washwords

Today is Yom Kippur, the day of atonement for my faith, the closing of the 10 day period of the new year, of reflection for the year behind, of looking to the year ahead.

Truth be told, I love this time of year. I love the rituals of cleansing, purifying,  the haunting melodies,  the looking ahead and celebrating first so that filled up with love and hope and promise, you can more properly atone for sins, and reform into someone better, stronger, more authentic.

I especially love the poetry, the music of our services. I sing “Avinu Malkeinu” to myself throughout the year (no doubt especially annoying friends and neighbors this time of year) and unlike my favorite songs in English where it’s the lyrics I most connect to, focus on; in prayer, it’s the melody - the haunting beautiful notes that express better where my heart is dwelling then the actual words sometimes can.  “Our Father, Our King” the literal translation of that prayer’s title, isn’t what the song speaks to me.

Rather, it says loudly, softly, heartfully, tearfully, pleadingly, “I’m sorry.”

It says: I’ll do better. I’m working on it. I do have love in my heart of hearts, I do appreciate the riches I have.

It says: I am joyful, exhuberant, warmed by this community, even when they are strangers. I am home here with this familiar melody I seem to have always known, by the ability to sing fully, forcefully, till I’m dizzy and hoarse.

It says: Thank you. Thank you, God, if that’s what you believe in. Thank you friends and loved ones. Thank you strangers for forgiving me the sins and offenses I don’t even know I’m committing. Thank you love for finding me, thank you world for recognizing the talents and strengths I have.

And it says this: There’s going to be hurt, there’s going to be mistakes and pains and some of them are going to be your fault. And

What’s the best way to become a better writer? Read, read, read, and then read some more. So it follows that to become a better Web writer, blogger, etc., you should read writing for the Web. And there is so much good out there, from folks who consider themselves writers and sometimes most wonderfully from those who don’t!

So I’m starting something new (enabled and encouraged by Zemanta’s new “reblog” service): I’ll be posting quotes and snippets from some of my favorite reads d’jour.

Starting… now. Some beautiful (if painful) writing I’m finding today comes from Wordwebbing.com:

with her journal on JS, and her “Wierd World” columns (she always knew how the deliberate misspelling of “weird” drove me crazy, heh) i know anytime i want to visit, i can. to me, that’s the true gift of blogging — and no one will ever know how grateful i am i have that of her, and that other people do, too.WordWebbing.com, Aug 2008

Read more of her.

Washy makes Washpost Express !  [Edit: I forgot to mention a big washwords shout-out to bloggy pal Liz of What Liz Said. Here I was doing the crossword, reading my horoscope ON THE VERY NEXT PAGE!!!, completely missing that I, Washwords, had achieved interweb and print fame! Above the fold! (and sumo wrestlers or something!), page 28 of the better of the two throw-away morning commuter papers. Right after the classifieds! But before celebrity news and the crossword! Wow. I’ve hit the B I G T I M E.

Liz was kind enough to let me know, messaging “hey, guess who made Express today?”.

Me: You, again? Grumble.

Her: Smile.

Me: clickity click over there… hey, it’s me!!! ME! (then promptly commenced sending e-bulletins to everyone I’ve ever known. I’m shy like that. and modest, too.)

» “I LOVE THAT THEY survived doing what they do — the simplicity of half-smokes and chili — and doing it well for 50 years. “

Washwords.com was moved to tears while attending the 50th anniversary celebration of Ben’s Chili Bowl, adding, “the scene there was just so nice. Really, truly nice.”