags while I watched, fluffing my in a vain effort to look as though I knew what I was doing. Again, this problem resurfaced when we had tamales for lunch; I didn't realize they were wrapped in paper and subsequently ate the tamale, paper in all, not knowing any better until I saw all the dead soldiers on the other kid's plates. Not a good moment. But the dark room was a solitary humiliation; I ruined a lot of pictures. Even so, I loved the moment when you could see what was starting to appear on the negative. Like a Polaroid, the image didn't appear all at once.
I suppose this applies to the writing life or all of life really. We prophesy in part. Hindsight, that evil bitch that lives to haunt us, is always ever so twenty/twenty. Famous last words -- it seemed like a good idea at the time. Or as Hank used to say, You knew the assignment was dangerous when you took it. (He mostly said this to guys who complained about dating me. Awesome.) But even so, I have a nostalgia for the days when everything wasn't so instant. Which, of course, is totally satisfied by writing. Nothing instant about that process! And when you process all the negatives, you still must bring it to the light.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"If I knew what the picture was going to be like I wouldn’t make it. It was almost like it was made already.. the challenge is more about trying to make what you can’t think of." Cindy Sherman
Cocktail Hour
Drinking jewelry suggestion:
www.artjewelrydesigns.com
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Thursday! Must agree with Heff -- Feldman is the more annoying of the two Coreys. Please send lots of love to my buddy Mark, aka The Walking Man. I'm not at liberty to say more, but there you have it!
Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction.--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
ReplyDeleteIn the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on how we have loved.--St. John of the Cross
ReplyDeleteMy place is the placeless, my trace is the traceless; 'Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the Beloved.--Jelaluddin Rudi
ReplyDeleteLove is kicking me all around, like a gong, I tell you.--Thomas Merton
ReplyDeleteGene, Gene, the dancing machine!--Chuck Barris
ReplyDeleteYou tell zee Hank of zee gay, eh?--Inspector Cloud Clueso
ReplyDeleteTo write is for me a very grave exercise, full of risk: to say what I know, not more, not less.--Rene Daumal
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteI love the way you express things in your writing...there is little that isn't instant today, except, as you said, writing.
A pic of a gorgeous woman with lots of beer in the background? It's like you took it just for me. :)
Blogger pervert warning in effect.
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the Old Miami bring along a can of Lysol for your pool cue.--Minnesota Fats
ReplyDeleteGarbage!--Michelle
ReplyDeleteDo you have a vague pronoun reference with the use of "it" in the last sentence?--N. Chomsky
ReplyDeleteTo avoid any confusion, I mean, of course, the "it" in the "Benedictions and Maledictions" section of your overall wonderful post.--N. Chomsky
ReplyDeleteYes, N., it's kind of a self-parody of a professor. I like it and it's charming. Used it more than once in my teaching career in Toronto.--Herman Northrop Frye
ReplyDeleteI did something similar to your tamale thing once. I went to my 1st meeting of a haiku group at some Japanese restaurant & instead of just eating the beans (edamame, I think? I don't know the foods' names,) I ate--with great difficulty & discomfort--the whole pod. I've since stopped attending those meetings. <:\
ReplyDeleteThanks for the card, btw! That was very sweet of you. :)