A Writer's Moment: 'The catalyst for opening your mind'

A Writer's Moment: 'The catalyst for opening your mind':   “The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation's proverbs, fables, folk sayings and q...

'The catalyst for opening your mind'

 

“The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation's proverbs, fables, folk sayings and quotations.” –  William Feather 

 

Born in Jamestown, NY on this date in 1889, Feather became a Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher and author who built a publishing empire and shared dozens of quotes and fables through his writings.

 

Feather moved to Cleveland in 1903 and after earning a degree from Western Reserve University in 1910 began working as a reporter for the Cleveland Press. In 1916, he established the William Feather Magazine while continuing to write for other magazines like H.L. Mencken's The American Mercury.  His successful printing business produced several of his own books, including the highly sought-after How to Get Ahead.

 

He also wrote the best-selling The Business of Life and one of the first “How-To" guides, How To Set Up a Family Budget.   A spokesman and advocate for books of all kinds, he espoused thrift, industry, promptness, perseverance, and dependability through his writings. 

  

“Books,” he said, “open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can.  Finishing a good book is like leaving a good friend.”

A Writer's Moment: 'More powerful than observed'

A Writer's Moment: 'More powerful than observed':   The reason that I keep writing is that all my most powerful messages about the fates of wild places that I care about need to have words a...

'More powerful than observed'

 

The reason that I keep writing is that all my most powerful messages about the fates of wild places that I care about need to have words as well as images.” – Galen Rowell

Born in California on this date in 1940, Rowell was a wilderness photographer, climber and writer who devoted his final 30 years to photographing and writing about the world’s wild places.   In the process, he won the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and established his own lasting legacy.

 

Also held in high esteem for his writing on photography and on the humanitarian and environmental issues and mountaineering he loved, his remarkable 18 books included In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods about the history of mountaineering on the Himalayan mountain K2, and Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape, one of the bestselling “how-to” photo books of all time.  

 

In addition to his many photo shoots and articles for Life, National Geographic, and Outdoor Photographer, Rowell - who died in August of 2002 - also produced myriad stand-alone shots.  He said recognizing how film sees the world differently than the human eye and adjusting his shooting techniques to fit was probably the secret to his success.  

 

“Sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed,” he said.  “It’s remarkable.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Only emotion endures'

A Writer's Moment: 'Only emotion endures':   “In poetry, only emotion endures.”  – X.J. Kennedy   Born in Dover, NJ on this date in 1929, Kennedy was both a children’s book author...

'Only emotion endures'

 

“In poetry, only emotion endures.” – X.J. Kennedy

 

Born in Dover, NJ on this date in 1929, Kennedy was both a children’s book author and poet who published numerous poetry collections, including Dark Horses: New Poems, and Breaking and Entering. His many works for young audiences included Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh. 

 

Kennedy (who died in January, 2026) earned degees from Seton Hall and Columbia and had a 6-decade writing career.  For Saturday’s Poem – from his collection Nude Descending a Staircase (winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize) – here is Kennedy’s,   

                          Nude Descending a Staircase

        Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,
        a gold of lemon, root and rind,
        she sifts in sunlight down the stairs
        with nothing on. Nor on her mind.

        We spy beneath the banister
        a constant thresh of thigh on thigh;
        her lips imprint the swinging air
        that parts to let her parts go by.

 

        One-woman waterfall, she wears
        her slow descent like a long cape
        and pausing on the final stair,
        collects her motions into shape.

A Writer's Moment: 'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door

A Writer's Moment: 'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door:   “Whenever I start a novel, I'm always looking for two things: a bit of science that makes me go 'what if?' and a piece of hist...