Joanne Rowling

I have decided to post on Joanne Rowling for two reasons. The first being that it is her birthday on the 31st of this month and I feel that  it would be a fitting tribute and secondly because she represents the "real" reason why I started to write a blog in the first place; she is a shining example of how the human imagination allows one to escape and overcome any trauma or turmoil. As I always mention, this post is not necessarily about her biography but more about how "I" perceive her and about what this decorated author means to me.

Joanne Rowling was born on the 31st of July 1965 in Yate Gloucestershire to James Rowling who was a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer and to Anne Rowling who was a science technician. Rowling grew up in Chepstow. Her gift for writing began at an early age as she would write stories to her little sister, Dianne and read them to her. She then left to attend the University Of Exeter where she studied a Bachelor Of Arts degree and majored in French and The  Classics.

She then decided to move to London, England where she would complete her masters degree and take up a job as a researcher for Amnesty International. Rowling then decided to take a job as an English foreign language teacher in Portugal. There she met her then husband Jorges Arrantes. The couple married, had a daughter named Jessica and later unfortunately divorced. This period of her life, according to her was the toughest! And to me, an adoring fan, is the most inspirational.

The strained relationship with her farther, her ill mother and the pain of her then, recent divorce could all lead a person to the point of giving up or breaking! But not Rowling, there was and still is something greater inside of her(an innate magic perhaps) that spurred her on and allowed her to emerge from such difficulties with a sense of perseverance and grace.

I read an article by Kevin Caruso on Suicide.org where he explains how Rowling emerged from severe depression. Rowling was recently divorced, had a two year old daughter to take care of and had little to no income, she was in an abyss. She claimed that she had suicidal thoughts but the thought of her daughter, Jessica led her to seek out help. She said that: "my daughter earthed me, she grounded me". The doctors she sought help from unbelievably dismissed her, but, because she has (an innate magic within her) she never gave up and eventually got the help she needed and she received cognitive behavioral therapy. She said: "I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What's there to be ashamed of? I went through a tough time and im quite proud that I got out."

This statement by Rowling is so profound because to me it highlights the fact that even in the darkest of situations there is something within us all, an all conquering light which can guide us out of our despair! Rowlings state of depression remarkably inspired her to create the "Dementors"(creatures in the Harry Potter series who wear dark hooded cloaks and devour the souls of any person unfortunate enough to come across them, they basically suck the happiness from a person)

Rowling has demonstrated how one can gracefully turn a tragic and devastating period in a persons life into something utterly beautiful! She has shown us all how to turn a burden into a blessing and a scar into a star. During her commencement speech at Harvard in 2008 she said something which I think will stay with me forever, she said; "Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life". This "little" sentence is ALL-INSPIRING! It  has and always will have a colossal impact on me.

Joanne Rowling inspires me so much because from her anguish( her ill mother, her relationship with her farther) was born a concept, an idea and a vision for a story  which would shake the foundations of children's fantasy and fantasy for ever. She saw the opportunity in her failure and turned it into fortune. I absolutely love her wise words: "failure is merely the striping away of the unnecessary" and from her striping away the unnecessary she was able to focus with laser like precision on writing the" Philosophers Stone". A book which would have a huge influence on how I viewed literature.

I could go on and on about Joanne Rowling, I literally could write(or type) on for days about her ambition, her style of writing and on her recent pieces on the Pottermore website about the 2014 Quidditch World Cup but I decided to keep it short and focused. Every time I think of Joanne Rowling I think of a saying I love:" Tears are nourishment to the soul like summer rain is to the soil". Every tear of anguish and despair that she must have shed was in fact a seed which was planted in her soul and that seed would later grow and emerge in the form of writing which would later transform the world of literature. Thus I say to you Joanne Rowling; thank you for your life as you are the epitome of resilience and a quintessential beacon of hope.

Thank you for reading(if you did) I hope I did this remarkable Author justice in this post.

T.B.

