Ohio River Journey IV--The Book of Questions
In less than a month, Allen, Buddha, and I will set out on our adventure down the Ohio River. We anticipate being gone 6-8 weeks.
I would love it if anyone stopping by my journal would post questions here for me to take with me. I'd like to compile a "Book of Questions" to help shape my thoughts about the experience. Ask anything. Ask what you're naturally curious about. Anything from technical aspects to poetic musings. The more questions the better.
All questions posted here will travel with me down the Ohio River!
*Alphawoman asked where we're starting and finishing up. The plan is to start on the Monongahela River in Pennsylvania, at a town called Brownsville. And we will finish at Cairo, Illinois. Do you remember how Huck Finn kept talking about going to Cairo, so Jim would be free? That's the plan.
Okay! More questions!
41 comments:
Great idea, can't think of any at the moment
but will be back with a few good ones!
*** Coy ***
I know it sounds silly but...
What's the water like? The color, the waves, different times of day, does it reflect...what? What's it like, not to see the bottom of where you're at? How does it compare to other waters you've seen and known, real and imaginary?
More later.
--B
First off, where are you starting? And where are you ending. Was it Lee Smith who wrote The Last Girls about a group of college roommates who traveled the Mississippi...then reunited 30 someodd years later? I read it some time ago, it was pretty good in a chick lit way.
What do you hear first thing in the morning before opening your eyes.
OK,
1) If the river is the metaphor for life, what is the metaphor for the other side? (death/the next world)
2) What if the myths are not fanciful stories, but actually stories from the past to tell us of celestial events beyond the ken of the mortals who lived at that time?
3) If the river flows to the sea and is returned to it's headland as rain, how are we returned, and where is it we have to go to be able to catch the return flight?
4) The light we see in the night sky is the light of latter days. Will the light of today, from those same stars, shine on a better world here?
5) Are we living through ragnarok, even now?
Plenty to think about, lying back, watching the river flow, the stars stream by! Have a great time! Bruce
What do you miss? What is better about being on the river? Who are you now it is just you and Allen, and not the outside world? Who is Allen, now it is just you? Who are the characters you are meeting along the way? What is your favorite part of the day? Will you ever grow tired of the sound of the water lapping against the boat? How well are you sleeping? What do you dream about? Does time slow down or speed up? Is your non-fiction writing flowing, now it has a fixed purpose? Are you busy writing stories in the back of your head? If you could name the river anew, what would it be? Is the boat a haven or a prison or something in-between?
Will you miss me?
There'll be more - oh boy, have you opened a door, missy!
Vicky
wow, okay, now these questions are really gettin' good; they're gettin' hot. Keep goin' everybody. Deeper and deeper into the river of thought.
So glad you like the questions - and I have missed you too - check your e-mail.
More questions: do you miss the cats? where is this journey taking you in your head? to which myth do you liken this the most, or is that changing as the voyage progresses?
V xx
I have a few. Does the river change color when traveling through a city environment as compared to a country environment? What about the sky? What color is it at night? How does the city smut affect the color of day? What does it smell like? Is the air heavier in the city than in the country? What a good time to practise descriptions. How do you feel when you notice the colors or even the smells. And don't forget to get off the boat and check out the sights!
Jude
What would the river be, personified? What gender? What personality traits and emotions does he/she show? What does it feel like to the river to have a vessel slipping over it? How does he/she react to your presence?
what is your biggest dream yet unrealized?
if you could choose your next incarnation, who would you be, and on what continent would you live?
judi
Questions posed to me today by someone who had trouble registering on AOL:
I'd like to ask a question for your wild river trip. Actually, a whole lot of questions could be summed up in, 'Tell me about the people you meet." Do you meet any people? What kinds of people do you see on the riverbanks, even if you cannot talk with them? What are their reactions to your trip? What do you think those reactions tell you about the people who are making the observations?
Does Buddha remain serene?
V
What questions did you ask the river? What did the river have to say?
Dalene of AHH at http://journals.aol.com/ahhliving/AHH
Phew -- I've answered all your questions. I have none left to ask!
what surprises you most on your trip? what doesn't surprise you?
tell us about the people you meet.
Kathy
http://journals.aol.com/onestrangecat/OneSummersDay/
Book of Questions: First question: Tell us about the people you meet and also the people you don't meet, but see from the boat. What do you imagine their lives are like? What are their physical characteristics--varied or similar, peculiar or ordinary, etched or unlined? How do they react to your intrusion and what does this tell you about them? Second question: what do the nonhuman creatures--birds, fish, insects, snakes, squirrels--say to you? (provided they communicate in some way, or you imagine that they do) What are the signs that prove these other creatures detect and react to your presence? Third Question: How does the river feel about your journey? Does it help you? Hinder you? Accept you? Resent you? Thanks, Theresa, and Cheers!
