So MACC-sters, if you cast your mind back around 7,000 years, to September of 2019 (I don’t know about you, but that now feels almost another universe ago…), you’ll remember that we spent a lot of that month digging in to the idea of mindset: what kind of mindset is conducive to setting free our best work? What kind of mindset is conducive to increasing personal happiness and being a decent human being?
I threw some potential role models at you: a Holy Octinity of Bruce Lee, Wu Mei, Lynda Barry, the Hubble Space Telescope, Serena Williams, Raphael Nadal, Brené Brown, and New York restauranteur and best-selling author, Gabrielle Hamilton, and we created webs and then looked for connections within and between these ideals to see what essential truths were revealed.
Many of the ideas Gabrielle raised have become part of the lingo of Room 105 (actual and virtual): “perfectly bent,” “classic, not trendy,” “very church” (in relation to setting up your workspace and your inner space), the perennial favourite “get close to your enemy and dig the feeling,” and yes, “stir it like &*%@.”
(My apologies for not having copies of all your webs and index cards – in both instances I was plagued by my Arch-Nemesis, “Cannot Take Photo: There Is Not Enough Available Storage.”)
I’ve talked about it before, but it bears repeating: one of the biggest lessons I learned from Gabrielle, out of many, many lessons both profound and quiet, was/is the art of the conversation and the all-important Second, Third, and Fourth Follow-up Questions: most people, in conversation, are just waiting for the opportunity to talk about themselves, and their questions are usually doorways to do just that – but if you’re truly getting into it, if you’re actually with the person you are with and grooving on their mind, the “tell me more” kind of questions not only make that person feel heard and seen and appreciated, they bring you closer together; you are truly walking through the valley of your friendship and shared experience together, and the conversations live on as souvenirs in your memory.
John O’Donohue put it like this:
When was the last time you had a great conversation, in which you overheard yourself saying things that you never knew you knew?
When was the last time you had a great conversation where you heard yourself receiving from somebody words that absolutely found places within you that you thought you had lost?
When was the last time you had an encounter with another that created a sense of an event of a conversation that brought the two of you on to a different plane?
When was the last time you had a great conversation that continued to sing in your mind for weeks?
In my opinion, this is what it’s all about, kids.
Your task this weekend is to groove on Gabrielle’s great mind (and knock-out writing) as she wrestles with the short- and long-term impacts of this strange, upending present moment, and in doing so, make connections to your own life and search for personal relevance in her words.
The New York Times Magazine piece that she wrote that has set the Twitter-verse on fire (“I didn’t think I cared about food or restaurants enough to read about them until now. Gabrielle Hamilton, owner of my favorite restaurant, reaches into your soul with the beauty of her writing about what might be the final closing of her dream come true”) is here.
Your job is to set aside an extended chunk of time to swim with her in that ocean and then come back up and report your findings.
Things to Consider:
- have your comp book with you so that you can write down your thoughts as you go
- you can use the “Listen” option in the link to hear the article rather than read it, if you prefer to receive information that way, just be aware that after Gabrielle’s introduction, a voice-over actor takes over
- what do you need to do to calm and still your mind before you begin, so that you are open to intuition and impulse?
After you finish, use “Leave a Reply” below (class names only!) to write about the following:
- what do you appreciate about how she writes? What are you learning about writing by reading this piece?
- how might the ideas she wrestles with apply to your own life? You may not be a married mother of two with thirty employees you feel responsible for (yet!), but how might these ideas serve as metaphor for your own life at the present moment and extending into the future?
You can put those ideas together into one reply, or break them up into two, whatev floats your boat. And of course, connections to Wagamese and building off each others’ ideas is always more than welcome.
Those of you who are inspired by Gabrielle’s writing and want to read more could go here and here and here (which contains some tips for making the BEST GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES EVER). You could also look to see if you can find an e-copy of her best-selling memoir Blood, Bones, and Butter (noting that this is a mature read).
Those of you who are into self-torture can scratch that itch by watching any number of videos of Gabrielle cooking mouth-wateringly incredible food here.
And all: after you leave your comments, consider this: the next time you have a conversation, what questions might you ask that could help bring you closer to the person you’re with and make that conversation sing?
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