Tell Them Anything You Want a Portrait of Maurice Sendak

Yesterday, I found: Tell Then Anything You Want a Portrait of Maurice Sendak on Hulu it is a wonderful portrait of the author of  Where the Wild Things Are.  I found it refreshingly real.  Hulu says this film is only available for a short time.  I hope you get a chance to watch it.

Here are some discussion questions:

1. Notice the ladder in the story of his mother's pregnancy and then again in the kidnapping story. What does a ladder come to symbolize for him?
2. From an early age his parents explained to him that he was another mouth to feed, that he was a burden to care for. He says that in the book Outside Over There he explains how he sees his relationship with his sister. (Notice also the ladder.) How does his relationship with his sister compare to his current companion and caretaker? He describes her as, "The person who thinks I am worth the trouble of being cared for."  Do you find him to be worthy of being cared for?  Are you worthy of being cared for?
3. How did his father describe his childhood laughter? What do you think happened to the bell?
4. Why do you think he stays within the genre of children's literature? He says that when he is in his studio he feels sublime and talks about purity. At the same time he says that he doesn't think that children have to be sheltered from the truth. He believes he has been more truthful than other children's authors. He says, "you can tell them anything you want if it is true, if it is true, you tell them." Do you find any synthesis between the sublime he experiences while creating and the truth he faces in his work?  Why do you think he longs for purity?
5. He found great vindication when he met the author who had a copy of the newspaper article he had seen at 2 years old. Do you think that Sendak's work vindicates the truth of his reader's experience, especially children, or is he simply honoring his own truth?
6. Do you think Sendak is embracing his whole heart?  Why or why not?

Life is a Verb

I am currently working through Life is a Verb By Patti Digh.  I discovered her work after reading her powerful Commencement Address to Guilford College.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from the address:

"The verbs we live – that is, the actions we take – create the landscape of our lives. The verbs we live, the actions we take, the story we frame over those actions – all those things together create the structure of our land – those valleys and mountains of our atlas of experience. And like any hike up any mountain or through any landscape, the process is messy while you’re in it, and there is just no way you can see a clear path, not until you’re finished. So it is okay to be lost. That is what I’m telling you. It’s okay to be lost and not know – because that’s what learning is, that’s what life is."

I have found Life as a Verb to be very helpful in my quest to live wholeheartedly.  It is designed as a 37 Day Retreat with writing prompts and actions to take.  Patti Digh's work is insightful, creative and inspiring.  She expresses poignantly her urgency to focus on the important things in life and helps the reader clarify for themselves how to live wholeheartedly.  

She expresses it this way, "What does it take to fully inhabit your life?  It takes realizing how important the I that is you is to the equation.  This is not about other people, its not about changing the world in big ways, it's not even about doing great things-rather, it is about doing small things that give you life, bring you joy, help you inhabit the stories of your days-and, by extension, help change the world and the lives of others around you.  To fully live, you must be present in the biggest way possible.

From time to time I would like to share with you a book or product that I have used or am using that is helping me along my path.  I have become an affiliate of Amazon which means that if you click through a  link to Amazon on my blog and purchase the product I will receive 4% of qualifying purchases.