Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Endurance



Love this excerpt from today's email from The Writer's Almanac.  There's hope for the plodders amongst us and inspiration for the chidlren's 'Talk Time' at school.

Churchill wrote all of his own speeches, and he was a gifted orator, but people thought that his vocabulary and style of speaking were old-fashioned. But after the beginning of World War II, Churchill's dramatic rhetoric fit the mood of the country.

His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, served in the Parliament and was a talented debater, famous for making spontaneous speeches. Winston, on the other hand, labored over every speech. He brainstormed, researched, planned out the speech in his head, then dictated it aloud to his secretary. From there, he revised it several times and typed it up in what he called "psalm form." His speeches looked like blank verse poetry on the page, so that the rhythm and pauses were laid out just how he wanted them. Before Churchill delivered a speech, he would practice over and over, sometimes in the bathtub.


We appear to be gearing up for the end of soccer season with parties planned in the park and the prospect of reclaiming our Saturdays in summer.  Last weekend I stood in the blistering cold wind on an oval in outer Kaleen to watch the U12 girls play.  It was agonising as I was completely under-dressed for the weather conditions and even resorted to wearing a stretchy child-sized pair of gloves I found in the bottom of the sports bag.  Complete with puppet fingers.  No Winston Churchill on the field.  Head was aching by the end and I was glad we'd also packed some cinnamon donuts and apples for sustenance.

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