Most Tuesdays nights do not involve me going much of anywhere. Especially not the night before grades and comments are due. But when I received a text from my friend Jaymie that Grant was making gumbo and did I want to partake? I wasn't sure how I could turn down gumbo, or Grant, or Jaymie.
So even though it meant putting off work that has been giving me anxiety for the past two weeks, off to Grant's I went.
And I am so glad I did.
I met Grant a long time ago -- in HIST 411 -- and since meeting him, I have always received from him; a quotation, an intriguing comment on truth or history or human existence, a book recommendation, a good conversation.
Tonight, with open hands and mouth, I received. I admire his generosity -- for making an amazing gumbo ("You are not your job or how much money you have in the bank... you are, however, your recipes), a delicious stone brewed ale, two books to help my graduate thesis, one of his conceptual paintings, and the following quotation (which makes me feel peaceful):
"Every sentence has a truth waiting at the end of it and the writer learns how to know it when he finally gets there. On one level, this truth is the swing of the sentence, the beat and the poise, but down deeper, its the integrity of the writer as he matches with the language. I've always seen myself in sentences. I begin to recognize myself word by word, as I work through a sentence. The language of my books has shaped me as a man. There's a moral force in a sentence when it comes out right. It speaks the writer's will to live. The deeper I become entangled in the process of getting a sentence right, in its syllables and rhythms, the more I learn about myself." - Don DeLillo
This is the most succinct description of why I write.
I am glad to have received this tonight.
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