martiepreller.co.za - To blog or not to blog

“TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG”

Het baie mense al hulleself afgevra. Inderdaad: “To blog or not to blog”.
“Blogging” het ‘n wêreldwye verskynsel geword. Ek dink dis wonderlik. Almal kan hulle opinies laat hoor, of “deel” wat hulle ookal wil en almal kan lees wat hulle wil.
Erens het baie mense sekerlik ‘n “stem” wat hulle wil laat hoor.
Skrywers “praat” deur stories of stories praat deur hulle. Nes ander kunstenaars "praat" deur wat hulle ookal skep.
Ek het al dikwels verwys dat ek dink ons persoonlike stories kan omgesit word in universele stories. Maar hoe gebeur dit?
Karakters, dink ek, lewe op die energie van die skrywer. Hy/sy skrywe hulle tot lewe. (En soms, dalk, skryf die karakters die skrywer tot lewe?)
People think stories are shaped by people. In fact it is the other way around.
Terry Pratchett in Witches Abroad
Weer een van my “aanhalings”. Ek hou van aanhalings. Al neem mens net ‘n greep van wat ‘n spesifieke persoon te sê gehad het, hoor mens tog ‘n ander se “stem” en mening.
En natuurlik hou jy eintlik net van opinies wat joune onderskryf, al is die grootste wins soms om die perspektief in te sien van iemand wat radikaal van jou verskil. Stories “leer” mens dan dat daar baie perspektiewe is, want daar is nie net een karakter in ‘n boek nie.
Kontrakdiksies. En paradokse. En nog ‘n aanhaling ...
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself,
(I am large. I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass
Ek het aan die begin van Paper on Crossing the Boundaries iets probeer uitwys van watter effek die skryf van ‘n storie op die skrywer het en hoe iets parallel loop tussen die gebeure in ‘n storie en in die skrywer se lewe.
En TYD. Ek is weer terug by TYD.
“Ek het nie tyd nie,” sê ons. Ek het dit ook gebruik : hier
Maar natuurlik het ons tyd.
In die ou dae het almal tyd gehad vir mekaar, hoor mens baie. Maar die mense in die “ou tyd” het ook 24-uur dag gehad! Nes ons. Maar die gejaagde lewe “vra” dit van mens, sê party. Wat is die “lewe”? WIE is die “lewe”?
Ons HET tyd. Ons KIES om dit te spandeer soos ons dit spandeer!
Maak dit saak hoe ons dit stel? Is daar ‘n verskil tussen:
a) Ek het nie tyd nie.
b) Ek verkies om my tyd anders te spandeer
Elkeen van a of b kan anders geïnterpreteer word deur ‘n leser/hoorder.
Kloof ek hare?
Ek dink so :)
"To blog or not to blog" en al die ander variasies daarvan:
Keuses. Het ons keuses? Ek verkies om so te glo.
Hoe ervaar karakters in stories hulle lewens?
Uit Everwood (2002)
Ephraim: The more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm not sure who the first person was who said that. Probably Shakespeare. Or maybe Sting. But at the moment, it's the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw, my inability to change. I don't think I'm alone in this. The more I get to know other people, the more I realize it's kind of everyone's flaw. Staying exactly the same for as long as possible, standing perfectly still... It feels safer somehow. And if you are suffering, at least the pain is familiar. Because if you took that leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected... Who knows what other pain might be out there, waiting for you. Chances are it could be even worse. So you maintain the status quo. Choose the road already traveled and it doesn't seem that bad. Not as far as flaws go. You're not a drug addict. You're not killing anyone... Except maybe yourself a little. When we finally do change, I don't think it happens like an earthquake or an explosion, where all of a sudden we're like this different person. I think it's smaller than that. The kind of thing most people wouldn't even notice unless they looked at us really close. Which, thank God, they never do. But you notice it. Inside you that change feels like a world of difference. And you hope this is it. This is the person you get to be forever... that you'll never have to change again.
(Bron: http://www.imdb.com/search - tik in “choose” by “quotes”)
Boeke is maar net spieëlbeelde van die lewe:
I wanted to point out to the learners and the teachers that literature is about LIFE. It isn’t something APART form you. It is a mirror to LIFE – to all our lives. The story of Die hart van Zeebak can be summarised very briefly as the story of Ferdinand and Leandra, of the people of Zeebak and of a Tin Angel. Thus it is a love story, an adventure story and as most of the action takes place on Zeebak, a planet in another dimension, it can also be categorised as a science fiction novel and of course a youth novel because the main characters are 18 years old. But it may also be our story! Here and now in South Africa, because books and people cannot be categorised, cannot be boxed. We are infinitely more than for instance teachers, learners, writers, lecturers, farmers, parents, children, teenagers, paraplegics or however we can be described as various groups of people. We are all individuals with a specific history, with specific talents, with boundaries, yes. Earthbound, but also infinite. Our spirit cannot be boxed or jailed, unless we allow it to be jailed by other people’s boundaries. The psychologist Viktor Frankl’s theory says just that. And he has lived his theory because he was a prisoner in Auschwitz and Dachau.