The questions I have (and they've probably been asked by others ... it seems you've been amply blessed from other sources) are pretty basic. What kind of craft? What comforts aboard it, or absence of them? Will you sleep on it? Where do you plan to tie up along the way? Are there regular docking facilities waiting for you? What about food and water? Sanitation? What do you do in case of bad weather? Have you done this kind of trip before? How does this one compare? Will you drift, or motor along? You're not sailing, are you? Are there special maps for this kind of thing? Will you know where you are at any given point? What are you taking to read? Will you have a radio? Phone? (this last from a fretting friend who wants to be sure you've packed everything you'll need)
The only advice I can give you (and you probably know this already) is that, when you get there, remember that the locals pronounce it Care-o, not as it's pronounced in Egypt, although it's at the southern tip of what is known as Little Egypt in Southern Illinois. I grew up ... um, maybe 30 miles north of Cairo, in a landlocked village called Cobden, after Richard Cobden, the English financier who helped to build the Illinois Central Railroad.
Sorry I've run on and on and on. I'll miss your visits to "Chosen Words" and those encouraging comments, but I wish you well on your journey, and look forward to hearing the details when you get back. Take care. See ya.
The Ohio River was the boundary between the slave holding states and freedom for African American slaves. On one bank a slave was still a slave, and on the other side a free person. What still binds you? Are there forms of bondage you embrace? What frees you? Are there forms of freedom that come at too great a cost?
Come visit our daily blog !
Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdink? ;)
Bambi or Dumbo?
David Mamet or David Lynch?
Shelley or Keats?
Emerson or Thoreau?
JFK or RFK?
Sandals or tennis shoes?
Skirts or pants?
Fiction or nonfiction? :)
Poetry or prose?
Rain or sun?
Mountains or seashore?
Beef or chicken?
Word processor or longhand?
Paper or plastic?
Thumbelina or The Little Mermaid?
Meg, Jo, Beth, or Amy?
John, Paul, George, or Ringo?
Mythology or religion?
Love, Vicky xx
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
What should I do to make my writing more colorful and descriptive? How can I step away from my "work writing style" which is to the point and descriptive when it has to be, to something that shows emotion, real thought and conveys the description needed for the story? Well, you said technical!
If the stars were eavesdropping on your conversations, what would they be hearing?
Lisa
Listen to the quiet of the night. Do you hear the mothers? Can you feel the life?
Do you have an alternator on the outboard to recharge the battery? An stern-mounted outboard hibachi grill? Will you study the charts each night to pick out the next day's course? who gets to throw the leaded line off the bow and yell, "Mark! Twain!"?
If I've got this right you are asking us to give you questions to ask youself on your trip so that you can focus on and answer them. With that being my understanding I would ask you to ask yourself:
1. Of all the natural sounds I've heard on this trip what are the ones that will linger with me forever? What are my favorites?
2. Of all the wildlife I've seen along the shores which ones do I feel the greatest connections with. Which one excited me the most?
3. Of all the folks I've met along the way, which one's made the greatest impression on me and why?
4. What items that I/we took along could we have done without and which one would I never want to be without on such a trip?
I will you a great trip, filled with all that your looking forward to discovering. I wish you the best weather, and I wish you peace and love.
Marlene-PurelyPoetry
Let's talk about the keelboats, the river as road, the river as provider of livelihood, the river as connector as well as divider. What about the legend of Mike Fink? Cairo was a major Union port and drop off point in the Civil War. I think the ironclad gunboat 'Cairo' was built there. What can you find out about Cairo as a shipbuilding center in the Civil War era?
Enjoy the journey.
Zalman (Stewart) Lachman BGSU MFA '76
lachmanz@optonline.net
Comment from nonsequitur5 - 4/25/05 9:57 PM
Ok. It has taken me a while but here goes. Rivers over a course of time may change their course. Where is the river headed? Where are you headed? What changes, professionally and personally, do you see happening in yourself? Is there a desire to seek changes? Does the river have a soul ? What is it saying to you? What about beneath the river; are there living beings, real or mythical living there and are they aware of you? Are they friendly, scared, indifferent?
http://journals.aol.com/gardenmantis/MidnightDiaries/
Comment from gardenmantis - 4/26/05 9:33 AM
Since you have someone named Buddha on your adventure, do ya'll take time out for meditation? How does one know that the real and apparent modes truly coincide. Someone perceiving the coincidence of the real and appearance can also entertain illusion. Guess I'm speaking of the two places of meditation, and what we find there, and the real world. Tell me if I need to get more specific, sometimes I told I get too deep.
Derek
http://journals.aol.com/deveil/PictureoftheDay/
http://journals.aol.com/deveil/CelebrationofMyExhistance/
I'm going to do some research of the area of your vacation area, and maybe come up with more questions.
