So, tell me what you think
I really really want to know! Also: Name this dog, PLEASE!
“What is the meaning of life? That was all—a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” – Virginia Woolf
This Week, I Need to Hear From You
This newsletter is 22 months old - an awkward age. I’m caught between milestones which provide more obvious opportunities to reflect, take stock, and see where SPARK has been and where it might go from here. But then I’ve never been big on milestones -- those dates freighted with assumptions, hopes, dreams realized or dashed. I’m more of a gut-driven person and this week, my gut is telling me it’s time.
I’ve been working up the nerve to do for a while now: ask you how all this is going and how I might make the SPARK that arrives in your inbox each Saturday better. If you are new to SPARK, I want to know what drew you here and what you’d like to find.
This week, I will write very little so you can take the time you might normally devote to reading the newsletter to answering a few questions aimed at uncovering what is going right, what we could do more of/less of and what you’d like me to try in the future. There are two ways you can do this - pick the one that works best for you.
Option 1: I’ve put together a very short survey which you can access right now by clicking this link or the image below it:
HELP MAKE SPARK BETTER: SURVEY
Your responses will be anonymous unless you choose to provide your email. Your choice. Answer all or any of the questions that you want to. Everything is helpful! If glancing over the archives might help you, here’s a link to make that fast and easy: SPARK ARCHIVES.
Option 2: If checking boxes and filling in blanks are not your thing, then take a look at the survey and feel free to answer the question(s) most important to you in an email or in the comments below. Or, just drop me a line to tell me what drew you to SPARK, what you like best about it, what you could do without, what you’d like to see in the future -- or any other comments or questions that come to mind.
Deadline: November 20
I’ll share the results anonymously with the entire community and will get back to anyone who prefers to write directly to me on an individual basis.
Thank you. Thank you for the time you have given me these past 22 months, for giving SPARK a try, for the book recommendations, comments, support. Thank you, too, for helping me to grow as a writer and as a human being. I’ve always been an intermittent journal keeper and an inconsistent letter writer. Historically, deadlines have induced panic attacks. Yet, for the past 22 months I’ve managed to write to you almost every week. I cherish our weekly appointment. You’ve helped me to think out loud, learn, mourn, celebrate, and to be more honest in my writing, and to reach outside my comfort zone. This whole experience reinforces for me why I read, write, and want to connect. It is the belief so well expressed by Virginia Woolf in the quote that opens this week’s newsletter and served as a prompt for writing each week to you: the greatest revelation arrives not in one big grand sweep of understanding but in those “little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”
I look forward to wherever this experiment goes from here!
Name This Dog
While you are thinking about all that, here’s something that happened this week:
I signed up to foster this pup weeks ago - so long ago that I was beginning to wonder if she was real. Then, as I was walking briskly uphill last Thursday my phone beeped and I learned that she was crossing the border from Tijuana THAT NIGHT. She’s been with us just over a week and it appears that my first attempt to foster has failed. This little girl will stay.
Is she the right dog? Well, I’ll tell you this -- she’s not what we were looking for. For one thing, she’s SMALL -- only 11 pounds. Her hair is like velcro; it attracts and holds everything from brambles to dust bunnies. Her breath, despite newly cleaned teeth, smells like the belch of a hungover Super Bowl fan two days after the game has ended.
Still, there is something about her that feels right. Even though her pedigree is far from certain, her face has that terrier inquisitiveness that I’ve always fallen for. She already knows how to fit her strong little body into the curves of our laps, her chin into the crook of our necks. She seems to want to impress us with her command of potty training and fetching. She excels at giving and receiving affection. She eats with gusto, sleeps like a stone, and shows signs of understanding what a walk on a leash might look like one day once we can harness all her energy and head in one direction.
For a small dog, she is already showing signs of great presence. We’ve had a few conversations, some in my very limited Spanish - her native tongue -- some in Italian or English, and some in silence. Those last ones, using just the eyes and body language, are the best exchanges and the ones that made me want to see how this relationship will unfold. For now, her very presence has begun to fill space in my heart that has echoed with loss all this year. It isn’t love, not yet, but I can tell it is coming. I am grateful.
The problem: her name. She arrived as Chloe, the second canine Chloe we’ve shared our home with. “Chloe Junior” isn’t cutting it. So we need a new name. Got a suggestion? Send it to me. Put it in the comments. What is the perfect name for a velcro dog with zip and a love for mangoes, apples, blueberries, and… well, let’s face it, we’ve not found anything she doesn’t like yet except a little tiny leaf of romaine.
That’s it for this week. Next week, we resume with regularly scheduled programming and some books recommended by Sparkers. If you are looking for something to read, browse our page at bookshop.org where most of the books mentioned these past 22 months can be found.
Every sale generates dollars for local independent bookstores and the commission we earn will be donated towards a literacy program we choose once we raise enough.
Ciao for now.
Gratefully yours,
Betsy
P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…Good morning
Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”
What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.
Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.
I can’t wait to see what you send!
(And if you’ve gotten here, liked something, and still haven’t hit the heart below, now’s your chance! )
Mango!
What a cutie! Congrats!