(From: Paper on: Crossing the boundaries: Die hart van Zeebak: A writer’s perspective on writing both the text and the teacher’s guide)
En boeke maak moontlikhede oop. Daar gebeur dinge met karakters in boeke en hulle reageer daarop. Karakters "verander" of "groei" gewoonlik in 'n storie. Maar doen dit iets aan die leser?
When you read, you perhaps lie on your bed and you read right through a book. At the end you close the book and you are STILL lying on your bed and NO one has miraculously washed the dishes or did your homework or prepared an assignment. You still have to do it if it is your job. Is everything still the same? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Ferdinand went on a journey. To a planet in another dimension. And he came back. And was everything still the same? In a way, yes. And also, not. For his perspective had changed. For he distinctly heard the Tin Angel’s voice saying his usual odd syllable like saying that there are infinite possibilities. He heard that. Loud and clear. Though he was on a bakkie and the only things there were bags of mealies.
What do we hear? What do we allow ourselves to hear?
We journey through life. Sometimes in joy, sometimes in despair. Sometimes in frustration, sometimes in perseverance. We call it life. We don’t know what life is and we each have our own. We don’t know what it is, but we are still here. Alive. To do what we have to do. To cross boundaries or to create boundaries in order to live life to the fullest. And our lives are our own.
From: Paper on: Crossing the boundaries: Die hart van Zeebak: A writer’s perspective on writing both the text and the teacher’s guide)
En ek is weer terug by stories. Persoonlike stories.
“To blog or not to blog”
Our country doesn’t have a culture of reading. But Africa does have a wonderful culture of story telling. Lets tell our stories in book form so that many can read it. Lets make our own books! Our own stories. Our own personal stories. That is what I suggested in my book Eendag was daar ‘n storie – One day there was a story – a practical story-making guide. Everybody cannot be a published writer – but we all have wonderful stories to tell. Write them down and share them where ever you can. Lets create a culture of acceptance: This is my story. What is yours? Without having to DESTROY the other one because he or she thinks differently. Diversity is our name here in South Africa. So lets do it. Lets be diverse and bring together our nation’s personal stories. On grass roots level. Every day people. With extraordinary lives. Like all of us. Don’t try to be clever. Don’t try to be smart. Don’t think you are too stupid. Just tell it like it is. And perhaps some of those books WILL be published because if you hit the core of our common humanity in a story, it becomes universal and many people can identify with it. There are all kinds of stories. Stories that make us laugh. Stories that make us cry. Stories that make us think. Stories that scare us. Stories that feed us. Stories that amuse us. And they are all important. We need all kinds of stories.
Die hart van Zeebak is a story about a parallel universe which Ferdinand enters for a time, before he returns home once more. In a way we are all small little planets orbiting our own existence and we make contact with other people in their little orbits of existence and we are touched and we learn and we give and we take. Sometimes for a life time. Sometimes for a few years. Sometimes for only an hour. But everything that happens to us – all kinds of contact does affect us in some way, consciously or unconsciously. How much it touches us, depends on our boundaries and how we are able to cross those boundaries and allow other people’s existence and ideas to touch ours. For some time now I have told you about my world. I wish I could learn more about yours. I wish I could dialogue more. But time is all we have to do the stuff we want to do. And I have this wonderful excuse that I used as the title of one of my books: 'n Haas moet doen wat ‘n haas moet doen. A Rabbit has to do what a rabbit has to do! It is about a girl who woke up one morning to discover to her horror that she has turned into a rabbit overnight. But what now? Now she IS a rabbit and she has to discover WHY and WHAT she has to do? ‘n Haas moet doen wat ‘n haas moet doen. All of us. Whoever we are.

But I have monologued for some time now. So lets dialogue. And then we will go our separate ways to do what we have to do.

Thank you and I wish you well, on whatever journeys you undertake.
(From: Paper on: Crossing the boundaries: Die hart van Zeebak: A writer’s perspective on writing both the text and the teacher’s guide)
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