Progress.Michele is also a freelance news producer. With much of the nation and the world focusing on Canada and the Winter Olympics, Michele is sharing her thoughts on the event and how it binds people.
The Olympic games have graced the United States several times. Eight times since 1896, to be exact. Now I can't speak for anything before Atlanta in 1996, but I don't remember a patriotic fervor surrounding those games. I don't remember a rush to each city and a stripe of red, white, and blue across every heart.
Not so for Canada. Not so for England and Russia. The latter has impressive architectural renderings up on their site. They are also marking each year until 2014 with a different art theme--cinema, museums, etc. England is hosting a similar Cultural Olympiad--The World Shakespeare Festival, outdoor arts projects, and Film Nation, to name a few.
If such was the status in the US in '96 or in '02, it was more regional. Maybe Georgians flocked to Atlanta for ceremony and celebration. Maybe Salt Lake City citizens crowded into cultural events. But I did not. The country as a whole did not.
What makes you rally around an event? What makes you rally around a work?
Do you remember the way the film "Life is Beautiful" crashed into the Academy Awards, with Roberto Benigni jumping from seat to seat and finally onto the stage? Do you remember how "The DaVinci Code" swept the nation, bringing conservative preachers to their pulpits and readers to their nooks? These are examples of works of art bringing us together. Whether through debate or praise, words act as glue.
The Olympics are that glue for many a Canadian citizen right now. I hope they will be that way for Brazilians in 2016, Russians in 2014, and the British in 2012. They can also be that glue for the world, and that is the magic of the Olympics.
I could give you a metaphor here--figure skating or synchronized swimming, but instead I'll bring it back to the art that binds us together: writing. What work do you hold to your heart? What work makes you feel and rally? Or, for writers, what makes your MS cohesive? What is the glue that binds it together?
Thank you, Mason, for letting me guest blog today. It's an honor to talk to your readers.
Michele, thank you for guest blogging here today. I wish as a nation we did bind together more as they seem to have in Canada. As for the Atlanta Olympics, I think Georgians did turn out for that. I know I did.
For more information on Michele, be sure to check out her blog Southern City Mysteries and her website www.MicheleEmrath.com
