Mid-afternoon. You had your morning walk in
the park then came home and mowed the yard. Presently you finished a Subway
picnic at the small park by the Little Miami River at Foster. Carol is on page
221 of Bel-Air Dead and reading while you are not particularly ready to
do in writing.
It wasn’t so cloudy this morning and
the sugar maples are looking really good this Fall. (Why does Word no want me
to capitalize the seasons?) It seems to me I was taught to capitalize them in
elementary school. My favorite romantic poets most always capitalized them. I
read a good ‘fiction’ by Joyce Carol Oates in the newest Harpers, which
arrived yesterday. The focus was on the summer of 1951 at Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference and the Poet of the Summer was Robert Frost. Joyce was the fictional
interviewer of Frost and the story showed a lot of enlightened detail about the
‘real’ Robert Frost that I had heard stories about. One of those with Oates at
Bread Loaf that summer was John Ciardi. Her description of him was pretty good
too; though I meant him some twelve or so years later there was a mischievous
and naughty character floating around in his mind too. Oates listed some
biographies about Frost at the end of her story to reinforce the fiction, which
was quite cleverly written. For the first three pages or so I thought it
nonfiction – very well written. Every time I see mention of Bread Loaf I think
back on how Mrs. Cleora Fuller one of the English professors at Otterbein
wanted me to go to Bread Loaf one summer. She thought I had talent that needed
some creative nurturing, one of the few besides Dr. Coulter that felt so. I
remember Bread Loaf as a positive; that I could have gone there as Mrs. Fuller
had. The only course I had her for was Advanced Poetry. I earned an A and had
fun all the way through the course. I loved that class. (1523)
You were checking out Bread Loaf on
Wikipedia Offline but feel awkward about dropping any selections in here. I’ll
choice a couple of paragraphs as the concept of your attending the conference
was enough to give you added confidence in your pursuit of literature and
writing in those earlier days. – Amorella
** **
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a
writers’ conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf
Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by The New Yorker "the oldest and most
prestigious writers’ conference in the country." Bread Loaf is sponsored
by Middlebury College and at its inception was closely associated with Robert
Frost, who attended a total of 29 sessions. (Frost lived in nearby Ripton.)
Noted authors who have been associated with the
conference over the years include James Brown, John Ciardi, Bernard DeVoto,
Robert Frost, John Gardner, Richard Gehman, Donald Hall, John Irving, Shirely
Jackson, Barry Lopez, Robie Macauley, Carson McCullers, Norman Mailer, Toni
Morrison, Linda Pastan, May Sarton, Anne Sexton, Eudora Welty, and Richard
Yates.
From Wikipedia Offline
** **
1945
hours. Earlier I attempted to find more information on Professor of English,
Cleora Fuller, but I could not. I do know she graduated from Middlebury College
– she was in her late sixties or early seventies when I had her for class.
Carol made your Grandma Schick’s and her
Grandma Cook’s recipe for meatloaf for supper (along with asparagus). Family
recipes are among the best from your point of view. You also put most of the
names and important locations of family and friends into the car’s navigation
system late this afternoon. You had to call Kim to get the address of the condo
in Madeira Beach. When you asked she immediately rattled it off. She remembers
addresses and telephone numbers from thirty years ago. She also told you to see
the new film, Gravity – she rated it a 4/5 out of 5 and reminded you on
how much she thought about being an astronaut in her younger days. – Amorella
Kim is my favorite daughter.
2008
hours. I was glancing over what posts people looked at today and such a
coincidence, one was “The Legendary Gabriel” posted 4 September 2009 and here
is a selection:
** **
“The
Legendary Gabriel”
Amorella
here. This is an early autumn photograph of a quite serene Gabriel in a quite
serene and dignified place, Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. The raising of
the trumpet, and ancient symbol of the call Homeward.
What this
photo reminds orndorff of is a 1960 episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight
Zone titled, “A Passage for Trumpet” starring Jack Klugman and John
Anderson. Richard remembers the episode but not the details, which have been
quickly provided by Google.
A quick
history here. Orndorff wanted to take a class from Serling when he was teaching
at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, but he never had the chance. One of
his teacher’s at Otterbein suggested he spend a summer at the Bread Loaf School
of English at Middlebury College in Vermont but he didn’t have the economic
opportunity, so later, he made me up instead. And, I made up ‘the other side’.
I thought
since he liked the humor of turning a person inside out by showing the
unconscious mind first I would continue it through the process of showing up in
a two-dimensional sort of place dead. Length and width with no depth. A
stretched heartansoulanmind – this is funny. Alone and laid out flat to dry, so
to speak. It sound cruel, but then so does the birth process. Besides, after an
individual gets to understand herorhimself better sheorhe is more comfortable
with old friends and family who are there to Meet and Greet.
Now, in my
story, individuals can stay in their comfort zone as long as they wish, but
most want to move on. Moving on means more Meets and Greets. The whole species
is there so what else is there to do? Besides, being human is, in part, being
social, at least with a few others. People can’t define themselves alone. They
have to have comparisons and contrasts. Attractions of personality still
attract and people are interesting and there is plenty of time, as it were, to
listen to each other’s stories about how life was and why, at least from their
own standpoints. The individual human spirit still grows. Self-learning still
takes place. Compassion, sympathy and consideration are what a human being is
and the three aspects are what sheorhe continues to be. Simply put, that’s it. [Amorella]
You didn’t
mention “HeavenOrHellBothOrNeither” which is in the books.
That’s a
subset of being laid out to dry. Honestly working out one’s life can be the
variety of HeavenOrHellBothOrNeither. Individuals still have their Free Will to
do what they want relative to the existential conditions they find themselves
in. What else would one realistically expect? - [Amorella]
This post
death concept doesn’t come out in the books. I don’t know whether I like this
idea, Amorella.
That’s
tough, orndorff. I thought you would find some humor in it. - [Amorella]
Some of the
concept is flat out funny, but it doesn’t seem fair to leave it all up to the
individual.
That’s what
friends and sometimes family are for. Although this is not mentioned as such in
the books, it does fit in the criteria of the three volumes. - [Amorella]
I really wasn’t
expecting this.
Famous post
death last words, so to speak. Fortunately in my sense of the books your humor
goes with you. Humor and friends help, just as they help the living. In here
people are built to adapt for a reason. - [Amorella]
Enough on
this topic. Very unexpected, Amorella. This is somewhat embarrassing.
Embarrassment
is not the topic for tomorrow. Let’s go with ‘humor’ as the topic. - [Amorella]
It is not
funny to discuss humor.
Cheer up, orndorff. This is not a
college class. It costs nothing. You are too set in your ways, too stogy. I
think you are just upset because I didn’t write what you thought I was going to
write. Too bad. Live with it, kid. – Amorella.
Posted - 4 September 2009 - Encounters in Mind
** **
You dropped in the whole post. Where’s the
selection? – Amorella
I didn’t know where to cut it.
Why did you leave Gabriel out? – Amorella
I don’t know.
Well, drop the photo in where it belongs and
we’ll call it a day. – Amorella
Why is the photograph so important; it
has nothing to do with Professor Fuller?
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