WQ #11: March 15: A BRIDGE/TO BRIDGE
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
““When you cross a bridge, never forget this: You crossed because the bridge allowed it!”
― Mehmet Murat ildant
Happy Wednesday and welcome to WQ. It’s been a hard week for bridges in Tulare County where we used to live. I hope your bridges have held up better than some of ours. When the Kaweah River floods, it brings with it debris from the giant Sequoia trees, which do a tremendous amount of damage. I hope you can see this video I found on Facebook.
Follow where your quotes lead you and have fun with your own experiences with bridges and bridging.
Last Week’s Featured Precious Green Bloggers Below
- KEEP IT ALIVE – “GREEN IS THE PRIME COLOR OF THE WORLD”
- LADY LEE – LIFE IS PRECIOUS LIKE A DIAMOND
- LOVING LIFE – NOT SPENDING PRECIOUS TIME WORRYING
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – “IT AIN’T EASY BEING GREEN.”
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – “EARTH AND WATER LUSHLY COMBINE”
- THIS IS ANOTHER STORY – THE RAREST TREASURE IS A TRUE FRIEND
For More on Bridges and Bridging…
Your post link goes here.
- BUSHBOY’S WORLD – BRIDGE OVER MANN RIVER
- KEEP IT ALIVE – ADVICE TO BUILD A GOOD LIFE
- LADY LEE – BRIDGES, PLACES FOR REFLECTIONS IN SO MANY PLACES
- LOVING LIFE – “HAND”SOME AND SCARY BRIDGES
- NOWATHOME – BEAUTIFUL ASSORTMENT OF BRIDGES
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – BIKING AND BRIDGES
- ROCKSTAR GIRL – ROMANTIC BRIDGE CROSSINGS
- TOFINO PHOTOGRAPHY – HISTORIC TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE VIDEO (MUST SEE)
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – FUN WITH BRIDGES
- THIS IS ANOTHER STORY – THE TEMPER THAT BLEW UP BRIDGES
- WRITERRAVENCLAW – FIND A BRIDGE, OR MAYBE A LUCKY PENNY
Don’t forget to use Hashtag #WQ even now that links are working.
Posting Discipline, Bridge to Successful Blogging
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
Jim Rohn
One of the many benefits I enjoy about hosting a challenge is that it brings consistency to my blogging. I can’t operate simply on the whims of what is going on in my life because I have readers that I know will read and respond to my posts. Establishing a routine in blogging builds a good reputation in the blogging world.
Bridge to Others
“Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.”
Earl Sweatshirt
The honor of presenting Elane Geller, a Holocaust Survivor to high school and middle school students in Tulare County was one of my most life-changing duties as a consultant in the Office of Education. She communicated what happened to her as a child during the Holocaust, giving students a first-hand glimpse of the horror of discrimination blaming others for the ills of society.
Before she arrived at this middle school, students had researched the lives of children who had died during the Holocaust. They shared their dreams on a long piece of butcher paper for her to read before she spoke. As they wrote their dreams, they came to grips with the fact that the children, whose names they recorded on paper dolls did not have the opportunity to reach their dreams.
After Elane spoke, she took time to speak to any students who wanted to talk to her. They asked her questions like, “What did you do for fun while you were in the camps.”
She answered them, “There was nothing fun about these camps. We were chewed on by large dogs. We ate toothpaste and drank urine. If you worked, you got food. We didn’t work, so we didn’t get any food.”
“I was four when I was taken. There were maybe a half-dozen very small children running around. We hid in the barracks when we heard someone coming so they wouldn’t kill us. We didn’t congregate. At times I snuck outside and compared the color of my skin to the piles of bodies stacked up at the fence.”
She did not want students who only knew camps to mean something fun to misunderstand what hatred and prejudice could do to innocent children younger than they were.
Bridge, An Example of Art
“Good composition is like a suspension bridge – each line adds strength and takes none away. Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition.”
Robert Henri, artist
This year I vowed to do more than curate my photography and was challenged to take or make my compositions compelling. To do that I have spent more time processing than actually taking pictures.
“The first modern examples of suspension bridges were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world.” Wikipedia
In this photo, there are many lines that run into each other and I like and appreciate them. Even though I am the world’s worst at drawing a straight line, I love the straight sturdy lines represented by the safe-looking planks that form the base of the bridge.
People crossing this bridge surely value and trust the strong lines of cables suspending the bridge high above the water. The little I learned from my classes in art is how triangles are often used in construction because they are a firm structure. How many triangles can you spot on this bridge?
Each tree in the background has a solid linear trunk supporting its thick branches. The lines on the shade structure offer a place for a picnic and respite from the hot summer sun. Steps and fences form lines in the picture that save people from having to jump off a cliff to cross to the other side of the ravine. Even the shadows form lines on the bridge that add depth and interest to me.
Do the lines make this picture compelling, or are they just jumbled without meaning?
“If you love a bridge, you must also love the abyss beneath it, because if it wasn’t for the abyss, that bridge wouldn’t be there either!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
Poetry, A Bridge Across Our Fears
“Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”
Audre Lorde
Perspective As a Bridge
My life, my pleasure, feet, cars crossing my pavement, Safety over the abyss, The gentle stream far below. I smiled down at the stream, A mere babbling brook, bounding over boulders, Caressing the banks with butterfly kisses. This morning I awoke in pain, My limb useless and shattered, by my dear stream gone rampant, Sticks and stones breaking my bones. I lay helpless in frigid waters, Pouring over my cement skin, Ripping and tearing at my guardrails, I cry out a warning, my voice muted by turbulence. Friendly waters turned explosive, Silky snowflakes joining force, Taking me down to my grave, My years of service ended abruptly. ©Marsha Ingrao Free Verse using Personification
Inspired by
- The Skeptic’s Kaddish – W3 prompt last week to write a poem using Personification
Upcoming and Ongoing on Always Write
- WQ Page
- WQ #12: March 22: SPRING/VIVID
- WQ #13: March 29: CHANGE/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES
- #DICKENSCHALLENGE started February 7th. Join Yvette Prior, Trent McDonald, and me in reading ONE – not THREE Dickens’ novellas by June 9th. Donna from Retirement Reflections posted an excellent review on her challenge, What’s On Your Bookshelf this month.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 