|
Crazed Turkey & Writing - 20 March 2003 . 07:46 I'm watching Waylon Jennings sing "America" on CMT. God, he rocks. Lots to update on so I'll get right to it. I realize I haven't updated in, well, a long time but I've been busy. My sister got a new job, she's been coming to visit, Grandpa was in the hospital for a heart problem, my best friend just had her first child (a preemie), and my work schedule keeps me hoppin' as well. Grandpa is home and well now, thank goodness, and my best friend's baby will be able to leave the hospital in a couple of weeks. Boy, 5 pounds, 11 ounces is a small start to life... I almost forgot the little tidbits of North Carolina history ya'll so eagerly anticipate..... And now, On This Day In North Carolina brings you..... MARCH 20!! 1793: Samuel Spencer, justice of the state supreme court, dies as a result of wounds inflicted by a turkey. Spencer was sitting on the porch of his home near Wadesboro (Anson County) when he became sleepy and began to nod; his bobbing red cap apparently provoked the turkey to attack. The 59 year-old judge was thrown from his chair and suffered numerous scratches, which became fatally infected 1865: Bentonville is the site of the bloodiest battle ever fought on North Carolina soil. General Joseph E. Johnston manages to surprise Sherman's larger force, but Union reinforcements arrive and turn the battle. Confederate losses total 2,600, Union losses 1,600. 1922: St. Agnes Hospital at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, perhaps the only well-equipped hospital for blacks between Washington and New Orleans, sends out a fund-raising letter under the headline, "A critical situation. A most urgent need. A plea for St. Agnes Hospital that we may continue to serve." Among those responding, the Ku Klux Klan, which donates $100. I have begun a small writing project. A very small writing project. A friend asked me to write a story for her. [To explain would be a long drawn out and potentially embarassing thing so I shall refrain.] Anyhow, I am excited to be writing again (yippee!) but I'm also, for lack of better phrase, bummed out. You see, I fancy myself an actual writer [the fact I have not truly written anything of importance is beside the point] and writing for someone takes away from the art. Writing for someone, whether it be professor or friend or what have you, makes me feel as if I'm their literary puppet. I must dance to their tune. Being limited and bound robs me almost entirely of my own creative process, which is not a good thing. I can't make myself write for the sake of writing, however, because I feel to write aimlessly is to waste writing. I am positive that statement will make sense to no one but it makes sense to me and that's what's important. I know, because of the requested subject, this writing project will be little more than pulp. It will be a tawdry romance novel you buy at the checkout for $3.99 with the names changed. So why am I doing it then? I need the "creative" and mental exercise. I will take the subject and mold it into a breathing entity all its own. I will make it mine. Nah, I feel only a minute fraction of bummed-out-ness. And what negative I do feel is really only frustration with myself for not taking the time to write. Truthfully, I think it will be fun. It all boils down to me writing to please an audience instead of performing my art and giving no consideration to the audience or lack of audience. And perhaps this will humble me; destroy that whole exaggerated tower of greatness that exists in my head. Just quit bitching and write. I will take a brief detour here and state my great happiness with the local radio station for banning the Dixie Chicks indefinitely. It takes guts to poll your listeners then make their opinion the rule. And ban a chart topping, best selling group to boot. **My thoughts and prayers are with our troops, both deployed and those anxiously waiting, their families, the President and our nation.** I think HamHock is a pretty funny name for a pet...unless it's pig and then it's just cruel...
%%commentscount%% comments so far Recent Grooves:
 diaryland - zkn1 design
|
|