Life isn’t always exciting and sometimes you’re better off kicking back and finding joy in the ordinary. Sometimes our lives are stimulating and filled up with trips to the beach and amusement parks. More often than not, we stick closer to home or just stay at home. Life is better when you can find joy …
Author Archives: Eric Beavers
Oxford American
If you aren’t familiar with Oxford American magazine you should definitely get to know it. The print magazine is gorgeous and brings real joy to checking the mail and the Web site has undergone some major revisions lately. If you are a fan of all things Southern, go there now.
A sideways view of optimism
A quote by Owen Wilson: I think of myself as a doom person. I’m a worrier. But I like the idea of being an optimist. Maybe I’m the kind of optimist who deep down knows it’s not going to work. Courtesy of IMDB.
Community
The evolution of community, and the occasional need to go back to the old days, has been on my mind lately. To help my thoughts percolate, I began by taking a look at the definition of Community, courtesy of the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition (courtesy of the iPhone application iTunes link): Community: 1a.A group …
Laugh Live Learn Love
Laugh Live Learn Love Originally uploaded by beelers I have this piece of art crafted of ceramic and clay that I bought a local gallery. It has four great lessons burned into it. Live You can’t help but live until you die, and if you aren’t busy living then you’re busy dying. At least that’s …
Seeking sociology
I recently enjoyed reading “Blink,” a book by Malcom Gladwell. I’ve been reading similar books for professional development at work and I’m finding how much joy any writing even distantly related to sociology brings to me. A guilty admission: I never really understood what sociology was when I was considering what to major in at …
The Grotesque in Southern Fiction
Every writer, particularly Southern writers, should read Flannery O’Connor’s piece “Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction”. In fact, I recommend some serious study of the piece, which was published in 1960 but maintains its relevance today. These are not times when writers in this country can very well speak for one another. In the …