Author Archives: maedez

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About maedez

Writer, biographer, poet. History nerd, silent movie maven. Punk rocker, amateur baker, bookworm. Cricket fan, Scotch drinker, craft beer snob.

A Year in Books/Day 209: Lives of the Poets

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  • Title: Lives of the Poets
  • Author: Michael Schmidt
  • Year Published: 1998 (A Phoenix Paperback)
  • Year Purchased: 2004/2005
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: Michael Schmidt takes approximately 1000 pages to cover more than 250 poets, briskly but rigorously dissecting their lives, influences, historical circumstances, and professional interconnections. Mapping out seven centuries of poetic genealogy is a gargantuan task, but Lives of the Poets is a surprisingly quick read, and as riveting as most of its subjects’ creations.
  • Motivation: The title + poets + biographies=bliss. Surprised?
  • Times Read: Cover-to-cover-1/Excerpts-Multiple
  • Random Excerpt/Page 11: “Poems swim free of their age, but it’s hard to think of a single poem that swims entirely free of its medium, not just language but language used in the particular ways that are poetry. Even the most pathenogenetic-seeming poem has a pedigree. The poet may not know precisely a line’s or a stanza’s parents; indeed, may not be interested in finding out. Yet as readers of poetry we can come to know more about a poem than the poet does and know it more fully.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8

Daily Diversion #42: Dublin Will Be Written in My Heart*

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It’s no secret that the Daily Diversion series features visual slices from the non-writing part of my life. Naturally, the photographs are always original Maedezs. I’m making an exception today-a magnificent exception.

My sweet, fierce, and always inspiring momma is on the first day of a five-week solo backpacking journey across Ireland and England. When she confided her vacation plans to me a year ago-a little breathless, but terribly excited-I saw her as I have always seen her, since I was a wee girl: as a passionate, committed, creative, free-spirited, positive woman. Any fearlessness I possess, is because of her. Any single-mindedness. Any ability to see beauty in the finite or the infinite or to see possibility in all things, however graceful or raw. It’s all because of her.

Her adventure starts in Dublin.

Terrace View. Dublin, Ireland.

Terrace View. Dublin, Ireland.

*”When I die Dublin will be written in my heart.”-James Joyce

Scene from Dublin, Ireland.

Scene from Dublin, Ireland.

Both photos are courtesy of my mom, Kay.

[News] Putting a Face to the Poet: Is This Emily Dickinson?

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According to experts, the answer is yes. It’s only the second known image of the poet, and the first showing her as an adult. ‘Tis a big deal, no?                                                                                                                                                                  Still No New Pynchon Photo, but Here’s Emily Dickinson-The New York Times

Emily Dickinson gets a new look in recovered photograph-The Guardian

 

 

 

Daily Diversion #41: Sweet Summer’s End

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I know, I know. Autumn doesn’t start until the 22nd. It’s still ninety degrees where I live, but I can feel a change. The ceaseless seasonal breeze has returned, bandying leaves about in her dancing wake. I’m excited, but apprehensive; yet I know that summer will be back. When she arrives next year, this is the first thing I will do in wanton celebration.

A Year in Books/Day 208: Forgotten Films to Remember

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  • Title: Forgotten Films to Remember
  • Author: John Springer
  • Year Published: 1980 (The Citadel Press)
  • Year Purchased: 1990s
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: Some of the best classic movies aren’t, well, classic. At least not in the sense of having wide, lasting cultural impact. Maybe they were box office winners in their day, quiet sleepers or cheapie programmers, critically acclaimed or unappreciated gems; most have been long forgotten by the masses, embraced and beloved by fanatics alone. Hollywood studios churned out hundreds of films a year, so it is no wonder that, of those hardy survivors, few are truly iconic. If you want to learn more but are too cowed to wade through the classic film jungle alone and bewildered, Forgotten Films to Remember makes it easy. Covering the years 1928-1959 (with a quick overview of the 1960s and 1970s), John Springer devotes a paragraph each to dozens of remarkable movies that you really need to watch. In the process, a clear, workmanlike but interesting narrative of studio-era Hollywood emerges. The accompanying photographs are mostly from the author’s archive.
  • Motivation: I love old movies, especially obscure ones.
  • Times Read: 4 or 5
  • Random Excerpt/Page 18: “Howard Hawks made a strong movie out of Martin Flavin’s play, The Criminal Code, aided impressively by the performance of Walter Huston. He played a district attorney who becomes the warden of a prison, populated by men he has sent up. Constance Cummings and Phillips Holmes had the love interest such as it was and Boris Karloff skulked about as a squealer.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9

A Year in Books/Day 207: Romancing the Ordinary

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  • Title: Romancing the Ordinary A Year of Simple Splendor
  • Author: Sarah Ban Breathnach
  • Year Published: 2002 (The Simple Abundance Press/Scribner)
  • Year Purchased: 2002
  • Source: It was a Christmas gift from my mom.
  • About: There is something a bit stale about most inspirational books that are directed at women, or maybe I don’t have the proper constitution for that type of thing. Either way, I was surprised to discover that Romancing the Ordinary, although a trifle flowery in spots, is actually inspiring. I know, I know. Hear me out. These are the reasons I love this book: 1) It’s easy to use. Twelve months=a dozen chapters. In other words, I can take an entire month to read a chapter. It’s such a slight commitment that it does not take serious time away from my other reading. 2) It’s guilt-free. Romancing the Ordinary isn’t a self-help program, but a reminder to slow down for three seconds and attend to your own needs. It’s a how-to guide in relaxation, if you will. 3) It doesn’t try to make you a better person. If it did, I would have pitched it years ago. 4) It is full of quotes, and we all know I love quotes. 5) Most of the books quoted from are fabulous. Anything that turns me on to books I’ve never read, especially intriguing ones, is a winner. 6) It has recipes. The Rice Pudding is delectable. 7) Even though I haven’t tried 85% of her ideas, I don’t feel inadequate. Who needs that from a book, anyway? I take what I want, dismiss the rest, and go on my merry way. 8) The underlying message. Perhaps it is an elaborate way of saying something very basic-“Hey there! Always remember that alone time is great. Don’t let yourself get lost in the demands of the every day.”-but it is a reminder we all need on occasion.
  • Motivation: My mom bought a copy for someone else. After they raved about it, she decided that I would find it enjoyable, too.
  • Times Read: 3 or 4
  • Random Excerpt/Page 208: “I am now an orderly woman. By this I mean, I am a woman who reveres order. But I am not the neatest person. I have always been a messy girl, and not so long ago, in an effort to embrace my imperfection, I came to the awareness that I will probably always be a messy girl.” (Ed. note: Ahem. My husband would say that this reminds him, quite powerfully, of me.)
  • Happiness Scale: 8 1/2