Dear FFP 2012-
Welcome to my first attempts at a blog. If you look carefully it has been sadly neglected the last six months but I hope, with the renewed energy that FFP gives me, that you will watch me write on a regular basis. Besides that is what I will be asking you to do so why should I expect less of myself?
I had an idea for this blog several years ago and the first couple entries explain what I was going for. I want to weave the poem “Lines” by William Wordsworth throughout the entries as a kind of theme or motif. I have actually memorized a large portion of this poem. It needs to be dusted off but I am a huge fan of memorizing poems, plays, monologues, quotations. Mrs. Marr, my grade four teacher used to make us memorize one poem a month. I also went to Sunday School and in order to get a sticker you needed to memorize verses from the Bible. I was quite competitive so I had my verses memorized. I credit these earlier experiences to why I fell in love with Shakespeare and theatre in general. In grade nine, for the fun of it, I memorized Shylock’s monologue “Hath not a Jew eyes? from the Merchant of Venice. Especially with Shakespeare, when the language seems slightly distant from our own way of speaking, memorizing helps break open the thoughts of the character because you internalize the words into a more natural speaking pattern. I love nothing more than walking and reciting monologues.
Welcome to my first attempts at a blog. If you look carefully it has been sadly neglected the last six months but I hope, with the renewed energy that FFP gives me, that you will watch me write on a regular basis. Besides that is what I will be asking you to do so why should I expect less of myself?
I had an idea for this blog several years ago and the first couple entries explain what I was going for. I want to weave the poem “Lines” by William Wordsworth throughout the entries as a kind of theme or motif. I have actually memorized a large portion of this poem. It needs to be dusted off but I am a huge fan of memorizing poems, plays, monologues, quotations. Mrs. Marr, my grade four teacher used to make us memorize one poem a month. I also went to Sunday School and in order to get a sticker you needed to memorize verses from the Bible. I was quite competitive so I had my verses memorized. I credit these earlier experiences to why I fell in love with Shakespeare and theatre in general. In grade nine, for the fun of it, I memorized Shylock’s monologue “Hath not a Jew eyes? from the Merchant of Venice. Especially with Shakespeare, when the language seems slightly distant from our own way of speaking, memorizing helps break open the thoughts of the character because you internalize the words into a more natural speaking pattern. I love nothing more than walking and reciting monologues.
In a digital world it may not seem necessary to memorize literature. With a quick google search you can find nearly anything as long as you can string three words together. But I think there is so much benefit to memorizing words that capture ideas and feelings. I sometimes think about how much brain matter I haven’t used yet and if I could fill that brain matter up with poetry how amazing would that be – thousands of epiphanies and insights, observations and warnings that writers have put down into words over the last hundreds of years could be mine to live by. How much better would I live if I was listening to those who came before me? I like the idea of my untrained brain matter being trained into thinking thoughts that are well executed. Just like I train my muscles to lift more I want to train my brain to think better.
(I went off surfing the web for evidence but didn’t really find any that support my opinion. So take it as such, an opinion. But I did find a great blog on how to increase your intelligence. Skim down to learning in creative ways and think FFP will help me be smarter.)
Now that was a tangent. I wasn’t even thinking of writing all this But it just came out as I started to write. I have edited along the way. And maybe I will dust it off for another piece.
In closing, there is so much I want to share with you as a class about the FFP experience and possibilities. I had a great first week and I see so much potential in our group. And you haven’t even heard half of what is coming. More will be revealed this week.
Next post: goal setting.
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