I am reposting this blog from 2015 in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday. A random writer's group meet up turned into one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I believe this experience has even more meaning today than it did for me three years ago. Here is the recap of what happened that turned a reluctant outing into a moment in time...
I drove nearly 30 minutes, crossed the James River even. There were four people there when I arrived including the chair of the meet up, George. George is an editor and has given me really valuable edits on several of my short stores over Google Docs but we had never met. He was older than I expected, a bit more quiet and unassuming than he came across on line. Among the other group members were two middle-aged women and a young grad student. We started the session by reading dialogue out loud from one of the women's novel drafts. It was fun and a really great way to test the validity of one's written dialogue. The sequence was a Tarot Card reading, something I actually know a thing or two about so I could provide some valuable feedback. We then helped talk the grad student through some edits on his application to VCU for a teacher's assistant position. It is much harder to write about yourself sometimes than to write fiction. Next the group offered George some feedback on a memoir he is working on from the Grandfather of one of his students; George is a volunteer tutor for under privileged and/or handicapped kids. The memoir was fascinating. The Grandfather was a journalist in the 1960's and had covered a Martin Luther King church rally some 53 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio; eight months before Doctor King's assassination.
The most amazing thing happened next. George told us he had a big surprise for us. The Grandfather had not just covered the rally, but had actually tape recorded (reel to reel) Doctor King's speech. It had never been released to the public. George then did an amazing thing. He played us the speech! Other than the 5,000 people who attended the rally 53 years ago and George and his wife, we were the only other people to have ever heard this speech. We set there in silence; four strangers sharing this monumental moment, 23 to be exact. By the end of it we were all in tears, shaking a little and feeling like we had experienced a huge moment in history. I was so pumped leaving that meeting - I felt like I was on cloud nine. I wanted to shout it to the world what I had just experienced.
This seemed like a moment that was just screaming to be shared, but I had no one available to share it with. It was past bed time for my mom. My daughter in LA was in class. My oldest was in rehearsal for a play. So I'm sharing this with you and I hope I can do some minor justice to just how wonderful this moment was for me.
I wish you could have heard Doctor King's voice, the crowd in the background, the fever in the air. Every word was a piece of pure genius. My favorite line in the speech though was when Doctor King said every man should have something he holds so dear that he is willing to die for it…
"If you are 35 and you let a moment go by and don't fight for something you truly believe in and you live to be 80, you were just as dead at 35 as you will be at 80."
Thank you Doctor King for reminding me to make my life have purpose. And thank YOU for sharing this moment with me.
There was nothing at all extraordinary about this day. I had an average day at work, a few highs and lows but nothing special. It has been a rainy day but not nearly as bad as the weather channel predicted. After work I had a writer's workshop to attend. I wasn't looking forward to it - honestly the day wore me out and I just wanted to crash on the sofa with Gone Girl, my current book obsession. But I haven't attended this workshop before, and I felt I needed some social interaction, I've been in a bit of a loner funk lately, so I forced myself to go.
I drove nearly 30 minutes, crossed the James River even. There were four people there when I arrived including the chair of the meet up, George. George is an editor and has given me really valuable edits on several of my short stores over Google Docs but we had never met. He was older than I expected, a bit more quiet and unassuming than he came across on line. Among the other group members were two middle-aged women and a young grad student. We started the session by reading dialogue out loud from one of the women's novel drafts. It was fun and a really great way to test the validity of one's written dialogue. The sequence was a Tarot Card reading, something I actually know a thing or two about so I could provide some valuable feedback. We then helped talk the grad student through some edits on his application to VCU for a teacher's assistant position. It is much harder to write about yourself sometimes than to write fiction. Next the group offered George some feedback on a memoir he is working on from the Grandfather of one of his students; George is a volunteer tutor for under privileged and/or handicapped kids. The memoir was fascinating. The Grandfather was a journalist in the 1960's and had covered a Martin Luther King church rally some 53 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio; eight months before Doctor King's assassination.
The most amazing thing happened next. George told us he had a big surprise for us. The Grandfather had not just covered the rally, but had actually tape recorded (reel to reel) Doctor King's speech. It had never been released to the public. George then did an amazing thing. He played us the speech! Other than the 5,000 people who attended the rally 53 years ago and George and his wife, we were the only other people to have ever heard this speech. We set there in silence; four strangers sharing this monumental moment, 23 to be exact. By the end of it we were all in tears, shaking a little and feeling like we had experienced a huge moment in history. I was so pumped leaving that meeting - I felt like I was on cloud nine. I wanted to shout it to the world what I had just experienced.
This seemed like a moment that was just screaming to be shared, but I had no one available to share it with. It was past bed time for my mom. My daughter in LA was in class. My oldest was in rehearsal for a play. So I'm sharing this with you and I hope I can do some minor justice to just how wonderful this moment was for me.
I wish you could have heard Doctor King's voice, the crowd in the background, the fever in the air. Every word was a piece of pure genius. My favorite line in the speech though was when Doctor King said every man should have something he holds so dear that he is willing to die for it…
"If you are 35 and you let a moment go by and don't fight for something you truly believe in and you live to be 80, you were just as dead at 35 as you will be at 80."
Thank you Doctor King for reminding me to make my life have purpose. And thank YOU for sharing this moment with me.
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