One Great Moment

"Developing a writer's voice is almost a process of unlearning, one analogous to children's painting."

“Developing a writer’s voice is almost a process of unlearning, one analogous to children’s painting.”

A clear grasp of “voice” in writing has always eluded me. Not that I don’t have one. Everyone does. But I’ve never been able to define mine, and certainly can’t…
November 7, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"How could you have a new country without excellent dreamers?"

“How could you have a new country without excellent dreamers?”

The last time I posted One Great Sentence, it was with thoughts about how context informs and layers the meaning of a single line. Only when I opened that post…
October 25, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"The girl, Fernanda Jacqueline Davila, was 2 years old: brief life, long journey." 

“The girl, Fernanda Jacqueline Davila, was 2 years old: brief life, long journey.” 

 There is much to consider in that straightforward sentence. A small child, only 2. A girl-child, if that matters, but that conjurs the universal image of a child clutching a…
October 11, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"From the dancing came the dancing."

“From the dancing came the dancing.”

 Sentences can seem simple. Even the most tangled and complex are just a few words arranged between punctuation and white space. Ideally they make sense standing alone.But sentences never really…
October 4, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"Just be the kite."

“Just be the kite.”

An award-winning author writes a break-out novel, and then another, and then…It has been 10 years since Minnesota novelist Leif Enger‘s last book, “So Brave, Young and Handsome,” was published.…
September 25, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression."

“To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”

Standing in the lobby of the gloriously ornate Chicago Tribune Tower, gazing  at this James Madison quote, I am filled with pride. And fear. The pride stems not only from…
September 19, 2018
Lauren Kessler
"No matter how long we study them, the images are unfathomable. No matter how quickly we look away, they are unforgettable."

“No matter how long we study them, the images are unfathomable. No matter how quickly we look away, they are unforgettable.”

Why it’s good: There are endless memories and memorials marking yesterday, the 17th anniversary of 9/11. I find it impossible to post about something else, but impossible to choose the…
September 12, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."

“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

—Poet Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award
September 5, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"Do not despair of our present difficulties. We believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here."

“Do not despair of our present difficulties. We believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.”

This photo released by Hanoi’s Vietnam News Agency shows Lt. Commander John S. McCain III as a prisoner of war in 1967.Coming at the end of his elegant posthumous valedictory…
August 29, 2018
Don Nelson
"Words. Words upon the wind. What will endure, perhaps is what I have written. If so, it is enough."

“Words. Words upon the wind. What will endure, perhaps is what I have written. If so, it is enough.”

Geraldine Brooks laid that line down in “Secret Chord,” her deeply researched and richly reimagined novel about the life of biblical King David, the psalm-writing, harp-playing, woman-lusting warrior. But they…
August 22, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski