Pamela Leavey

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Writers On Writing: Phillip Lopate

When writing a first-person narrative, we can turn to Phillip Lopate’s essay “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” (Griffin 15) for ideas on how we can use our “character” to tell our story. In his essay, “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character,” Phillip Lopate writes on why he feels it is necessary to “turn oneself into a character” when writing nonfiction from the first person narrative perspective.

Indeed, Lopate posits that “the people on the page—it scarcely matters whether they appear in fiction or nonfiction—will need to be knowable enough in their broad outlines to behave “believably,” at the same times as free willed enough to intrigue us with surprises.” (Griffin p. 15) In other words, readers need someone or something to identify with and connect with when they read a nonfiction essay or a piece of fiction.

We are all unique beings, and as Lopate says, “Who wants to read about that bland creature, the regular Joe?” (Griffin p. 16) My thoughts when reading Lopate’s essay drifted to my own characteristics and behavior that sets me apart from others. It is precisely because I am a “character,” one who is unique and different, as so many who know me say, that I write sometimes with ease and other times with trepidation, from the self, sharing my idiosyncrasies’ in the form of the word. I write to unburden my heart and soul. I write in speculation, to share my life, my knowledge and my experience that I might touch even just one person with my words that they may know there is someone else out there who might feel what they feel and cannot themselves commit to words.

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What Does Literature Do

When prompted, in my graduate studies class, Theory and Criticism of Literature, to write about why I turn to literature, I cited literature as a source to understand the human struggle. This question, “what does literature do” was posed after reading an excerpt of Plato‘s Republic. My response follows…

Plato

I believe that literature is capable of expanding our minds as it reaches into the depths of the soul of the reader and invites them in to view a glimpse of the human soul from the eyes of the writer and the characters who they write about. Furthermore, I contend that literature can be a great source of comfort and joy to readers and it can also shake a reader to their core causing the reader to feel discomfort, confusion and sadness. To further clarify my own beliefs and broaden my understanding of what literature does, I turned to Plato to examine his beliefs on the topic.

Plato is not terribly concerned with the human struggle. Indeed, the human struggle in literature is only a representation of that struggle in Plato’s opinion. He says in the Republic, Book X that “a representer knows nothing of value about the things he represents” (Plato p. 71). In this Plato asserts that a writer can not know anything about what they are writing about, because writing is a form of representation and “representation and truth are a considerable distance apart” (Plato p. 67).

I would tend to disagree with Plato on this, as I believe that writers are capable of translating their own experiences into literature whether it be poetry, fiction or nonfiction. In fact, in today’s world, which is so vastly different from Plato’s time, the memoir, which falls into the creative nonfiction genre, is a very popular form of literature. Yet, in Plato’s view, “a good poet must understand the issues he writes about, if his writing is to be successful, and that if he didn’t understand them, he wouldn’t be able to write about them” (Plato p. 67).

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Daily Affirmations: I Have Enough

Prior to writing and publishing my own daily affirmations online since the late 1990’s, I found Julia Cameron’s affirmations from her book Blessings to be great inspiration. Here’s one of my favorites:

“When I count and encounter my blessings, I experience a sense

of fullness, safety, and satisfaction. I have enough. My heart is

bountiful. My life is dowried by rich companions and rewarding

experiences. As I experience the power and the goodness of the

universe, I experience my own power and goodness. I experience

flow, increased flow and expanded flow. Opening to receive this

flow, I become larger and more magnificent. I am part of a

grand and glorious design. A grand and glorious design is part of

me. I celebrate the grandeur of this fact with a humble heart.”  

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The Burning of Bridget Cleary

The Burning of Bridget Cleary

One of my favorite classes when I was working on my undergrad degree at the University Without Walls, UMass Amherst, was Irish History.

As today is Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought I was would share this paper I wrote on the book, The Burning Of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke.

The story of Bridget Cleary is a fascinating nonfiction account of a strong-minded, independent Irish young woman who disappeared from her home in Tipperary in 1895. Some said she was captured by the fairies. But author Angela Bourke uncovers the truth of what really happened to Bridget Cleary.

The Burning of Bridget Cleary

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Reflection: Who Am I and Why Am I Here

Who am I and why am I here? Let me fill you in on what I am up to… I’ve been working on my website for a couple of months now. It had fallen by the wayside while I was in school for six and half years. A month ago, I had written here that I was working on “getting back on track with my writing.” I have to say, it feels good to be back at it. One of the focuses I have had in the past two weeks now is to get back on track with writing Daily Affirmations.

Snowy Egret at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

I’ve been sharing other writers affirmations and then writing my own Daily Affirmations online now for over 20 years. I initially started sharing affirmations online daily on my first business website, the now defunct AromatherapyGoddess.com. The business was a new age aromatherapy and bath & body business. I made my own products and built my website and taught myself to self-market my products online reading everything I could about how to market products online. One of the common themes was that the more content you had online the more traffic you would receive and the longer you would keep someone on your website. That still holds today.

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Reflections: Finding Comfort in Nature

To look for solace in nature has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Growing up as a small child in rural Massachusetts, the youngest of older parents who had me as a change of life baby, I learned first-hand from my parents about the importance of the land and the wildlife around us, supported by the land. To walk the field next to my parent’s home, or better yet, skip down the dirt road just past our house, to the river, was pure bliss when I was a child. I watched my mother talk to the birds, and feed the chickadees in her hands, this was all part of my childhood and the impression it made has never left me.

Merrimack River
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