sentences i have loved
from Louis Menand's New Yorker piece, "Bad Comma"

• ... But it's hard to know how seriously to take her, because her prose is so caffeinated that you can't always separate the sense from the sensibility.



• There are writers loved for their humor who are not funny people, and writers admired for their eloquence who swallow their words, never look you in the eye, and can't seem to finish a sentence. Wisdom on the page correlates with wisdom in the writer about as frequently as a high batting average correlates with a high I.Q.: they just seem to have very little do do with one another,



• Readers who meet a writer whose voice they have fallen in love with usually need to make a small adjustment afterward in order to hang on to the infatuation.



• As a medium, writing is a million times weaker than speech. It's a hieroglyph competing with a symphony.


and finally, this insight (regarding how you can't compare speech and writing)...


• A better basis than speaking for the metaphor of voice in writing is singing. You can't tell if someone can sing or not from the way she talks, and although "natural phrasing" and "from the heart" are prized attributes of song, singing that way requires rehearsal, preparation, and getting in touch with whatever it is inside singers that, by a neural kink or the grace of God, enables them to turn themselves into vessels of musical sound.

Who knew that an article critiquing a book about punctuation could be so filled with pith. I've read it twice. I even got out the yellow highlighter. I might have to send Menand a fan letter.

And speaking of writers and singers — I might be a guest vocalist on my friend's new CD. My friend Stu play Irish music, but his roots are strictly Ozarks and Backwoods. He's from West Virginia and is going to be doing a CD of his original old-timey style songs. And little miss emdot may be putting in a cameo appearance and I am really excited about that.

Lately my singing style has begun to change. I've noticed it and others have commented on it. Truthfully, I like this change. And as with writing, I feel like I might have found my voice. BUT, the old-timey is going to require a much baser sound. And I think to get that authenticity you must check your chops at the door.

Meanwhile, I can't wait. I don't think the project will be "on" for a couple of months. More as it develops.