Daily Nourishment for April 15, 2024: “Rememory is both a reconciliation and a vexation, both a healing and a wounding”
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then give your attention to your body. Where do you notice imbalance, pain, tension, energy? Can you breathe into those places and try to release anything you’re holding onto?
Prompt.
Read this quote about Beloved by Stephen Metcalf:
“In Beloved, Morrison perfected a mode of narration, entirely her own but with roots in everything from the African griot to As I Lay Dying, built out of compulsive repetition, in which the onion, as it were, is constantly being both peeled and reconstituted; in which memories are constantly being both exhumed and buried; and in which the mind of the storyteller is both imprisoned and set free in the act of retelling. And so, like the return of Beloved, and the enduring curse of slavery itself, rememory is both a reconciliation and a vexation, both a healing and a wounding.”
Practice.
Set a timer for 12 minutes and complete as much of this exercise as possible. Then write one paragraph about a memory from the past couple of weeks. Write it in the present tense using first person perspective. Capture a few specific sensory details.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then write another paragraph describing the same memory from a different angle, from a different perspective. Try writing it in the present tense using second person perspective.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then write one more paragraph describing the same memory in past tense using third person perspective.
If you don’t finish the steps above in the 12 minutes allocated to this writing exercise, feel free to return to it in the coming hours and days.
Want More?
Read Why Is Beloved Beloved by Stephen Metcalf?
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Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
—Sunday, 4/21/2024: Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Anna Gazmarian
—Back by Popular Demand: Narrative Writing with Tanya Davis is back for another four weeks this spring. The Friday Cohort begins on Friday, 4/19. The Saturday BIPOC Cohort begins on 4/20. $49 for four sessions.
—This month’s Revision Stations Designed by Lauren Winner gathering will be on Saturday, April 27th from 10:15-noon CT. If you have something that needs revision attention, you will not regret attending. Promise.
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Today’s Note from Charlotte (Coming Soon)
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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