After cutting and pasting our blog assignment in an email to a friend, I got her honest response. I asked her to be truthful and she did not disappoint. I guess I should not be hurt or surprised because my sons think I should host a talk radio show – I wouldn’t go that far…
I do have strong opinions on the two topics we are not supposed to mention in social situations or write about in an MAPW class. My friend’s fierce reply to my question about writing my agenda caused me to wonder – is that so terrible to have stand for something – anything? I know decorum and diplomacy are required in the “academe” but must we lose our “soul” in the process?
One thing I want to learn in the MAPW program is to write with breadth and depth to reach a larger audience – otherwise, what is the point? I don’t need to write only to people who see things my way. However, I am not clever enough to conceal my world view in poetry or fiction – not yet anyway. I tire of listening to people who rant and hold to one view with blind allegiance. Yet, I refuse to be a chameleon and change with the surroundings. This is, however, value in hearing and respecting another’s point of view while maintaining your own. 
One of my favorite writers was never really a writer. His wife translated his lectures he gave to his students after his death. Oswald Chambers in His Utmost for His Highest spoke in rich layers of truth that delivered fresh insight with each reading. If I could write like Chambers spoke to his students, I would feel like an accomplished writer.
Writing from my core is not writing with an agenda. Writing is hard enough, but writing apart from who I am is impossible. If I could just learn to write with quality layers integrating who I am with the needs of the reader – then I will feel like I am accomplishing something for good.
I went to the Booth Western Museum in Cartersville last week and looked at a painting of a horse. The woman artist had such a profound quote about painting, that I tried to memorize it and her name – my memory has failed me so I will paraphrase. The painter of this amazing piece of work said that She did not paint because she wanted to, she painted because she had to – it was her responsibility not her choice. That is how I feel about writing – I did not choose this life - it chose me. How can I separate from that belief and write with no “agenda.”
