Who Am I?
Today, I interviewed the author of Reconciliation Blues (Fall 2006). He offered wisdom for writers. "Have a mission statement, a sense of your call."
I asked him, "Do you have a mission statement?"
"I see myself as a bridge builder," he said. "Someone who connects people and communities—racially, culturally, generationally."
So, after I settled the phone back in its cradle, I asked myself this question... as a writer, who am I?
I am a shameless lockpicker...an eave to duck under in rain...the face on a NYC sidewalk that says, "Sure, ask me for directions."...the hand that prepares your supper with a mandolin and fresh-snipped sage...a grain of pollen that makes you sneeze...careful fingers that retrieve and untangle the ball of string that your naughty cat dragged all over the house...the clown at a circus, with a red nose and boxers, who comes out mostly at half-time...and, I am the child who sits motionless, under the oak-leaf table, watching her grandmother drop plump garnet cherries into the merciless pitter.
So, tell me. In your profession, who are you?
Reconciliation Blues
I asked him, "Do you have a mission statement?"
"I see myself as a bridge builder," he said. "Someone who connects people and communities—racially, culturally, generationally."
So, after I settled the phone back in its cradle, I asked myself this question... as a writer, who am I?
I am a shameless lockpicker...an eave to duck under in rain...the face on a NYC sidewalk that says, "Sure, ask me for directions."...the hand that prepares your supper with a mandolin and fresh-snipped sage...a grain of pollen that makes you sneeze...careful fingers that retrieve and untangle the ball of string that your naughty cat dragged all over the house...the clown at a circus, with a red nose and boxers, who comes out mostly at half-time...and, I am the child who sits motionless, under the oak-leaf table, watching her grandmother drop plump garnet cherries into the merciless pitter.
So, tell me. In your profession, who are you?
Reconciliation Blues
posted by L.L. Barkat at 8:11 PM
7 Comments:
I see myself as a bulldozer, pushing away clutter and creating wide open spaces for vibrant thought and discussion.
Excellent post!
If you are a bulldozer, then I submit that your writing style is the world's biggest muffler... what I mean, with high compliments, is that you have a quiet, easy way in your written work.
This post caused me to reflect a lot on what I am trying to accomplish with my writing -- I incorporated more of that vision in my website and blog. Thanks again.
Oh, yes. I see you even renamed your blog! Wonderful title... Wide Open Spaces.
By the way, the deleted comment is a fluke. I did not delete it... and I have very little "censor" in my blood. In fact, I apologize to the person who had posted it. It was a wonderful comment, and I'll try to see if it can be retrieved somehow.
what stirs my heart are the uneexpected moments in nature or with the Spirit when I have the chance to say, "Hey! look at that!"
Whether it is a passing hawk or a "coincidental" joining of creative thinking between two people working together in our church community, both moments of revelation are celebratory to me.
So, the question "who am I?", I guess it would be safe to say that you are the one with a party hat in your pocket... ready for a celebration... whether it glides out the woods or spills from the hands of your community?
Just a thought.
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