6-28-13 RMB Pathways

6-28-13 RMB Pathways    

                                          

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

I am moving slowly towards the end of Bingo now, the follow up book to Six of One. I am taking my time, trying to prolong my association with the characters. I see so much of you in Nickel; so much of Nickel in you. Allow me latitude for that. I know that statement takes some liberties.

I only know of Nickel what you have written and I only know of you what I have gathered from my own interpretations and impressions. There is so much of you that I don’t know, so much of your work I have yet to make my way though. Like a kid at an amusement park, I have plenty to explore. I am sure I could spend a lifetime getting to know you through your work and, still, barely skim the surface of who you are. You are a mystery, and a moving target at that.

The more I write these letters, the more obvious it is that we are all mysteries to one another and, indeed, even to ourselves. As I write, I wonder what others would write in their letters, if they were to write letters like these. Who would they write to? What topics would hold court in their words? Who would they honor or, heaven forbid, disparage? Would the essence of who they are shine through their words? Does mine?

One of my brothers, the “people are people” brother, he told great stories when we were young. They were true stories, things that happened to him at school or at work or of ourselves in years when we were too young to remember. Now he is an avid reader.  

On our family reunion, I gave him the file of my RMB letters. I told him “I’d like to see you write something like this or stories or anything. It would be interesting to see what you would write.” I hope I planted a seed that will result in words to later read. As mentioned previously, we don’t talk much to one another in our family. For all I know, he has already written volumes, if not on paper, then in his mind or on his computer. After all, he is the story teller.

In the Introduction to Bingo, you talk about people exploring their creativity. You indicate that the end result is something that affects us all, something that improves our chances for a better tomorrow. I suppose evil could lurk in creativity, along with greatness, but creativity tends to draw out the best of us. Subconsciously no one wants to say “Hey look what I made, wrote or did” and have it be an evil thing. We want to impress people, impress upon them and to impress ourselves as well, maybe most of all.

I used to marvel at a friend’s doodling. As she spoke on the phone, she would swirl her pen around creating flowers and twirly patterns on tablets or napkins or receipts, whatever was handy. There was something interesting there, the images were magical in their twirly way. 

Whatever it is we create, as we create, we grow. We show sides of our self previously hidden, or dormant or non-existent. We are creating more than a work of art, literature, sculpture… however minor, however great. When we create, we create pathways to understanding humanity.    

Cheers,

Loraine