"My Dream Of Spring"

After over a year of not posting anything I feel like im in the correct frame of mind to do so. This post is not about any particular person or event but its about my perception on, well, life and the never ending battle in our own hearts. This is inspired largely by the book series "A Song Of Ice And Fire", as you can tell by the title taken from the pending 7th book of A Song Of Ice And Fire called "A Dream Of Spring".

I perceive life as a never ending cycle of seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I have come to believe, via my favorite authors(Rowling, Tolkien and Martin) that each person passes through their "own" various seasons. I will now dissect each season and shed light on what I perceive each season represents to the individual.

Autumn

I have decided to begin with autumn and work my way through the seasons as I go along, thus allowing you(and me) to "Dream Of Spring". The russet and gold leaves fall to the ground leaving a colorful carpet on the sidewalks, driveways and gutters(not fun when you're the one  who has to dig them out). The branches become bare, shedding off their summer cloaks to reveal barren barks and crooked branches. The birds flee north(or south) depending on how you look at it and the scarves and coats come out.

To the individual, Autumn represents heartbreak, disappointment and a "shedding of the unnecessary" as Ms Rowling puts it. Its a very sad period for the individual as this means giving up something that one once had or has without any real certainty as to whether it will come again. Letting go of anything that you hold dear is heart-wrenching, but as we shed our leaves and bear our barren barks and crooked branches we should "gird our hearts and "Dream Of Spring"

Winter

"Winter Is coming" are the words of House Stark, a family who live in the North Of Westeros in the books in A Song Of Ice and Fire and these few words represent a looming doom and a warning to prepare oneself for a difficult time ahead.

Winter is characterized by snow and ice, a destruction of crops, the death of livestock, blizzards, frost bite and death from the cold, well in the northern hemisphere at least. Here in the southern hemisphere, particularly the Highveld of South Africa, we have become accustomed to cloudless days with temperatures that drop drastically at night. We also have to endure cold fronts which come from the west (Cape town) and drift toward the East toward the Highveld, these cold fronts are too spontaneous for my liking!

To the individual Winter represents a state of helplessness, doom, melancholy and doom. This period cannot be underestimated as the individual losses hope and questions everything around  them. I think im experiencing winter at the moment, for various reasons which I will leave untouched. The Winds Of Winter cut deep at times leaving us cold to the world and bitter to the core! The only thing we can do during Winter is to "gird our hearts and Dream Of Spring".

Spring

 "We must all endure winter but what strengthens us is the dream of an eternal Spring". Spring is characterized by the rains, flowers blossoming, fruits in bloom , the birth of life, the returning of the swallows to their summer homes, the end of hibernation for the bears and the beginning of pollination for the flowers.
To the individual Spring represents a new beginning, a hopefulness which can only be described as elation. In this season a person feels almost as if they are seeing the world for the first time and that the veil of winter has been lifted off their face. I can compare a persons spring to the birth of a child, finding love or making a breakthrough in ones career. Spring to me; is the closest thing to Utopia.

Summer

In a Song Of Ice And Fire; Brandon Stark names his Direwolf(whom he has a supernatural connection to) "Summer". I think that his(the Direwolfs) name is more than significant as in my opinion this creature represents a sense of calm and protection and provides Bran as well as the reader of the books a sense that everything is going to be okay as long as Summer is around.

Summer is a season of consistently warm temperatures and thus for me both the season and the direwolf are one entity, that sense of tranquility and peace make it so. To the individual Summer is a prolonged period of happiness and consistent grow.

During the Summer the Sun is up more often than not and there is beauty in the air that is almost palpable. Summer is Joy.

The Seasons

"Seasons come and go but you...you last a lifetime" this is an adaptation of the line in the lyrics of Emeli Sande's song "Lifetime". I believe that if we can prepare with a sense of understanding of each"season" we can endure even the harshest of winters and emerge tall and proud like a young tree on a windless night. Thus I say "gird you hearts and Dream Of An Eternal Spring".

T.B