There is a lot to say. Dillard continues to stun me with her intricate and moving descriptions, seeing life where others passed by. Hancock’s advice, as per usual, is spot-on and ever practical. How do they fit together? I wonder. Synthesis in my blog posts not only seems appropriate, but also helpful. Seeking the resemblance between two seemingly unrelated pieces is an excellent task for the mind, finding pathways and trap doors that lead from one to another, previously unbeknownst to me. If Dillard’s book is the castle, Hancock’s writing is the many tunnels and hidden entrances that allow us to understand the schema beyond the appearance.
In that, I have learned something very useful. Dillard’s prose is empowered not only by her colloquial tone, occasional rabbit trails which reconnect with the main theme, and her acute sense of observation, but by her knowledge. Many authors could write beautifully on a small duck pond in the woods, noting the frogs leaping from algae, but Dillard does it as one informed. She knows to describe a scene that places one right there, and to include the names and behaviors of the many microscopic creatures. Protozoans, rhizopods, flagellates, byrozoans...we come to know these teeny beings through her research. She is informed—not only in senses, but also in mind. Dillard asks the question, “Why is it beautiful?” (pg. 107) We need knowledge to write the beautiful.
Which pushes my thoughts towards the final project of this class: the feature article. I am nervous, which is stressful. Not that I doubt my writing ability, but this time of semester my motivation and inspiration seem to run dry, not gushing rich and life-giving like Tinker Creek. With one assignment left, the most inopportune time to adopt apathy is now. So where do I seek inspiration and ideas, when I do not have woods to explore behind my house, or a blooming spring calling my name? Courage offers an answer.
Hancock writes, in her straightforward tone, “Take chances...Be slow to conclude your experiment was a failure” (pg. 98-99). Often times I re-read my blog posts while trying to draft a formal assignment, thinking, Damn! Where is that energy and spunk and wittiness now? I say courageousness is the answer, and not fearlessness, because formal assignments rarely lack danger. What if the professor does not appreciate it? What if it strays off subject, or fails to meet certain requirements? The structure of academics is based on performance, which implies evaluation, which rarely comes without apprehension. In the face of fear, courage is a necessary combatant. Whether my blog posts are boring as hell or beautiful enough to bring tears to Down’s eyes, a thorough reading + relevant blog post = met requirements. Low consequences for “failed experiments” allow me to write without fear, to take chances more willingly.
Dillard’s afterward surprised me. Twenty-five years later, she writes of her book, “I hope it seems bold” (pg. 281). Hancock says, “Naturally, we all prefer to fly. But flying, in my observation, is no more likely to produce excellent work than creeping” (pg. 109). That is how I approach this final assignment, and the remainder of the semester, for that matter: to creep boldly, moving courageously through thick terrain. To take chances without becoming wed to them; those crazy backward-spin-somersault-flying-leaps have a way of overcoming the roughest patches.