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Word Worth Volume VIII, 2008, Issues are available by clicking on the name of the month below.Get Acrobat Reader  Adobe Reader is needed to access them.  A free copy is available here:

Editorials

Arts

Columns

Working OutMarien Helz

January

A Test of WillCharles 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 ...

Classic Readings
 by
Word Worth

   “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.

Rediscovering HopkinsM H Perry

February

Reclining WomanCharles Miess

   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 ...

Biography as Critical AnalysisM H Perry

March

A Matter of RespectCharles Miess

   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
 
   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.

Making LemonadeMarien Helz

April

Literary Heroes—Part I—Graceann MacLeod

   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
 
   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.

Updating AdagesMarien Helz

May

Literary Heroes—Part II—Graceann MacLeod

   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
 
   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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