I is for I

 I say I an awful lot.....I know it is odd talking about myself all the time, but I guess that is what I am good at. Many of the assignments that are tossed my way are expected to be "blog-like" opinion oriented pieces, so I have to insert my own personal feelings, or talk about what I think about a certain product, or the best way to do something (according to moi) it's what I am paid to do...and then there is this silly blog full of stories and "secrets" about me, me, me. What I've done, what I think, what I like, secrets about secrets stored up inside spill out on the page. Now with these challenges, the A to Z and the Z to A..and the upcoming GBE 2 (more on that tomorrow) and better exposure on online companies, more people are actually reading my thoughts - it can be a little disconcerting.

So, I am taking a break from talking strictly about myself to present another I word and another writer. This author/artist/educator is one of my favorites. J. Ruth Gendler wrote the very sweet book, The Book of Qualities. In it she gives voice to different personal qualities, personifies them. I used this technique in all of my creative writing classes with very cool results. Students from second grade through high school really got into this lesson. (oops, back to myself), but I really do appreciate her mythical way of writing. 

Here is what she wrote about Innocence

Innocence talks to old people on the commuter train. 

Sometimes she talks to herself, sometimes she talks to the man sitting next to her hiding behind the newspaper, sometimes she talks to the window, and sometimes she sings a little song. 

She tells secrets in between her words,

but most people don't think they're secrets because she says them right out.

She told me that it takes a lot of sophistication for her to stay innocent. 

(that was a secret)

Since her affair with Danger she is not afraid of anything.

There are so many nuggets of intuitive truth in her essays. In writing this post, I've taken several breaks to reread the book....about Perfection, she includes this phrase, "....Perfection needs to keep moving. Otherwise she becomes swollen with her obsessions. She has learned to dance at the very center of her fears....."  

Intriguing

Intuitive

Imaginative

I love it.