As I blow as deep as I want to blow, I’m thinking how. “Write about all interesting people, remove degrees of friendship,” I tell myself.
As the lack of energy in the air is palpable, people are confused -- it’s very quiet here. People are looking forward to the new Games.
As Paralympic flags go up in Whistler; I send Post back to the States.
As gone is the CTV Whistler Broadcast booth in Mountain Square, the bricks are back to being underfoot. People in general continue to pour off the slopes on this sunny day.
As some volunteers still have not gotten the memo about drinking in the uniform, après ski goes on … five beautiful girls sun themselves below the same sushi bar I waited with hundreds of others to catch a glimpse of the women’s Canadian bobsleigh team.
As décor is back to colorful snowboarders and Whistler women walking their dogs, 30% off Olympic merchandise signs go up.
As I’m trying to notice things for you, all around, there’s not much to notice on a walk and a half of the Stroll.
As one barista at Blenz asks another, “What’s going on here?,” the same answers her own rhetorical question. “There’s so much space!”
As I’m in Whistler because I had to get out of Squamish, I must go back to Squamish to eat.
As the cookies keep me alive, they are love to other people.
As I’m sunbathing outside with tea and talking to you on the telephone, I think of the moral of this story.
As the stories continue to flow, I work to deepen my integration. As I integrate, I get smarter. As I get smarter, I blow deep. As I blow deep, I remove the dust from my lungs and from the windowsills I look out upon the mountains.
6 comments:
Advice from a 'next blog' stumbler/ subscriber - don't bury your thoughts in unintelligible 'style'.
"As I blow as deep as I want to blow, I’m thinking how. “Write about all interesting people, remove degrees of friendship,” I tell myself."
and
"As I’m sunbathing outside with tea and talking to you on the telephone, I think of the moral of this story. As the stories continue to flow, I work to deepen my integration. As I integrate, I get smarter. "
Readers aren't inside your head, so you can't write this way and expect them to fill in the gaps. These segments just don't make any sense.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the feedback.
A few things, to clarify.
These "30 Essential" tags are derived from this list -- where Kerouac sat down and gave out some advice for Belief and Technique in Modern Prose.
http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/464
So while I understand it may have been vague and in my head, that is the exact sentiment I'm trying to reproduce. The style varies as I try to relate thirty things about my experience here in BC - so admittedly some of them may get unintelligible when a person attempts to write out what a writer like Kerouac could have possibly meant.
To "Blow as deep as you want to blow" is something I cannot concretely say I could point to my copy of the Dharma Bums and say, "Yep, here's Jack writing as he advises to do so with #7 of 30."
So I wrote free to try and explain the loneliness of Whistler Village after the Olympic boom (and now bust) has begun... to make sense of why I stayed through to the less-media heavy Paralympics as everyone quickly packs up. Most of my readers are back in the States and have no idea what Whistler is like - but some can relate to bits and fragments of that story as I am writing to real people (e.g., I was talking on the phone to someone drinking tea) and he/she reads this blog.
For you as a next blog/stumbler, I'm grateful that you have provided feedback and hopefully will continue to read.
The moral of "blowing as deep as I want to blow" is that I must always be challenging myself, deepening the expanses of my own mind, working away at problems to create solutions ... some of that may have been lost as I try to explain this Olympic/Paralympic lull.
Cheers - and I look forward to any thoughts.
Will- I love love love the last two sections of this. Great post, one of your very best yet in my opinion.
Yeah, makes much more sense as a writing exercise. I've always wondered and maybe you know, was Kerouac on drugs when he wrote?
Now you understand why someone would pay high postage to send cookies and bread....
Sam --
Kerouac was indeed on many drugs, evident in his writing.
Probably benzedrine ("benny heads"), plenty of marijuana and booze.
He himself was on these drugs but probably more importantly, the people he surrounded himself were heavy users as well - so he saw the consequences the drugs had on his friends.
His relationship with drugs certainly shaped his writing, the 30 Essentials List, and how people read his work.
Marie --
Yes.
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