Imagine! Not one but two typos in the previous blog! One's very obvious--it's the mis-spaced spelling of the real Laurie’s name: it’s Laurie Chlopek. Sorry, Laurie!
But the one Brooke has been worrying about concerns The Winter’s Tale: it’s Polixenes, not Polyxenes. There are a lot of English professors out there reading this blog who will instantly notice this mistake, and may wonder if Brooke’s still got all his marbles or his extremely reliable memory. He does. But perhaps I don’t. Even though Brooke and I were writing that little blog piece together, as we almost always do, it was my hands that were on the keyboard. I’m hoping he’ll eventually be able to find a (part time) private secretary who’ll be an impeccable speller as well as organizer, calendar-keeper, researcher, correspondence-facilitator, and general know-it-all about voice-activated computers, phones, etc. etc., but in the meantime he has to depend for some of this stuff on me. That’s how you got Polyxenes and how he got a partly sleepless night.
2 comments:
Brooke:
Nobody out here would think you'd lost your marbles because of a typo, my friend. As one who spent ages editing, I know that no matter what you do, inconsistencies (let's call it that, rather than errors) creep in. In any case, Shakespeare's own name, as you well know, has multiple contemporary spellings. God only knows how many different ways the Bard spelled Polixenes!
I'm just thankful you're well enough to care about such things.
My love to you all,
Terry Hummer
It’s good to know that on top of all the rehabilitative work he’s doing, Brooke’s attention to writing is such that the details of typos matter. As Terry says, no one reading these pages can doubt that you both have the full measure of marbles. More marbles than most, in fact.
Laurie beautifully expresses what most of us must be conscious of: Your shared courage, strength and intelligence is remarkable. If any two people can transcend this, it’s you. As she says, hour by hour, you’re getting there. Your willingness to share the struggle -- your humanity -- graces our lives.
On another front, a study I read some time back suggests that living abroad tends to enhance an individual’s creativity. I’ve wondered about that as I’ve gradually adjusted to life in Ireland, picking up new ways of relating socially, learning the rhythms of the countryside, gaining fluency in weather-related small talk. I like to think meeting these challenges will keep my brain functioning alertly, but I suppose that’s a crap shoot anyway.
However, I’ll now be testing the creativity hypothesis even more radically. Soon -- next month in fact -- you’ll be losing a reader in South Tipperary but gaining one in Salzburg. It means plunging into a culture about which I know little, without even the support network of friends and extended family I have here. It also means learning German by sudden immersion. The experience should at least provide interesting fodder for my own blog.
I’ll keep you posted.
love,
Lorraine
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