Last day at The Glen:Lessons From New Mexico. so far.......

-In New Mexico, they put chili peppers in everything, including pancakes.

-There is no such thing as a Lutheran artist; only ex-Lutheran, planning to be ex- Lutheran, or wishing you were ex-Lutheran artists.

                 exceptions: Lutheran Pastors from California

                 corollary: Never use the word 'sola" in a poem.
                
-You can still cry tears,even if you're  dehydrated.

-In the right hands, a Bob Dylan song can be as good as an hymn.
(Just kidding)

-A person who writes like Eugene Peterson, can preach  like an Augustine or a Chrysostom.
(Not kidding)

-It's never a good idea to use Dante's nine circles of Hell for an examination of conscience.

-before commenting on anything written, by an author, still living, check the name tag of the person you are talking to.  If they are not wearing one, best to shut up.

-referring to Jesus, as Mary's only Son, will get you a hasty note, correcting your mistake, scribbled in the margin of your essay, by your teacher, who is an ex-Lutheran.

-Never tell the ER triage nurse you are attending writer's conference called ' Love and Affliction; Art and Suffering.  They  think you are just looking for something to write about. 
Fainting seems to compound this opinion.  Are there writers who are that desperate?

-Never use the words "art" and "self expression", together, within a 100 feet of Barry Moser.
I won't tell you why, it's more fun to watch, so go ahead, try it out....

-If you get lost on a remote trail in the New Mexican mountains, and you happen to run into a retired FBI agent, you have not stumbled into an X files episode.
It's just God's  warped sense of humor, again.

-You are always going uphill or downhill in Santa Fe, even when you are not.  This applies existentially as well.

-any object that you set down, anywhere, for more than 5 seconds, may be filched by a member of the Mixed Media/ Collage class, and could show up in some artpiece at Saturday's exhibit.  I am still missing a shoe.

-Just because someone, who shall go unnamed, can maintain a 5000 book library catalog in his head, doesn't mean he can read a map.
He probably couldn't find his way out of the building without the exit signs. ;-)
(so what do you have to do to get God to cover for you with FBI agents?)

-being married 28 years does not diminish the utter loneliness you feel  when you return each night to an empty room.  5, 10, 100 phone calls don't help.

-God will not be mad if you don't care for the work of Thomas Kinkade, "Painter of Light
I would love to elaborate on that one, but I can't.

-in spite of what Flannery O'Connor says, you can never be "properly scarred" enough, or take enough "precautions', when it concerns writing.  I may never write "for real" again.

-If God really wants to get your attention, your sunk.

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There's much more, but I am tired and  I have to go to a concert right now........

Comments

[Garry]

Sounds like you had a fun time in New Mexico. Look forward to hearing more about your trip.--Garry

[Rebecca Abbott]

Good grief. Were there any redeeming elements to the trip, besides the hilarity of this post? I'm going to link to it, by the way, because it made me laugh, albeit in a rueful way. I can agree with almost everything you've written, except I'm curious as to why Dante's nine circles of hell are NEVER appropriate for an examination of conscience....

[me]

There were many redeeming elements, I am just mulling them over, trying to put words around them.
The most profound were in the daily time in Spiritual Writing class, with writer and teacher, Paula Huston-

Friendships forged, that will last forever, kindnesses shown, that would break your heart, and
God reavealing Himseelf in bursts of light that healed and maimed,with such loving tenderness, that you would never question again, the whys of a God who insists on playing with knives.

Well, maybe not ever, but at least for today.

PS:You will just have to trust me on the Dante thing.

[moi]

you'd better be kidding about the Lutheran artist thing. if you're not, I want all your Drake CDs back.