Leatherleaf Mahonia
Traditionally, at Wayne County High School during Spirit Week, each class builds a spirit chain. Class members buy paper strips in a color representing their grade and attach them to an ever growing chain monitored by the cheerleaders. The chains, each a different color, resemble the bright links children like to make out of construction paper to circle the Christmas tree. Such chains always offer a win-win situation. At school, each class earns a little money for the next project and the class which purchases the most links gains more points toward earning the Spirit Stick.
Have you been as fascinated as I with the theory that each of us could possibly be linked to one another by six loosely connected relationships.? You know the drill. It goes something like this. My second cousin’s best friend went to school with a girl whose great aunt once dated the matinee idol of her day. It’s amazing where these crazy links can lead.
I’ve often told the story that one of the first lessons I learned when I moved to Jesup from Texas was to be very careful of what you say about anyone because everyone is related to someone here somehow. Early on, as I talked with the mother of one of my neighbors, she casually mentioned that her cousin had married a Denty. Turns out, her cousin had married my husband’s dad’s brother. Small world isn’t it? Six degrees of separation.
The September issue of Guideposts features Pulitzer Prize winner and America’s poet laureate Ted Kooser. No, as far as I know, I don’t have any connection with him other than reading this fascinating article about the man who speaks for a nation. But in this story by Rosie Schaap, Kooser mentions another important link with the number six.
He begins by saying, “To really participate in life we have to figure out ways of being aware of what’s around us.”
When asked how to accomplish such a goal, Kooser refers to poet Linda Gregg who requires her students to take notice of six things a day.
He says, “I like paying attention to ordinary things...Poems are like that. They say, ‘Here’s something you may not have looked at. I’m going to show it to you in a way that will make you notice.’”
I wish I had read this article when I was teaching. I wish I had known of Linda Gregg’s six-things-a-day assignment. I would have adopted that technique with my students, also. In pushing students to become more observant of life around them, I frequently sent them out seeking leaves or pet rocks as topics about which to write. With each, I had them examine the item closely, get the feel of it, list as many characteristics as they could discover, then show through their writing what they had seen in this item in such a way that others, through the writing, could see, too.
Writers of all genre train themselves to become aware of everyday occurrences, to notice differences brought on by the seasonal changes, to realize that such awareness of details intensifies their writing. However, scientists and detectives likewise make careers of being consciously observant. Scientists spend hours in laboratories looking for the most minute details and links. Detectives solve crimes by linking tiny bits of evidence together. That kind of attention to detail is so important in many occupations. But I’ve also learned that it is a skill we can develop to enhance living.
Kooser explains, “You drive home from work, find yourself in the garage and can’t remember a thing that’s happened between when you left and when you arrived.”
Has that happened to you? It shouldn’t. Not only is it dangerous to have that all too common experience, it also diminishes, rather than renews, our day.
Pick up any newspaper or listen to the television or radio; tragedy abounds. Our hearts must go out to those hurting, the grief stricken, the dying. At times the world is too much with us. At times, the troubles seem overwhelming. At times, the problems seem too great to solve.
However, the more we consciously make ourselves observe the ordinary events of every day life, the people we meet, the environment we see, whatever we read; the more we consciously listen to others and the simple sounds around us, the more each of us will enriched our lives. We come to realize these surroundings are not just topics to write about; many become blessings for the counting...five, six, seven...
2005
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