Apparently, April is both National Poetry Month, as mentioned here before (including arguments for and against), and USPS Letter Writing Month. I inadvertently celebrated both by mailing a lot of poems to people earlier this week.
WORK
“Never write a grumbling or an ill-tempered letter, Littera scripta manet. An ill-tempered utterance always seems worse on paper than when it is spoken. If in a moment of bitterness you should write an offensive letter, one calculated to widen rather than heal the breach between yourself and another person, tear it up and put it in the fire. Many people have an impulse when they have any grievance to pour it out on paper to the offender, or to some other person, but it is an impulse to be severely checked. Bitter words should never be spoken, but much less should they be written. The wounds made by ill natured remarks in letters heal more slowly perhaps than any others. Never send to the post at once a letter written in a sour or angry mood; if it is a relief to you to write it do so, but let no eyes but your own see it. Never send such a letter merely because you have not time to write another. No letter is infinitely better than a disagreeable one. If you should ever receive an ill-tempered letter, whether you are in the habit of keeping the letters you receive or not, destroy it at once. The sting it makes is more likely to disappear if the letter is known to be no longer in existence.”
—Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton
—from Letter-writing: Its Ethics and Etiquette, with Remarks on the Proper Use of Monograms, Crests and Seals (1891)
Note: Littera scripta manet … The Written Letter Abides (as seen on the seal of the US National Archives and Records Administration)
WORD(S)
grawlix /GRAW-lix/. noun. A series of typographic symbols used in place of an offensive word or phrase. Coined by Mort Walker in the satirical article “Let’s Get Down to Grawlixes” (which I can’t find online, thanks for $%@&#! nothing, Google) the term took off and has become a standard part of the lexicon of comics. As you can see for yourself, the grawlix originated as a mix of typographic and other symbols. See also: jarns, quimps, and nittles.
Sadly, most of Walker’s other awesome comic-related coinages failed the popularity test, including plewds (the flying sweat droplets that indicate hard work or stress), briffits (the clouds of dust that indicate the swift departure of a character), and squeans (the starbursts, circles and spirals that indicate dizziness or drunkenness).
WEB
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Speaking of letters…Kirk Douglas has A Letter and a Challenge for all of us. While writing, you can watch his classic Dean Martin celebrity roast.
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The best of the Shakespeare Insult Generators
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Outslide cherry picks interesting slides from public SlideShare presentations. Some are bizarre, others are a kind of visual poetry…
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Thanks, Scott Walker, for your dedication → End near for Dictionary of American Regional English?
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Today in 1820, on the island of Milos, peasant farmer Yorgos Kentrotas discovers an ancient buried statue while plowing the fields…the Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo. Carved around 150 B.C. by Alexandros from Antioch, the sculpture originally portrayed Aphrodite/Venus holding an apple (“Milos” means “apple” in Greek)…or at least that’s the general consensus. Some argue the statue really portrays the sea goddess Amphitrite, who was worshipped on the island at the time. The arms were found, in pieces, near the rest of the sculpture but lost at sea when the boat transporting them sank. Standing 6-feet, 8-inches high (with measurements proportional to 33–26–38, the same as “the most nearly perfect woman” Elsie Scheel) without her original plinth—and weighing approximately 500 Emma Stones —the formidable statue would originally have been tinted with colored pigments and adorned with jewelry. A significant portion of Venus Demilo’s fame is the result of French government propaganda, eager to establish the importance of its purchase after having to return the prized Medici Venus that Napolean had looted from Italy.
WATCH/WITNESS
“Alison Lapper Pregnant” by Marc Quinn. Read a story about Lapper and the sculpture.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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Reader M. riffs on the WORK from Eileen Myles. She writes: “I think painting is desire, not a form of it.” — Indeed. I think the same can be said, at its best, about the creative act no matter the medium.
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Reader B. writes of John Burgoyne: “That Burgoyne quote (mimp! what an insane, irresistible word) connects so strangely with Gentleman Johnny’s subsequent military operations in Canada and New York. So strangely, and also so well. I can picture him leading a miniature version of the high life in camp, with mimpery and fine china, as his army worked its way south towards Saratoga and history-shaking doom.” — I knew nothing of Burgoyne, so thank you for the tip leading to a very pleasant meander around the historical record of this controversial general and playwright (and a fun listen to a 1975 CBS Radio Mystery Theatre program involving Burgoyne and the Indian spirit Windandingo).
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