Marianne Murphy Zarzana
  • Home
  • Writing in This Moment: Blog
  • Poets & Writers I Read
  • Poem Gallery

The Power of Vulnerability

1/1/2011

2 Comments

 
I just watched a video on TED.com given by Brene Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, entitled "The Power of Vulnerability." I think it relates closely to writing. 

As writers, we are literally open books. Whether we write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, graphic novels, we put our selves on the page. One way or another, to varying degrees, we expose ourselves. And that can be terrifying. 


I know this deep in my bones. I come from a family that loved books and encouraged reading. In the kitchen my mother sang Chaucer to the Fats Domino tune "Darktown Strutters' Ball."--"Whan that Aprill with his shouers soote, the droghte of March hath perced to the roote"--as she had learned it from the creative nuns at her Catholic high school. My father started Junior Great Books at our Catholic grade school and lead a discussion group. Together my parents started a Saturday Night Writing Club for us six kids; we had to show up at the dinner table with something we had written, a poem or a story. The reward? Pizza and Coke, an outrageous treat in our health-conscious, sugar-free home. 

Surrounded by writing and books, I loved language, wordplay, stories and poetry. I majored in English in college, but I did not make a full commitment to my writing until I got sick enough, hit bottom, and wanted to get better. A Shiatsu massage therapist had opened up a shop in our small town on the Minnesota prairie. I remember thinking I'll try anything. After our first session, she took a piece of paper and wrote down Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity just as if she was writing a prescription. And she was. She could see that the sickness in my body was a "stuckness" in my creativity. I bought the book immediately and worked through the 12 steps of a recovering artist as if it was my job, as if my life depended upon it. And it did. That lead me to apply to grad school for an MFA in Creative Writing in mid-life. A crazy idea? Maybe, but also life-changing and life-saving. 

In one poetry workshop, a fellow grad student commented positively about aspects of my work, then added almost apologetically, "But I feel like your writing is encapsulated." 

Busted. Painful, but I still thank that person for her courage and honesty. I pictured myself and my writing in a giant capsule--I was safe, but also in danger of suffocating. So how could I get my writing and my self out of that capsule? 

Over the past ten years, Brene Brown has studied vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. The first five years of her decade-long study she focused on shame and empathy. Now she is exploring a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness. Some of the questions she is posing: How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy? 
Recently, I gave a reading of my poetry and non-fiction at Marshall Festival 2010 at Southwest Minnesota State University. Afterwards, a retired education professor came up to me, complimented me on the craft of my writing, and then said somewhat incredulously, "You made yourself naked up there." He could not have paid me a higher compliment. My writing was no longer in the capsule. It had not been easy, but by recovering the artist and writer within, by cultivating, as Brown says, a deep sense of worthiness, love and belonging, I could now tell the story of who I was with my whole heart. I had the courage to be imperfect. And that has made all the difference in how people connect to my writing and in the joy it gives me as I share it. 

And it's win-win: readers and audience members need and are hungry for authenticity in a world where so much is fake and phony. And as a writer I have the need to be seen for who I am--warts, freckles and all--and to know I am enough.
2 Comments
Dana Yost
1/1/2011 08:47:55 pm

Marianne: I agree with that retired professor about your reading. You were really open, exposed up there, which is great. I think your strongest writing, that I have heard you read or that I have read, has come when you find the courage to open yourself, even when it has meant exposing real pain.

I also am glad to see you plug Gopnik's essay on Churchill. It was pretty remarkable.

Reply
Marianne Zarzana
1/2/2011 10:19:59 am

Dana: Thanks for your comment. I was honored to have you in the audience at that reading, and I appreciate your feedback. I feel the same about your writing, whether poetry or prose--there is courage in every word you write. As Brene Brown says in her TED talk, you show courage by telling the story of who you are with your whole heart. I am halfway through your new book _The Right Place_, and it's brilliant writing. I plan to use it in my freshmen composition and Intro to Creative Writing classes this semester.

That's good to hear you enjoyed Gopnik's essay too.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    I love to play with words. To capture moments on the page. To explore the physical and spiritual geography of what I call "fly-over country." I write from imagination, observation and my own experience of wandering in fly-over country--the literal, physical spaces of my life on the Minnesota prairie and the inner territory of the soul. 

    I teach writing at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. I enjoy cooking and traveling with my husband Jim, reading, practicing yoga, playing tennis, biking, hiking and gardening.

    Archives

    December 2019
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    Blogroll
    Arts Beat
    A Year of Being Here
    Bearded Vegan
    Becky's Blog
    Better World Books
    Birth Breasts and Beyond
    Carrie Etter
    Christine Stewart-Nunez
    Dana Yost
    Heroic Yes! Productions
    James A. Zarzana
    Landing on Cloudy Water
    Nicole Helget
    No Ideas But in Things
    Story Guru
    The Marsco Saga
    Write Right

    Categories

    All
    African American Writers
    African-American Writers
    American Life In Poetry
    Awp
    Dance
    Family
    Favorite Poems
    Favorite Writing Blogs
    Global Studies
    Good Articles
    Good Articles About Writing
    Good Blogs
    Good Books
    Good Essays
    Good Movies
    Good Plays
    Good Poems
    Good Quotes
    Good Video Clips
    Guerilla Art
    International News
    International Writers
    Irish Writers
    James A. Zarzana
    Libraries
    Literary Awards
    Literary Journals
    Mankato
    Memoir
    Mindfulness
    Minneapolis
    Minnesota Public Radio
    Minnesota State University-Mankato
    Mnsu
    Msu
    National Public Radio
    Nd
    Notre Dame
    Poetry Foundation
    Public Art Projects
    Publishing Resources
    Readings
    Shameless Plug
    Shameless Plugs
    Smsu
    Storytelling
    Ted Kooser
    Websites
    Writer
    Writer's Almanac
    Writers I Read
    Writing About Family
    Writing About Food
    Writing About Music
    Writing About Words
    Writing And Community
    Writing And Faith
    Writing And Politics
    Writing And Romance
    Writing And Sexuality
    Writing And Sports
    Writing And Teaching
    Writing And Technology
    Writing Contest
    Writing Groups
    Writing Prompts
    Writing Workshops
    Yoga
    Young Readers
    Young Writers

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.