In my English Ren. class we're doing a project where we keep a common place journal. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, and I don't know anyone who is, it's a book that people of ye olde days used to keep because libraries were too expensive to have. So instead they would write down passages that moved them or might become useful later. Apparently you don't have to site your source in these things either, just enough so you have a vague idea of what you're talking about. So the class came up with a list of topics or headings of sections for our books and then we fill the thing with quotes that uh.. move us or might become useful later.
It might sound sor t of... I'm not sure how it sounds, but I'm finding that it's both exciting and disappointing at the same time. I really like it when I find a passage or a quote that I want to copy down. It makes me pay more attention to what I'm reading, and the way that words are structured on a page. It's not just that someone said something interesting, it's that they said it in such a way that it resonates and might be applicable for years to come. Or just in some strange situation down the road.
The disappointing part is when I read so much and don't come across anything to copy down. I feel like these quotes and words should be everywhere and either I'm not paying attention or I'm just not reading the right things. I want to be inspired that's all.
The difficult part is deciding what section a quote might go under. The idea is to find what it's really talking about which might be a key word in the quote or it might be the underlying idea.
I'll leave you with an example, and if you're so inclined to start one, let me know. I'd like to tell my instructor so he knows I'm a suck up because I'm trying to spread his ideas around. OR maybe we'd both be interested to know that it's a good idea and that I'm not crazy and he had a good point. We'll see.
So, the example. Under my category for Hope: "Hope, which whispered from Pandora's box only after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things, without it, there is only time."
And continued under Time: "And time pushes at our backs like a centrifuge, forcing us outward and away, until it nudges us into oblivion."
- from The Rule of Four