The Latest Good Quote
Through the ages, many people from all walks of life have had unique perspectives on life and living. Their wisdom is timeless and the quotes attributed to them are powerful and positive reminders of what can, should and must be.
Here, I present quotes I believe are especially relevant to the journalism profession, offer my take on how I believe it applies to us and include a note about the author.
So here goes:
Posted: August 30, 2010
"The world is made of stories, not atoms.” -- Muriel Rukeyser ( 1913-1980)
My Take:
Considering what this author devoted herself to during her lifetime, I believe I can understand the true meaning of this quote. That is, the world isn’t simply a place where all kinds of clinical, technical and scientific analyses can be made and investigated. Rather, the world consists of an endless parade of human conditions.
Some of the stories arising from those conditions are simple and straightforward. Others, however, serve as small elements that entwine with one another to form a different kind or much larger story.
Agriculture is filled with both kinds. A new chemical or machine (think atoms) may significantly or even dramatically improve yields or profits. But such a change likely pales when compared to what and how it might affect the human condition.
Looking at it positively, resulting profit might make possible a college education, the beginning of a retirement fund or payment of a huge medical bill. Put your imagination to work on any of those three possibilities and you have the basis for a story.
Multiply that by thousands, millions and billions of times all across the world and you begin to understand the full meaning of this quote.
About Rukeyser:
Muriel Rukeyser was an American poet educated at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in The Bronx, Vassar College and Columbia University. She was a political activist who took special interest in writing about equality, social justice, feminism and Judaism.
At age 18, she covered the famous and racially charged incident in Scottsboro, Alabama. She was in Spain when the Spanish Civil War broke out. Later she traveled to Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, where she investigated the many cases of silicosis among miners.
Those and other experiences served as the basis for many of her poems, her memorable lectures and workshops. She also wrote a fictionalized memoir, plays, screenplays and several biographies including one of Wendell Wilkie, a national political figure during the 1940s.
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