I'm new to your site, so just figured out Buddha is actually your pet. Woops, sorry, I love that you named him Buddha, I thought how interesting to actually be named Buddha. I need to quit skipping around and start in the beginning of your journal. I love it, and I'm going to do a google search to find out more on your writings.
Derek
What do we think about when we don't have to think about anything?
If you had to finish this sentence the day your start your trip how would you finish it. I am ?
If you had to finish this sentence the last day of your trip down the river how would you finish it.
I am ?
Aren't these two words powerful?
I can't wait for your trip to start, to find out your feelings and the creation of life down the river, sounds like the makings of a new book.
Derek
http://journals.aol.com/deveil/CelebrationofMyExhistance/
Why? Why this river? Why this boat? Why this life? Why this task? Why these clothes, this hair, those people? Why?
What does the air smell like?
Do you feel the wind? What is it really?
Dear Theresa,
I get to thinking about eternity and the flow of life whenever a current of water moves me. Where else will you make connections with eternity on your trip downstream?
Your pupil,
Jim Longley
How is your sleep? What are your dreams made of?
So what form will the writing take? Nonfiction has many forms. Will it be a journal? An essay? A series of observations? Hmm,
Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
I sounds alot like the Ohio River Scenic Byway. How I envy you!
Theresa, I understand the Ohio River has much barge traffic. Could you describe it?
What's really unexpected about the trip, what's bubbling to the surface?
Would you be interested in thinking up some questions to interview me?
--Beth
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”
Francis Bacon
But in your journey of not knowing, isn't there a need to know?
What is it that compels you to write? Why must you commit to the page? What is it that you must say now? Or ache in the darkness and silence?
Of course these may be lifelong questions for any artist, but perhaps you can include them in your trip down the river as well?
ggw07@aol.com
Comment from ggw07 - 5/8/05 3:43 PM
What are the secret thoughts you may find or may leave in the river?
Compare and contrast the ebb of the river's edge with the ebb and flow of your own life.
Wait, that's not a question....that is a writting assignment. LOL
How does the ebb and flow of the river's edge compares and contrasts with the ebb and flow of your own life?
There, that is a questions....
I just want to wish you the MOST AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE JOURNEY.
Comment from: ggw07
"The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.
- Thomas Carlyle
What a beautiful girl! Truth shines in her face- despite the pose. Intense eyes, resolute mouth.
What do her hand, dress, hair reveal? What does she see? What is she thinking? What are the events leading to this portrait? How do people react? What does she say? How does her voice sound? What does she hear? What are the smells in her home? Or in this location? What is her favorite place? What are her images of water?
She is the key. What is her secret? Her worst fear? What does she like to touch? What does she need to tell you? What are the moments you must capture? What do you feel when you view this photo? What memories call?
What are the accidents, surprises, crises on your trip? How do you react? How would the girl in the photo respond? What do you learn from change on the way? Does what you learn on the river affect your characters? The focus and rhythm of your writing? How does the child in you inform your writing?
Add these questions to your voyage if time allows as semester ends-
Asking the questions ignites one's own writing as well. Great idea.
Accidently found online journal. Generous, helpful suggestions, insights.
Superb poems. Thank you!
Love Campbell, Ohio, water destinations too.
Good luck in all your adventures!
Bon voyage!
ggw07
Sonnet XVI
From "Fatal Interview"
Edna St.Vincent Millay
I dreamed I moved among the Elysian fields,
In converse with sweet women long since dead;
And out of blossoms which that meadow yields
I wove a garland for your living head.
Danai, that was the vessel for a day
Of golden Jove, I saw, and at her side,
Whom Jove the Bull desired and bore away,
Europa stood, and the Swan's featherless bride.
All these were mortal women, yet all these
Above the ground had had a god for guest;
Freely I walked beside them and at ease,
Addressing them, by them again addressed,
And marvelled nothing, for remembering you,
Wherefore I was among them well I knew.
Finally-as you cast off- What kind of journey did your ancestors make? What were the obstacles? What are the darkest minutes on board? What music corresponds to this? What music do you bring? What experience is like music? What music do you associate with memories? What are the sensory details of these incidents? Who do you wish you could talk to? What would you say? Does this remind you what your characters forgot to say but must? What are the mundane grimy tasks on the ship? What are the harsh confrontations with Nature? What are glimpses of Nature's unpredictable respite? What is night like filled with stars? What moments are stars? What stars do you reach for in your life? What do you yearn for on your return? What do your senses demand? How is the bond between you and your shipmate altered? What conflicts arise that illuminate your characters? How is your partner's support reflected in your characters? How are you transformed? What events initiate this? How does home look different? What do you do that is new upon arrival? What habits repeat?
Success in unchartered waters! Thanks again for the dialogue and inspiration!
ggw07
Comment from ggw07 - 5/11/05 5:03 PM
Post a Comment