How long have I been talking about doing this? How long have people been telling me, "you know, you should have a blog?" Journalist, college lecturer, sometime novelist - how many words for "writer" have I acquired over the years, only to find myself with days and days when I don't write anything but "comma splice" and "Remember to send queries in the morning" while the world I'd hoped to influence as an activist and journalist pulsates around me.
Why "scrivovivo?" From Puccini's La Boheme, of course, with the over-testosteroned Rodolfo romancing the mysterious upstairs neighbor with:
"Chi sono? Sono un poeta. (Who am I? I am a poet.)
Che cose faccio? Scrivo. (What do I do? I write.)
E come vivo? Vivo! (How do I live? I live!)"
that last usually pulled off with a shrug, a smile, a well-if-the-landlord-don't-catch-me insouciance that feels somehow appropriate, even now, to living in New York on a non-rich writer's income. Not that I manage that insouciance often, or appreciated it much when real people flake, but there's a twin bravery and silliness that may be how we all survive.
Why "book of days?" To remind me to write in it every day; because I like the music of it; because one of my current book projects is about Jehanne Darc (usually known as Joan of Arc) and it keeps me in a medieval state of mind. Though as my old friend Jim Paul taught me/us years ago in his book Medieval in L.A., our current state of mind is pretty medieval. In the book, as he uses a washing machine while he's been reading medieval texts:
".....anonymous engineers and designers making science manifest, just as the anonymous stone carvers manifested the architect's plans, which manifested God's will. And whoever said science wasn't spiritual, anyway? . . . .The fruits of science haven't induced in me a scientific mind. In fact, the more technology improves, the more it seems to carter to the old thought, designing in mental ergonomics, as it were, so that I can work the washer with my medieval mind."
Thus I choose typepad, host to blogs I admire, like Body and Soul (eerie how she chooses Jeanne d'Arc as a username, and shares so many of my obsessions) andTiger Beat (my old friend Steve). I like its clean layout and its simplicity -- this enabling a non-geek like me ("I try to be a user without the silent L." I tell more techsavvy friends) to have this voice. My own personal scribe, I guess.
What do I hope to do here? To write about my work (writing, teaching) and about this time. To maybe convey a few of the voices that have been entrusted to me, from the GI's I used to counsel (and now want to write about), those with chronic illness and their families, my students at CUNY whose hard work I admire every day. And yes, I'll likely comment on what I read about this newest dark age we're in, where I often feel like I'm stuck in some 2 a.m. stoned conspiracy session about "what will happen if Reagan gets re-elected." Who knew it would take 20 years?
This is dangerous already: i've been at it an hour. Hello to Elizabeth and Tamar, who urged me on with theirs. Who knows where this will go, if anywhere?