• Home
  • Full Circle Blog
  • Selected Publications
    • Publications Archive
  • In the News

Donna Swarthout

~ Writer, Editor, Berliner

Donna Swarthout

Tag Archives: Rilke

Life’s Odyssey of Questions

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by Donna Swarthout in Inspiration

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Berlin, German Jews, Rilke

While back in Montana for a few months I taught a course called Imagination in which fifteen college freshman embark on a mind-bending odyssey (along with Homer) that coaxes them to refocus their viewing lens and approach life from a more creative perspective. Our imaginative journey through the arts and sciences was invigorating and reminded me of why I love being in the classroom. I was also reminded that the older I get, the more important it is to keep my own imagination in play as a driving  force in my life.

I relish my minor role in guiding young adults through their college education, but I have nowhere near the same level of  self-confidence as a rookie writer. Still, I persist in taking small steps in my freelance writing career. My next step is into the German media as part of a Jewish Women’s Histories in Berlin project with AVIVA-Berlin.de. I’m the odd American in a small group of Israeli women and women from the former Soviet Union who want to pursue journalistic endeavors in Germany. I’m diving into a more Jewish topic than anything I’ve previously written about and I’m feeling queasy about it already. I guess queasiness can be a good thing though since it preceded the birth of two of my three children.

Come to think of it, there are some close parallels between birthing a child and birthing a creative work. Rilke commented in Letters to a Young Poet that “the woman, within whom life dwells in a more direct, fruitful  and trusting way, must, after all, have become basically more mature, more human than the man.” He implies that a woman’s creative potential and ability to love might be more readily achieved than that of a man who is more “easily pulled down by the weight of the lack of physical fruitfulness.” Strong feminist words from one of Germany’s greatest poets, but words that will perhaps bear on the gestation of my next writing project.

I’ve derived a lot of inspiration from Rilke who so poignantly reminds us to embrace solitude and to live and love the questions in our hearts. Perhaps that’s the best angle for me to approach a Jewish writing project, for what I appreciate most about Judaism is its love of questions over certainty of answers.

Recent Posts

  • Immigration Equity Then and Now
  • German Citizenship – The Next Decade
  • From the Shadows to the Light

Categories

  • Article 116 Citizenship
  • European Jewry
  • Holocaust Memorials
  • Inspiration
  • Jewish Holidays and Rituals
  • Jewish Identity and Modern Germany
  • My German Jewish Family
  • Uncategorized

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

Tags

AfD Alternative for Germany Altwiedermus American Jews Angela Merkel anti-Semitism Archetyp Cafe Article 116 AVIVA-Berlin Bar Mitzvah Berlin Berlin-Brandenburg Berlin Wall Biebesheim Chanukah David Grossman diaspora Diaspora Jews die mishpocha drinking age dual citizenship Frankfurt Jews German bureaucracy German citizenship German exports German Jews Germany Germany Close Up Gleis 17 Gutshof Gatow Hamburg Hessen Jews Holocaust Holocaust Claims Processing Office Israel Jewish community Jewish Community of Berlin Jewish identity Jewish migration Jewish Sabbath Jewish Stammtisch Jews John F. Kennedy School Berlin Judaism Judith Kerr Juedische Gemeinde zu Berlin Juedisches Waisenhaus Kidane Mehret Kindergeld Kreuzberg Liepnitzsee Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Menorahs Moses Mendelssohn Nazi Forced Labor Camps Neo-Nazis Neue Synagoge Obermayer Awards Ohel Hachidusch Olivia Swarthout Oranienburger Synagogue Passover Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue Reform Judaism refugees Rilke Russian Jews second generation Stiftung Zurückgeben stolpersteine storytelling third generation trade surplus Virginia Woolf Wiesbaden

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Donna Swarthout
    • Join 117 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Donna Swarthout
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar