So glad you have signed up to receive the For Random Learning Comes Newsletter! This is the thirty-ninth edition. Previous editions can be found on the blog's Newsletter page. I send it out weekly, so if you don't get my email on Saturday morning, please let me know! (Check your junk and spam folders too.) My five latest posts are at the end of this newsletter, latest first. Due to a bout of minor illness that required antibiotics, I have not been myself all week, and have only managed to compose one poem. Feeling on the mend now, and hope you are well, too! The poem is called The Weight of Words. In it, I talk about how we weigh the words of others differently than our own, and tend to have a slight bias toward those words, that emanate from us. I came up with the concept of the poem while briefly researching the terms Vainglory and Pride. According to a thirteenth century mural, these were distinct concepts, and I found some writings, attributed to a saint, that discussed the differences at length. Vainglory seemed to be more about being susceptible to flattery, and desiring to gain approval and praise from others. Pride seemed to be the end result of this wallowing in praise. Pride also caused one to have contempt for God and one's fellow men, and the Saint found Pride equivalent to idolatry, in the form of self-worship. I don't mean to teach a religion class here, but this is an area of the Seven Deadly Sins that both writers and lawyers know all too well, no matter how seriously they take the possible Heavenly consequences of such leanings. Anyway, I did find it comforting to consider, that if I didn't think so highly of myself, I would probably not get so upset with myself for failing to attain my every ambition. The saint seemed to suggest that to get away from the sin of Pride, one should immerse oneself in lowly work and ignore all praise, and take condemnation gratefully, as ones just desserts. Sorry to get Medieval on you. Just giving you the background. The point is, seeking to measure "the weight of words" was an activity that the saint seemed to find highly foolish and a waste of time. I couldn't resist writing about it, because it is practically all we writers ever do! I'd love to hear your reactions to my posts, so please put your thoughts in the black comment box beneath each post! The more the merrier! If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, I hope you will consider doing so. And tell your friends! There's a blue signup form on every page. Thanks again for your continued readership and support. It means a lot to me. Have a great week! Andrea The links below will take you to the five most recent posts. The blue logo takes you to the homepage. The section on English Majors has the most recent stuff.

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