I
once went to a talk by members of the Pan-Asian Repertory Theatre. One
of the actresses was recounting her career path from med school to the
stage, noting her parents’ disappointment and eventual acceptance of her
choices. “I think you know what you really want to be when you grow
up, when you are a little kid. At that time in your life, you wear your
passions on your sleeve,” she said.
I thought that was a brilliant observation, and I often consider it when making my next
move. And my moves have been sort of disparate, but they still follow a
me-specific logic that, I hope, stays true to those sleeve-passions:
journalism, art history, costume design, yoga, more journalism, and,
now, biology (in preparation for some sort of teaching/writing).
My
mom gave me a priceless gift for Christmas. It is a neatly-compiled
volume of much of the materials of my young writing life, all
self-illustrated, self-published, and--as I’m about to
relate--self-distributed. About 1974-78 is represented and all in print
from, as this was about two decades before the Internet was introduced.
Three decades before GTTSB went online.
The starring entry from among the Mothers’ Day cards, Narnia-esque stories, and haiku collections is Brenda’s Bugle,
a two-page, monthly newsletter I typed and sent out to various friends
and relatives from 1977-78. The articles range from interviews with my
family, crafts fairs at my elementary school, book reviews, to ice
cream drink recipes, comics (many lifted straight out of “Wee Pals” and
“Archie”), and an obituary for my sister’s gerbil. I even invited this
sister to contribute towards the end of BB’s run...I think because I was
running out of ideas to fill the last page.
Of
course, the content is hilarious (R.I.P. Sausage, the gerbil), but what
kills me is the writer’s voice of the ten-year-old me. I don’t really
sound all that different in tone and I’m really curious what I was
modelling myself after:
Brenda’s Bugle Vol. 2, No. 5 (March, 1978)
Ah,
ink (and White-Out)-stained wretch that I was...yet I hear some of the
quality of GTTSB’s conversational tone in these early entries.
Reading
these back issues of BB inspired a resolution to return to the
blog and do some none-academic writing this semester. It’s hard
to find the time for anything, but I’ve missed the exercise of working a
thought out in print...and, of course, the exchange. The chance to
interact with readers and other writers was tamped down this fall and
I’ve missed it (even the editor of BB had a survey every once and
awhile...my paternal grandfather “loved” the articles, but felt the
puzzles were “not for me”; my great aunt “read it from start to
finish--enjoying everything in it”).
Maybe
this week of reflection and looking forward is a good time to revisit
“sleeve-passions.” Was the young you onto something that the current
you has forgotten or ignored? Or maybe the young you was the
inspiration for your present endeavors? Either way, it makes a good
story and I’d love to hear it...
Brenda’s Bugle Vol. 2, No. 7 (May, 1978)