This week has been full to the brim. Our goodbyes have ranged from proud TX phrases, Hoosier and Midwest jokes, tears and ugly cries, liturgies by flashlight, and hangouts way past the bedtime of this woman. It's been tough but also quite lovely in its own way.
Enjoy these Four Great Things of the week!
This teaches
"How (and why) to collect, preserve, and read the printed word". What begins as a critique of AI-generated material ends as an encouragement to not only read physical books but to accumulate plenty to pass around and down the line.
"Print books aren’t just anchors of historical memory. They are ways of connecting our mind to the minds of other people we may never meet. Somebody saw something in their imagination, or came to a new understanding, and translated that into words on a page. We see those same words and translate them back into our own imagination or understanding—and somewhere in that cognitive exchange, our mind and the mind of another human being come into contact."
Authors of this article,
Ruth Gaskovski and Peco, are dedicated to promoting an 'unmachined' way of living—thus collecting works in print.
This is delightfully simple, yet surprisingly complex. This is a list of the
100 most used words in classic literature. What struck me the most was the short list of works mentioned as using many of these words:
Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows,
and
Call of the Wild.
These are all found on my girls' reading lists from school this year (2nd, 4th, and 6th grades)!
What I'm working on:
Quotable:
- I'm reading through a retelling of John Donne's "Devotions"—he has a quote about how dangerous the inward sins are, especially grumbling. Once I unpack that book I will quote that here!
Worth the Memory
She Walks in Beauty
By Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
