One True Sentence
–By J.S. Porter (for Blake) Shortly after the three-part, six-hour documentary film HEMINGWAY by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in 2021, a book appeared entitled One True Sentence: Writers & Readers on Hemingway’s Art edited by Mark Cirino & Michael Von Cannon, with an introduction by Burns and Novick. The book took its inspiration from Hemingway’s famous musing in A Moveable Feast: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” In One True Sentence, scores of critics and readers choose the particular sentence in Hemingway’s work that rings truest to them.
Lists
–By J.S. Porter (for Cheryl, who insisted on my seeing the Hemingway museum outside of Havana and the studio of Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence and the mountain he so rapturously painted) So… you’re a celebrity. What do you want in your dressing room?A woman of simple taste: Sophia Loren wants white roses in her room.Britney Spears wants Herve Leger dresses, Snickers bars, Diet Coke, magnolia blossoms, chicken, and potato salad. She also wants a manicurist, a facialist and a massage therapist That’s a list. “The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature.” So
Snapshots of Patti Smith
Writer JS Porter reminisces on the work of Patti Smith
On Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
–By J.S. Porter for John Robert Colombo “ATWOOD, MARGARETMargaret Atwood, like the CN Tower, is a free-standing structure, and needs no patronizing props of reference to her sex or her nationality.” Quote from Northrop Frye in John Robert Colombo’s The Northrop Frye Quote Book. No one has put Toronto, city of raccoons and ravines, on the world literary map as securely as Margaret Atwood. To quote myself from a Globe review years ago, “Margaret Atwood is a writer who has scratched her name on the tablet of the English language. She belongs to the world.” How does one read the
Souvankham Thammavongsa
(Poet, Short-Story Writer, Novelist)
Simple Creative Tools to Get Unstuck
Pen and Ink. Lately, I have been so steeped in research for upcoming episodes, eLearning projects and a documentary I’m working on – that once the research for at least part of my current workload was over, I became stuck. Not burnt out, just a bit stuck. Research is just the beginning, isn’t it? Although we write ‘during’ research (SME interview notes, process and document summaries, annotations, etc.), what comes next – to write what we learned about a very complex issue – in a way that others can easily follow can be daunting. And this, of course, can lead
Books as Gifts
For Jen, my dog-walking friend…
Dennis Lee speaks about what he is most open to, driven by and hungers for
Dennis Lee has enchanted the children of the English-speaking world, filling their ears with new sounds and new dreams, but that is only one hand of his poetic activity…
The Writing Life
“At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it…
A Page of Anne Carson
Best bio ever: “Anne Carson was born in Canada and teaches Greek for a living.”…
One True Sentence
–By J.S. Porter (for Blake) Shortly after the three-part, six-hour documentary film HEMINGWAY by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in 2021, a book appeared entitled One True Sentence: Writers & Readers on Hemingway’s Art edited by Mark Cirino & Michael Von Cannon, with an introduction by Burns and Novick. The book took its inspiration from Hemingway’s famous musing in A Moveable Feast: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” In One True Sentence, scores of critics and readers choose the particular sentence in Hemingway’s work that rings truest to them.
Lists
–By J.S. Porter (for Cheryl, who insisted on my seeing the Hemingway museum outside of Havana and the studio of Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence and the mountain he so rapturously painted) So… you’re a celebrity. What do you want in your dressing room?A woman of simple taste: Sophia Loren wants white roses in her room.Britney Spears wants Herve Leger dresses, Snickers bars, Diet Coke, magnolia blossoms, chicken, and potato salad. She also wants a manicurist, a facialist and a massage therapist That’s a list. “The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature.” So
Snapshots of Patti Smith
Writer JS Porter reminisces on the work of Patti Smith
On Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
–By J.S. Porter for John Robert Colombo “ATWOOD, MARGARETMargaret Atwood, like the CN Tower, is a free-standing structure, and needs no patronizing props of reference to her sex or her nationality.” Quote from Northrop Frye in John Robert Colombo’s The Northrop Frye Quote Book. No one has put Toronto, city of raccoons and ravines, on the world literary map as securely as Margaret Atwood. To quote myself from a Globe review years ago, “Margaret Atwood is a writer who has scratched her name on the tablet of the English language. She belongs to the world.” How does one read the
Souvankham Thammavongsa
(Poet, Short-Story Writer, Novelist)
Simple Creative Tools to Get Unstuck
Pen and Ink. Lately, I have been so steeped in research for upcoming episodes, eLearning projects and a documentary I’m working on – that once the research for at least part of my current workload was over, I became stuck. Not burnt out, just a bit stuck. Research is just the beginning, isn’t it? Although we write ‘during’ research (SME interview notes, process and document summaries, annotations, etc.), what comes next – to write what we learned about a very complex issue – in a way that others can easily follow can be daunting. And this, of course, can lead
Books as Gifts
For Jen, my dog-walking friend…
Dennis Lee speaks about what he is most open to, driven by and hungers for
Dennis Lee has enchanted the children of the English-speaking world, filling their ears with new sounds and new dreams, but that is only one hand of his poetic activity…
The Writing Life
“At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it…
A Page of Anne Carson
Best bio ever: “Anne Carson was born in Canada and teaches Greek for a living.”…
