This image stayed with me for a long time, until it finally burned almost all the way down into a little poem. :-) Here it is.
Who Are Your Light-Bringers?
THIS is an invitation to share with me a story about who made a huge difference in your life. More than ever, we need to turn our collective gaze on the quiet heroes that have, in the words of Mother Teresa, may not “done great things, but have done small things with great love.” Or, maybe they did do great things. Tell me about them.
Here’s how it’ll work. Click this link and in a brief way, describe the person and why they’re on the light-bringer list. I won’t post it right away, so don’t worry about that. I’ll contact you, and we’ll have a chat about it. Then I’ll try to write it up as accurately as possible, with a view to keeping things succinct.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a young man named Finn Jackson, who started up his own curbside recycling company. It so happens he’s also my (side)grandson. You could write about your grandson or granddaughter, or your auntie, or a teacher decades ago. Anybody.
The point is that wherever we’re looking, that’s where we’ll end up.
So. Don’t we want to be acknowledging all the great stuff going on right in our own lives? Click on this link, and tell me a story. Then I’ll tell everyone else on this list. And maybe they’ll tell their friends. And we’re a little closer to the world we want.
Can’t hurt to try, right?
The song I wrote for Jane Dominick, who helped me read Shakespeare.
I only completed half my sophomore year in high school (unconventional educational years followed), I never read the classics when other people did. I started much later. I was very insecure and defensive about it. Poo-pooed the whole endeavor.
Enter Jane Dominick, an English teacher who became one of my very best friends. I asked her to help me fill in the blanks I’d missed in my education. She started me with King Lear. I said, “You have to be kidding.” I rolled my eyes. She said, “Try it,” and put a copy in my hands that had held, on the right side, the Shakespearean language, and on the left hand, the ‘translation’ into modern English.
I was shy and sure that I’d fail at this. But eventually I fell in love with it. I would call her late at night and say, “Jane, listen to this!” And I’d read a passage that had just blown me away (on the Shakespearean side). She would smile and say, yeah, that’s why he’s called Shakespeare.
So I’m telling you this for two reasons: 1) Read the classics, in case you haven’t. There is a rich world beyond your wildest imagination that awaits you, especially if you’re a writer. And 2) I wanted to share with you a song I wrote, probably some time around 1985 or so. Although we don’t have a lot of contact these days, Jane Dominick remains very dear to me. Our kids were in school together when we both lived in Cody, Wyoming. Here’s the song I wrote for her. Hope you enjoy it.
thank you..