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Word
Worth Volume VIII, 2008, Issues are available by clicking on the name of
the month below.
Adobe Reader is needed to access them. A free copy is available
here: |
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Editorials |
Arts
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Columns |
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Working Out—Marien
Helz |
January |
A Test of Will—Charles
Miess |
Exercise is clearly a very good thing—something we tend to get
too little of. Still, when people talk about it, there is such
sanctimony involved. I Believe in Working Out!, they
pronounce, using the same tone that people used to use when
stating I Believe in God and Country! It’s the “Working
Out” term that makes this silly. By calling exercising for the
sake of exercising “Work” a certain noblesse appears
bestowed upon it.
Face it; this is not work. It’s play. People pay an enormous
amount of money for expensive toys to help them move “muscle
groups.” They pay a ... |
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Classic Readings
by
Word Worth |
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“It’s beautiful,
untouched, unpopulated forest; there’s no evidence of human
impact or presence up in these mountains.” He added that
several natives who considered themselves owners of the
surrounding forest accompanied them and were astonished at the
area’s isolation. “The men from the local villages came with us
and they made it clear that no one they knew had been anywhere
near this area—not even their ancestors.”
Although no new species of bird had been discovered in New
Guinea since 1939, the scientists discovered a new one... on
their first day. |
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Rediscovering
Hopkins—M
H Perry |
February |
Reclining Woman—Charles
Miess |
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Drew, who looked like a successful businessman and stood out
among the less mature students, was polite, but he was
particularly persistent in letting me and the class know that he
had things to do and places to go, and felt that nothing could
waste his time more than reading fiction and poetry. When I
began the section on Hopkins, he raised his hand, and I braced
for the onslaught of polite but tiresome questions on why we
bother with this. To my surprise, he loved Hopkins, especially
Sonnet 42. Hopkins is tough—that sonnet in particular, so I was
intrigued. |
Gerard Manley
Hopkins |
Okay, I’ll admit right from the start that I’m really dumb when
it comes to the arts. My brain is more attuned to precise and
concrete ideas—math and science and that sort of thing. When it
comes to abstract concepts, I struggle; when it comes to
abstract art, I pretend.
My first visit to an art show was on the lawn of the town hall in a
nearby village. I gave token attention to the abstract stuff
while surreptitiously working my way to the kind I could
understand. Once there, I was enchanted by pastoral scenes that
invited me to step in and ... |
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Biography as Critical Analysis—M
H Perry |
March |
A Matter of Respect—Charles
Miess |
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When one analyzes a
poem, the object is to decipher it: to discover the meaning that
the poet intended. To some extent, understanding the life of the
poet is helpful. Most biography based analysis, however, muddles
the intent rather than clarifying it. Lives are subtle and
cannot really be known without interpreting words and actions.
Interpretation is better left to the artwork itself. We don’t
know for certain what another person is thinking no matter how
close we are to them. |
Photography
by
A. W. Helz
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Years ago, the president of a large university was asked to
prepare a quotation on the subject of ethics for the foyer of a
new public building. He was stumped. How do you sum up the
whole of human activities and interaction with just a few
words? Oh he considered many of the exalted proclamations from
history, but somehow they didn’t quite fit. He finally came up
with this simple statement: Civilization is just the slow
process of learning to be kind. |
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Making
Lemonade—Marien
Helz |
April |
Literary Heroes—Part I—Graceann MacLeod |
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If life hands you a lemon, you
should make lemonade. In the northern states of the USA, snow is
the equivalent of a lemon, and it precipitates lemons in much of
the north from mid-November to mid-March. Often enough, those
boundaries are stretched to encompass mid-October to mid-April
or later. In the Buffalo, New York, area, nine inches of snow
once fell in May 7. While ... the snow goes away very quickly,
it still leaves a gloomy residue on the psyche. |
Snow
Sculpture
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I love to write. It gives me a chance to explore my
vocabulary, and the puzzle of how to make words flow together in
new and interesting ways has always fascinated me. ...
I’ve made pilgrimages involving all three of these people.
They are the folks I turn to when the “real world” becomes
overwhelming, and the inspiration I seek when my well of words
runs dry. Two of them may be somewhat unfamiliar to you,
and the third I’m sure you know very well. |
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Updating
Adages—Marien
Helz |
May |
Literary Heroes—Part II—Graceann MacLeod |
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Cultures gather wise sayings as a kind of advice shortcut: learn
this truth to avoid mistakes—or this error is one you’re likely
to make now. The problem is, a lot of our maxims are out-dated.
They deal with horses. How many families own a horse now? The
examples in our proverbs have become remote, so they no longer
function as the shortcut to wisdom that they were intended to
be. What’s needed is an update. We’ll start with “Either fish or
cut bait.” |
Photography
by
Stanley Alster
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I love to write. It gives me a chance to explore my
vocabulary, and the puzzle of how to make words flow together in
new and interesting ways has always fascinated me. ...
I’ve made pilgrimages involving all three of these people.
They are the folks I turn to when the “real world” becomes
overwhelming, and the inspiration I seek when my well of words
runs dry. Two of them may be somewhat unfamiliar to you,
and the third I’m sure you know very well. |
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