tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3714709754261276888.post7404477298800653548..comments2024-03-27T23:57:29.971-04:00Comments on Joan Soble: So Already . . . : "Saving Mr. Banks": Thinking About The Stories Behind The StoriesJoan Soblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428565769358582476noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3714709754261276888.post-52416650125995146572013-12-25T11:52:43.686-05:002013-12-25T11:52:43.686-05:00Hi, Jim --
No pyre worries about me; as you suspe...Hi, Jim --<br /><br />No pyre worries about me; as you suspect, I'm enjoying have the chance to write after all these years of having too little time to do so, mostly because I was helping other people do so. I do love your "The sublime function of wolves" phrase. I also like your idea of not spending 20 years worrying about the wolves.<br /><br />Am glad to know your writer-to-lawyer story. Still am hoping that/wondering how this writing regularly with some sense of actually being read might help me find the right spot to put my shoulder to the wheel during life post-CRLS.<br /><br />Merry Christmas, Jim!<br />JSSJoan Soblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01428565769358582476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3714709754261276888.post-89497827397167692612013-12-24T17:13:58.971-05:002013-12-24T17:13:58.971-05:00Joan,
No hard feelings (I hope), but I do not thi...Joan,<br /><br />No hard feelings (I hope), but I do not think that blogging is good for you.<br /><br />All these poignent reminiscences. Yi, yi, yi. I feel like you are about to climb up on the funeral pyre, and flick the match yourself.<br /><br />Get down from there!<br /><br />The world needs you. Really needs you.<br /><br />You are smart and tough and energetic, and the world needs all those things. Catastrophe looms in every direction. Climate change, perpetual war, the surveillance state, dysfunctional political institutions, journalism gutted, private propanda organs well-funded, financial institutions floated only by fraud and insider connections. We’re in trouble!<br /><br />Find a spot to put your shoulder to the wheel. Again.<br /><br />As to the value of stories, as a general matter -- meh.<br /><br />I know you have taught the art of language for many years, know a lot about it, and I figure you admire the writers and the writing. But, you know what? None of that stuff has made half the difference in people’s lives that you have by your love and encouragement to all those kids.<br /><br />Heck, writers should wish that they could be a tenth as successful as you have been already (and not to mention the future shoulder to the wheel stuff).<br /><br />And that’s not idle bullshit (I don’t do “idle” bullshit). I gave up the dream of being a writer at a very specific moment. It was when I imagined that I completed my book to my satisfaction, and it GOT RAVE REVIEWS (in my mind), and then, I thought, will I have changed anything? Nah. So I went to law school.<br /><br />(I know, frying pan to the fire, right?)<br /><br />Anyway, don’t put too high a value on writing.<br /><br />As far as the usefulness of stories in confronting death, well, I doubt that.<br /><br />My ideal would be to be a dumb brute surprised and torn to pieces by wolves at the end. Sure, the last 10 or 20 minutes would suck, but at least you would not spend 20 years worrying about the wolves.<br /><br />And do not think that any story can be much help with the wolves. Wolves in the grand scheme. The sublime function of wolves. Wolves seen from a new perspective.<br /><br />Yeah, right. The whole wolf thing stinks; bottom line. No getting around it. But nothing we can do about it, so might as well focus our energy elsewhere.<br /><br />Like pie. Do you watch “Phineas and Ferb?” You should. Great writing. Anyway, pie is the great balm. At least in Phineas & Ferb, and that authority is good enough for me.<br /><br />ps. You keep hinting about some great secret. Do not tell us on the internet! Someone will find out, and bring it up when you become Head Mistress of the Resistence.<br /><br />Good luck,<br /><br />JimAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13178564939320109691noreply@blogger.com