hello.
Had a talk with a potter the other day. “It never comes out the way I imagined it,” she told me.
“It rarely does,” I said, cupping the mug she’d made between my hands. I love mugs without handles. Holding something with both hands close to me makes me want to have those kinds of conversations that meander and maybe they end up somewhere but mostly there’s a lot of, “That reminds me of…,” and, “Did I ever tell you….” and it could be hours but it’s felt like five minutes and I wonder if the potter meant to make a handle for the mug, but forgot to add one, or saw the blues and grays and is that gold that came from the glaze? I don’t know how these things go, but I understand what it feels like to dream something up and then all of the sudden that dream has a mind of its own.
It’s still the potter’s dream. All that’s happened is she’s given herself to it, and it’s reflecting – maybe shining – pieces of her back. It’s not how she imagined because maybe those are pieces that she didn’t know about, or kept hidden, but now that they’ve been held and tended to, and set to the fire, maybe now they’re showing something beyond her imagination.
Every potter has to decide then – do we offer what we’ve become so that the world might hold it close?
local.
My friend Andres Roldan made the NAAC Top 2020 Hip-Hop Records. “Space Craft” is #50, and you can see the video here. It’s fantastic, and I know it’s not technically local, but I’ve known Andres since he was 11, and was lip-syncing to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” and also his and his sister’s home was my second home growing up, so that feels pretty local to me.
offerings.
Manuscript and Essay Critique.
Reading Well + Writing Well – starts January 10.
Advanced Storytelling – Starts January 17.
twirl girl and the teacher.
“I’ve read Callie’s essays before. And I’ve seen her teach. But to see her weave together her stories – both personal stories and teaching stories – into one books is nothing short of magnificent. Callie has a way with words – and a way with adolescents – that is unmatched. You’ll come away from this book enriched and hopeful – and almost wishing you could go back to 8th grade if meant having Mrs. Feyen as your teacher!”
Twirl
“I cried, I laughed out loud. Callie writes with such authenticity, her words reach out and touch you, sometimes shaking you awake, sometimes as a comforting grasp of a hand. “I know,” it’s as if she is saying, “I know, and it’s really ok.” Bearing witness to life’s ups and downs with vulnerability and a sense of joyous engagement, you won’t be able to put it down.”
Happy New Year.
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