April to Hadley, Christy, Patty and Mary - Standards - high and low

 

Four ho-hummers. Red and black is so easy to work with. Why is red and blue such a problem for me?

I tried a little bit of everything..... blah.

While I have nothing else to say about these 4 - I did open an email from Laurie Doctor that reinforces my oft-repeated opinion that it is the MAKING of things that fulfills our needs. The *quality* of the things we make is secondary. Not everyone joins me on this particular bandwagon - but, there are enough to keep me company.

Laurie's work is sublime and she is a wonderful teacher.

This was the intro to her newsletter reviewing a recent workshop.

Many of you have heard me talk about the poet, William Stafford. He was also a compelling teacher, a prince of the imagination, at Lewis & Clarke College in Portland, Oregon. He said to his students, regarding their work, it’s not for me to praise or blame — but in the end, to be envious of your work. This is the pang and pride of teaching, to be inspired to be better by witnessing your work. He also said (when asked in disbelief by his students) how can you possibly write a poem every morning?! To which he famously replied lower your standards. I realized at some point that the man had no arrogance. He didn’t say he had to write a good poem each morning, he just wrote. He didn’t have to feel like writing or have anything good to say, he just showed up. Some work would end up in the trash. He let the world decide.

***

Those words are so comforting when I look at my ho-hum envelopes.

LINK to Laurie's sketchbook

Sorry about the size of this - I am having trouble with the uploading.